George W. Bush has his painting. Jimmy Carter builds houses. Bill Clinton…is writing a thriller? Yep. With the help of James Patterson, Clinton is writing his first novel, The President is Missing. The plot is that the president is missing.
The novel isn’t even finished, and there’s no reason to think it will even be any good, but Showtime is already making it into a series. As CEO David Nevins said:
“Bringing The President Is Missing to Showtime is a coup of the highest order…The pairing of President Clinton with fiction’s most gripping storyteller promises a kinetic experience, one that the book world has salivated over for months and that now will dovetail perfectly into a politically relevant, character-based action series for our network.”
Patterson is happy for the opportunity, saying that “The White House is such an exciting world to explore and is made even more so with the unique insights of a former President”
Clinton is enjoying working in the world of fiction—well, literary fiction that is. “I’m really enjoying writing this book and working with Jim…and I can’t wait to see Showtime bring the characters to life.”
Hopefully, Clinton will bring a new depth to the political thriller, having actual presidential experience. Political ideologies aside, the idea of a former president writing a mystery novel about a president is pretty cool.
