James Patterson and I have collaborated on a couple of thrillers in the past Private India [2014] and Private Delhi [2017] so I know the JP drill: storytelling scores over writing, chapters are treated like tightly woven scenes, characters are always painted larger than life, suspense is sprinkled at every opportunity and any chapter that does not advance the plot is inevitably dropped. I picked up his latest book, The President is Missing, with some trepidation because I noticed that Bill Clinton-s name appeared first on the book cover. So, would this be a Clinton book or a Patterson book?

Having read the book at a single go this weekend, I am happy to report that Patterson lives. The book is unputdownable and all the elements work perfectly in trademark Patterson style. There is a ticking clock — a computer virus called Dark Ages that could paralyse the country, a Turkish mastermind called Suliman Cindoruk who heads a terrorist group called Sons of Jihad and adding to the mix is a drop-dead gorgeous Bosnian assassin, Bach, so named because she loves classical music. Topping off the cast of characters is the ultra-hot Abkhazian Nina who has coded the virus; Lester Rhodes, the Speaker of the House, who perpetually takes political potshots at the president; and finally, President Jonathan Duncan who goes undercover to save the nation even though he suffers from thrombocytopenia, a terrible blood ailment that makes him dependent on steroids and IV drips. The icing on the cake is a traitor deep within the President-s inner circle. It-s a heady cocktail of characters, each with a deep backstory. For example, Bach is plagued by memories of the terrors that she and her family endured at the hands of Bosnian Serbs.