Bill Clinton and James Patterson to collaborate on ‘The President Is Missing’ thriller, coming in 2018

Former President Bill Clinton, left, will collaborate with author James... — Former President Bill Clinton, left, will collaborate with author James Patterson on a thriller, "The President is Missing," to come out June 2018. Credit: AP

By Tom Beertom.beer@newsday.comMay 8, 2017

Ex-presidents are known for writing their memoirs, but Bill Clinton is taking his literary career in an unexpected new direction: A collaboration with author James Patterson on “The President Is Missing,” a thriller to be published jointly by Alfred A. Knopf and Little, Brown and Company in June 2018.

“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,” said Clinton in statement released Monday.

Patterson is the best-selling author of the Alex Cross series and other suspense novels; Clinton had a best-seller of his own in 2004 with “My Life.”