Former President Bill Clinton and prolific author James Patterson are teaming up once again to write a thriller.
Alfred A. Knopf and Little, Brown will co-publish Clinton and Patterson’s The First Gentleman next year, the presses announced in a news release. They say the novel “will be told with Patterson’s signature suspense and will be informed by details that only a president can know.”
Clinton and Patterson made their debut as writing partners in 2018 with The President Is Missing, which became the bestselling book of the year. A critic for Kirkus called the novel “formulaic but reasonably fun provided you have no expectations concerning probability or literary quality.” Another thriller, The President’s Daughter, followed in 2021.
The First Gentleman will follow an NFL player–turned–president’s spouse who goes on trial for murder.
“Jim and I always have a great time writing together, but we’re admittedly pretty tough on our fictional presidents,” Clinton said in a statement. “We’ve sent one chief executive into hiding to stop a global terror attack and thrust another into a deadly firefight to protect his family. In our new book, we really take the gloves off. I hope this one is as much fun to read as it was to write,” Clinton said in a statement.
The First Gentleman is scheduled for publication on June 2, 2025.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
