Richard A. Clarke to Write Thriller Novel

Posted on October 15, 2004

Richard A. Clarke, #1 New York Times bestselling author and an official in the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon for three decades, has written a geopolitical thriller about war in the Middle East and political intrigue back home. Neil Nyren, Senior Vice President and Publisher of G.P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), acquired world rights to Mr. Clarke's yet-to-be titled first novel from literary agent Len Sherman. G.P. Putnam's Sons will publish the book in hardcover in Fall 2005, with Berkley publishing the paperback edition in 2006.

About his new novel Clarke said, "Fiction can often tell the truth better than nonfiction; characters and plot can drive home that truth to the reader more effectively than cold facts and analysis. And there is a lot of truth that needs to be told, about the threat from terrorism and our response to it, both as a nation and as individuals. I am delighted to join the top-flight team at Putnam to tell this story. It is a story I think America needs to hear, and a story I am excited to tell."

The publisher said Clarke's novel is filled with the verisimilitude that can only come from someone who has actually lived through similar struggles. During the course of Mr. Clarke's career, he has traveled throughout the Middle East and has been inside the region's palaces, military bases and intelligence centers, where he has met with sultans, soldiers and spies.

Richard A. Clarke is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling nonfiction book, Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror. He was a member of the Senior Executive Service in Washington until March 2003, having begun his career in federal service in 1973 as an analyst on nuclear weapons and European security issues in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In the Reagan administration, Mr. Clarke was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence. In George H.W. Bush's administration, he was Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs and a member of the National Security Counter-terrorism staff. Mr. Clarke served for eight years as a Special Assistant to President Clinton and served as National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism for both President Clinton and President George W. Bush. From 2001 to 2003, he was the Special Advisor to the President for Cyberspace Security and Chairman of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board. He is now Chairman of Good Harbor Consulting.