One of them was a publishing machine with scores of bestsellers under his belt. The other knew the White House like the back of his hand (because he lived in it for eight years). Together they made a perfect thriller-writing team. Or so claims the marketing for Bill Clinton's debut novel, “The President is Missing”, co-written with James Patterson, whose books have sold over 375m copies. Insider knowledge! Thrills and spills! More of the latter than the former, it turns out.
In what seems a case of wish-fulfilment in more ways than one, “The President is Missing” features a morally unimpeachable president—a former soldier who was captured and tortured by the enemy but never said a word (his middle name is Lincoln rather than Jefferson). Now he is stressed, sick and grieving, juggling bitter enemies and uncertain friends. Suddenly he faces a crisis of such magnitude that it involves saving not only America from catastrophe, but probably the entire human race. “Not since Kennedy stared down Khrushchev over the missiles in Cuba has our nation been this close to world war,” the president muses. To stand any chance of success, he must go spectacularly off-piste. Hence the title.
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