The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson (2018)

Although it was a long time before I started reviewing books, I once had a thing for reading the published works of former U.S. Presidents. Most were memoirs, though JFK‘s Profiles of Courage was in a different vein. The President is Missing is the first novel written by a former President (as far as I can tell) that I’ve come across, so it immediately appealed to me. I wasn’t Bill Clinton‘s biggest fan, and I never finished My Life, but I knew that this new offering would likely hit the spot. It totally did.

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I listened to the audio version of this book by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, published by Hachette Audio and starring Dennis Quaid as the President. I’ve also never been Dennis Quaid’s biggest fan (during my heavy movie-critic days, I always viewed him as an over-actor), but his voice and pace matches the character perfectly, and I now think I need to change my opinions of the guy—it also helps his case that he played Bart’s dad in this year’s I Can Only Imagine flick, a great and God-honoring film. I really appreciated the recording style Hatchette employed, using several different actors in the book, yet only one per chapter, depending upon that chapter’s Viewpoint Character. I also enjoyed hearing the Back pieces during that character’s appearances.

The plot of this tale is unexpected, that a computer virus threatens to cripple the US of A and to passively kill hundreds of thousands of people in the process. The President makes important, reckless decisions to tackle this threat, and his choices and their results keep the reader on the edge of wherever he might find himself. The climax was surprising, the conclusion was fitting, and overall I found myself really enjoying the pace and imagination of James Patterson, whom I’d never read before (but might now pursue).

While I can’t know the co-authorial relationship of Clinton and Patterson, I found myself viewing the majority of the plot as Clinton’s offerings, leaving the pace and style to Patterson. As I read, I kept wondering: “Did Clinton ever behave this way while President? Did he ever fantasize about behaving this way? Did anything even remotely similar to this ever take place?” These musings made the read all that more exciting, and I honestly hope that Clinton and Patterson collaborate for another novel, and soon. Of course, I’d be more partial to a Bush-43/Cussler collaboration, but I think I’m only dreaming there.

One thing that I think the authors should have changed was the character of Bach, an assassin so cliché in how non-cliché she is. This tiny-framed female from a former Soviet nation—whose Tiger-Mama suffered sexual abuse from occupying soldiers—eventually turned on the rapists and murdered them all, finding a strange comfort in the cold removal of earth’s monsters. She loves classical music and apparently only kills if the tune fits her mood. Her super-uniqueness was almost as glaring as Dan Brown‘s albino in The Davinci Code.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, and I hope Clinton and Patterson are presently working on another. It also makes me pine for the “What if?”s of a Teddy Roosevelt/Jack London mashup, or a Ronald Reagan/Bernard Cornwell collaboration. If only!

©2018 E.T.

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Read More Books Written by and about U.S. Presidents:

Abraham Lincoln

• Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson (2006)
• Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard (2011)

Teddy Roosevelt

• Murdering McKinley: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt’s America by Eric Rauchway (2003)
• Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Story, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt by David McCullough (1981)
• Don’t You Dare Shoot That Bear! A Story of Theodore Roosevelt by Robert Quackenbush (1984)
• The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris (1979)
• Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris (2001)

John F. Kennedy

• Killing Kennedy by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard (2012)

Jimmy Carter

• Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis by President Jimmy Carter (2005)

Ronald Reagan

• Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation by Ronald Reagan (1983)
• When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan by Peggy Noonan (2001)
• Ronald Reagan: a Life in Pictures, 1911-2004 by LIFE Magazine (2004)
• The Notes: Ronald Reagan’s Private Collection of Stories and Wisdom by Ronald Reagan, ed. Douglas Brinkley (2011)
• Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault that Changed a Presidency by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard (2015)

Bill Clinton

• The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson (2018)

George W. Bush

• The Faith of George W. Bush by Stephen Mansfield (2004)
• Decision Points by George W. Bush (2010)

Donald Trump

• How to Get Rich by Donald J. Trump and Meredith McIver (2004)
• The Mueller Report Graphic Novel by Shannon Wheeler and Steve Duin (2020)