Former President Bill Clinton is using his experience to journey into a new venture: novel writing.
Publishers Knopf and Doubleday jointly announced Monday that the 42nd U.S. president will be teaming up with best-selling thriller novelist James Patterson to co-author “The President Is Missing,” set to be released in June 2018, according to the Associated Press.
Plot details are scarce (we don’t know if the president will be based on anybody in particular, for example), but in a statement, both authors acknowledge that Clinton’s past experience in the White House informed the book.
In fact, the publisher said in a statement that Clinton’s experience helped them created “a unique amalgam of intrigue, suspense and behind-the-scenes global drama from the highest corridors of power. It will be informed by details that only a president can know.”
“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.”
Clinton said likewise, adding that working on a story about a sitting President was “a lot of fun.”
“And working with Jim has been terrific. I’ve been a fan of his for a very long time,” he added.
Patterson is one of the most prolific thriller authors on the market. He just released “16th Seduction,” which is another installment in his “Women’s Murder Club” series. He’s also recently expanded into kids’ fiction and humor with “Penguins of America,” which he wrote with his son Jack Patterson.
As for former U.S. presidents, novel writing is a bit more uncommon.
Jimmy Carter wrote the historical novel “The Hornet’s Nest” in 2003, but for the most part, presidents have stuck to nonfiction. Clinton, for example, has four books under his name: the memoir “My Life,” along with “Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy,” “Between Hope and History” and “Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World.”
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Elizabeth Edwards
Elizabeth Edwards was married to John Edwards, the former U.S. Senator from North Carolina and one-time Democratic presidential contender, who admitted to an extramarital affair in August 2008. He had a child with filmmaker Rielle Hunter, and upon the admission of that, Elizabeth Edwards announced a separation. She died in 2010 of metastatic breast cancer.
Wendy Baldwin Vitter
Senator David Vitter of Louisiana appeared on a prostitution ring's client list in 2007, but Wendy stuck with her husband, who continues to serve in the Senate as a Republican.
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Jenny Sanford
In 2009, Republican South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina -- after disappearing from public duties and putting out a false story about a hike along the Appalachian trail. His wife filed for divorce later that year. And Sanford was elected to Congress in 2012.
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Silda Wall Spitzer
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Dawn Gibbons
In 2006, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a parking garage, but Gibbons claimed he was helping her to her car. The woman didn't initially press criminal charges but filed a civil suit against Gibbons in 2009, alleging battery, false imprisonment and second-degree kidnapping. The suit was settled in 2013 for $50,000. He and his wife, Dawn, divorced in 2010.
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Donna Hanover
In the final years of his term as mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani was seen dining with a woman named Judith Nathan, who would later be identified as his lover. He later announced that he was separated from his wife, radio and TV personality Donna Hanover -- much to Hanover's surprise. The divorce was finalized in 2002, after he had left office, and Giuliani married Nathan in 2003.
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Former U.S. Rep.’s Anthony Weiner now-estranged wife Huma Abedin is latest politician’s spouse to be put under the spotlight of a sex scandal
From affairs to sexual assault accusations, the following women had to decide whether to stick by their politician husbands.