The President is Missing

Bill Clinton and James Patterson

When Clinton and Patterson announced they were teaming up to write a novel, everyone knew what to expect: a modern day satire on Rabelasian class distinction set in a Brooklyn cupcake shop. Just kidding. Instead, the titular U.S. President goes on the titular lam to prevent a computer virus from destroying America and tossing our culture into the Dark Ages. Terrorists and political skullduggery (in Congress and the president’s own cabinet) provide even more tension. With Patterson providing his reliable page-blasting thriller techniques and Clinton supplying authentic details from behind the red, white & blue curtain of the real-life presidency, “The President is Missing” is a lot of fun. I’d have liked more obvious “insider” Clintonian minutiae and less Patterson formula, but I had no problems letting these two sweep me along.