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Entertainment

Bill Clinton Is Now Writing Fiction for Your Dad

He's coauthoring a political thriller, 'The President Is Missing,' with best-selling writer James Patterson.
Drew Schwartz
Brooklyn, US
Image via Knopf and Little, Brown, and Flickr user Gage Skidmore

When they're not on the campaign trail, the Clintons really love writing books, apparently. Hillary put out her campaign's rallying cry, Stronger Together, in September; Chelsea's dropping a child's guide to feminism called She Persisted later this month; and on Monday, Bill announced he will coauthor his first novel with James Patterson, a political thriller called The President Is Missing.

According to the Washington Post, the former president's first foray into fiction is due out in June 2018 and is sure to grace the nightstands and coffee tables of left-leaning dads across the country. According to co-publishers Knopf and Little, Brown, Clinton will pair his experience from inside the White House with Patterson's time-tested knack for suspense to churn out a "blockbuster" political thriller.

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"Working on a book about a sitting President—drawing on what I know about the job, life in the White House, and the way Washington works—has been a lot of fun," Clinton said in a statement. "Working with Jim has been terrific. I've been a fan of his for a very long time."

Patterson—who according to Vanity Fair has reigned supreme as the planet's best-selling author since 2001—has more than 300 million of his books in print. He's written just shy of 150 novels since his debut in the late 70s—most of which are entries in a laundry list of thriller series, a genre he's mastered. He cranks the books out like some superhuman literary Terminator, often teaming up with a coauthor to get an obscene number of words written on a tight deadline. Also, he really wants your dad to read.

"Working with President Clinton has been the highlight of my career, and having access to his firsthand experience has uniquely informed the writing of this novel," Patterson said in a statement. "I'm a storyteller, and President Clinton's insight has allowed us to tell a really interesting one. It's a rare combination—readers will be drawn to the suspense, of course, but they'll also be given an inside look into what it's like to be President."

There aren't too many details out yet about just who the president protagonist is,and why he (or she) has gone missing. Maybe the leader of the free world got messed up in some crazy kidnapping plot orchestrated by his shadow president. Or perhaps he could have just pressed that red Coke button one too many times, opening a secret vault that sent him into a never-before-discovered closet somewhere deep inside the White House.

It looks like we won't know until 2018, when the duo is set to hit signings across America for a book tour. Take your dad. He'll love it.

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