After leaving the Oval Office, most presidents lecture, write memoirs, build their foundations and relax playing occasional rounds of golf.
But President Clinton embarked on a second career, swapping the thrill of politics for the politics of thrillers, recasting presidents as superheroes — and garnering critical and popular acclaim in the process.
His first foray into thrillerdom, The President Is Missing, in collaboration with mega-bestselling author James Patterson, involves the commander in chief sneaking out of the White House in disguise and facing down the bad guys poised to bring America to a standstill with a cyberattack. It was a #1 New York Times bestseller and the #1 bestselling novel of 2018.
Now they’re back with The President’s Daughter, in which a former head of state launches a one-man special ops mission to save his child who’d been kidnapped by a madman — and every detail is painted with the accuracy only a former occupant of the White House can offer.
What’s it like to sit with a former president to concoct such plots?
How does hitting the top of the book charts compare to winning elections?
Is fiction really less strange than the truth?
Join James Patterson and President Bill Clinton and hear the answer to these — and your own — questions.