"The President's Daughter" by Bill Clinton & James Patterson
We at the PSBC are always looking to explore genres that are new to us. We’ve done religion, romance, biography, horror, politics and even young adult literature.
But what about old adult literature?
Well, there comes a time for everything, so this week we’re turning to a genre that we’re calling Boomer Dad Classics. You know the ones I mean. The kind of books perpetually on sale at the airport, and available by the dozen in your local thrift store. And for some reason on the back of your uncle’s toilet when you visit his house. Books like Tom Clancy’s Clear and Present Danger, or Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity, where a middle-aged man goes on some adventure to fight criminals or terrorists or the Russians, and in the end, the USA wins.
This week we’re turning to Bill Clinton & James Patterson’s The President’s Daughter. Of all the Dad Classic authors, James Patterson is undoubtably the king, even though you may never have even heard of him. He has written more than 400 books and has the Guinness world record for most New York Times #1 Bestsellers, whopping 115 different books. His most famous are the Alex Cross books (turned into a series starring Morgan Freeman. They all follow a similar structure; a good guy chases the bad guys, and almost always saves the day. The chapters are short, the prose simple, the characters wooden.
The most interesting thing about Patterson is how he produces these books in a factory process that he is surprisingly honest about. He doesn’t typically use ghostwriters, but instead partners with another author on the book. Patterson provides the overview and plot, and the co-author does most of the writing. Patterson is more similar to the showrunner of TV series than an author, which helps to explain that he is typically working on a dozen books at a time. James Patterson has written books with a stunning array of people, from Dolly Parton to Kareem Abdul-Jabar, and even Liza Minelli.
And Bill Clinton.
That’s right, 42nd American President is back, to the delight of absolutely no one. It’s odd to remember that when he left the presidency, people had a pretty positive view of him. The US economy was booming, and they were willing to forgive his failures in Bosnia and Rwanda. Most thought that the worst crime he committed was infidelity and dishonesty about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. It was only in the post-#MeToo era that more people acknowledged his abuse of power, in the now very dated scandal from which he emerged unscathed, but Monica faced decades of abuse and bullying by tabloids and hack comedians like Jay Leno.
Clinton very much belongs in the past, but for some reason, he’s back, and he’s working with James Patterson on a series of Mary-Sue presidential adventures. In the first of the series, The President is Missing, Clinton and Patterson write about a US president who has to go undercover to track down the world’s greatest terrorist. Yes, you read that correctly. The world’s most recognizable man has to go undercover.
But we’re not going to cover that one, we’re here to cover the second in the series, The President’s Daughter, in which the US president has to go undercover to rescue his daughter and track down the world’s greatest terrorist.
Patterson is bringing the pace and the style, but – as the back cover tells us – only Clinton has the behind-the-scenes knowledge of presidential able to bring this story to life. He lets us in on secrets like how the Chinese are using a series of development partnerships to build allies and infrastructure around the world (code-named the Belt and Road) or that the US partners with Saudi Arabia to balance regional powers in the Middle East. You know, the secret stuff.
There are themes that are pretty consistent in these books. The US is the best thing in history and is never guilty of anything, and if it was guilty of something then those other guys totally deserved it. Those who stand against the US are motivated only by petty jealousy. Women are untrustworthy, and they will turn on you. The Chinese and the Russians are up to no good, but don’t worry, the Israelis and the Saudis are here to help.
But in spite of all of this, the President’s daughter has been kidnapped, and he must lead a taskforce to track down terrorists. Will the President and his buds find the terrorists? Will they free his kidnapped daughter? Why are the Chinese here and what are they up to? What’s the point of these books when we always know how they’re going to end?
Join us this week in the podcast as we answer these questions and more and try to get to the bottom of why these Dad Classics are as popular as they are.
