Barb’s Book Byts – James Patterson & Bill Clinton’s:

The President’s Daughter & The President Is Missing

When we started our book club, we discussed authors we all liked so we could find a common thread to pick books to read. One of those authors was James Patterson. In our discussion and while checking Amazon for books, we discovered that he was writing books with other authors. So we decided to start our book club by doing a mini author study on James Patterson. We decided to start with the one written with Dolly Parton, Run Rose Run, which I’ve critiqued on another post.

Then next on our list for the author study were two novels co-authored by former President Bill Clinton. Both of those novels shared a lot of James Patterson’s special talents for mystery, action, and suspense. Both also showed Bill Clinton’s knowledge of politics. While our group appreciated the expertise added by the former president, we all agreed that we enjoyed the President’s Daughter story more. The President is Missing had a tad more adventure and intrigue, yet it also at times got bogged down with the political part of the intrigue. While the plot needed lots of background explanations of who was who and what their job was related to the President, it slowed down the reading process and felt a little like plowing through a history book. The story was so well told that it ended with a blow by blow of a fictional State of the Union address to Congress that explained what had happened and summarized the book. One could start by reading that SOTU, but would miss the fun of all the intrigue along the way.

The President’s Daughter on the other hand takes place after the President is out of office, and his daughter becomes kidnapped by terrorists. It was a very enjoyable read, yet a little surprising when the President becomes actively involved in finding and rescuing his daughter. The story does highlight Patterson’s intrigue skills and Clinton’s political expertise and knowledge of how Secret Service handle things. Does it also highlight combat skills that the former President wished he had?

Both books are worth the reading!

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