The President is Missing- A Book Review

“Everything electronic can be hacked.”

The benefits of the digital age in the 21st century have been widely publicised and even felt. More than ever before, the world is increasingly embracing the use of the internet in daily life from business, finance, tourism, shopping, communication, transport, defence and security to mention but a few. While the human race prepares to embrace the internet of things and progress from the fourth to the fifth industrial revolution, reliance on the internet can only be excpected to increase.

However, even as we increasingly embrace technology and the internet in our day to day lives, the threat to personal privacy and global security has not been as widely appreciated or even documented. Personally, I get the feeling that this is something we would rather not think about because we do not want to fathom how greatly exposed we are to the ugly side of the internet.

Imagine what would happen if terrorist and extremist groups were to go beyond shootings and bombings and gained the capacity to conduct a massive far- reaching breach into the security systems of the U.S.A for instance. Imagine if ISIS or Al Shabab were to gain control of the US treasury, the stock exchange, insurance records, the water purification systems and social amenities. Imagine if a smart computer hacker seated in a couch in his underwear in a remote Russian village sipping on Vodka gained access to the US banking systems with the potential to wipe out life savings and pensions. Now imagine if the only person that can save America and the world is POTUS. This is the kind of picture that Bill Clinton- the former US president and James Patterson -the acclaimed author paint in their joint novel The President Is Missing. When I first saw this title, I thought it was a sting on the current POTUS Donald Trump, but apart from the occasional veiled jabs towards the president and republicans in general, it is all civil.

Faced with domestic partisan bickering, potential impeachment, record low ratings in addition to battling personal grief, POTUS gets to know of an impending cyber attack that could bring the U.S.A to its knees and spark off World War III. If he is to stop this virus from crashing literally every system that depends on the internet and save his country, the president must put himself under great danger and go under the radar for a mission that requires the greatest secrecy.

James Patterson holds the Guinness world record for most New York Times bestsellers and yet ironically, this is the first time I am reading a book written by him. (Blame it on my preference for African literature.) However, with all the twists, turns and suspense sprinkled all over the book’s pages, it is not hard to believe why he holds that record. On the other hand, this is Bill Clinton’s first work of fiction but given how much I loved reading his bestselling autobiography My Life and its natural storytelling, I did not expect to be disappointed. They pulled off a great book in the end and complemented each other; expertly combining insider information of how the presidency of the USA works and the skill at creating and sustaining interest only a master thriller creator posesses.

Of course, there are passages where it feels like a speech from President Clinton and not President Duncan (the fictional president) or recollections from his presidency and the scandals that plagued it. For instance, the appearance of President Duncan before a senate committee hearing feels like a page out of the script of his own impeachment proceedings on accusations of perjury in the 1990s and the machinations of independent counsel Ken Starr who gave him a torrid time then.

The most interesting passage for me is the interrogation of a terror suspect where Uganda comes up as a hotbed for torture. Can you imagine we’re now infamous for torture?

“Let me ask you a question, Catharina. do you think we’ll go easy on you because you’re pregnant? you tried to assasinate a president,” the interrogator says.

“If I had wanted to assasinate a president, ” she says, “he would be assasinated.”

“There are a lot of other countries that would like to have a conversation with you,” he says. “Some of them don’t have such a progressive view of human rights. Maybe we’ll transfer you to one of them. They can always send you back later- if there’s anything left of you to send back. How does that sound Bach? You wanna roll the dice with the Ugandans? How about Nicaragua? The Jordanians are pretty hyped up to speak with you. They seem to think you put a bullet between the eyes of their security chief last year.”

Coincidentally, I read that passage on the same day my article on the persistence of torture in Uganda was published in the Makerere Law Journal, but that’s a story for another day.

Most memorable quote
“Most individuals want to be led, take out the leader and the rest of the pack panics.”

Conclusion; a great book!