Bill Clinton has written a book with James Patterson about a president saving the world from cyber attack

'What I want people to see is that this is real people doing real work. It matters. They make decisions. They affect your lives'

(Getty)

Bill Clinton has joined forces with James Patterson on new thriller novel The President is Missing.

The book centres on the fictitious President Jonathan Lincoln Duncan, determined to prevent terrorists from unleashing a cyberattack that could cause global devastation; to do so, he must go undercover, sneak out of the White House, and attempt to take matters into his own hands.

The New York Times reports that Clinton's involvement was extensive, helping to provide insight into the reality of the president's role. He told the BBC: "What I want people to see is that this is real people doing real work. It matters. They make decisions. They affect your lives."

"The more the election process becomes truncated into very short soundbites, and the more people respond to the theatre of it and the high or the low of it, the harder it is to remember sometimes it has to be a job."

"I love thrillers," the former president added. "I read huge numbers of them. I've just finished the third book in the Red Sparrow trilogy [by Jason Matthews]." He also noted he was a particular fan of Patterson's, having "devoured" all 25 of the books in his Alex Cross series.

He added that he'd always wanted to write for himself, with this marking the first time a former US president has written a thriller.

Showtime has already acquired the rights to the novel with the intention to adapt it into a TV series, due to be broadcast next year.

The President is Missing out on hardback, eBook, and audio globally today from Penguin Random House.

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