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"We werent stepping all over each other" writing their new political thriller, Penny says.

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Its tough enough to put together a novel on ones own. It has to be tougher still to write one in tandem, particularly when the two writers are separated by hundreds of miles with the pandemic preventing them from having face-to-face encounters. Further exacerbating the situation is the fact that while one writer has extensive novel-writing experience, the other, although with seven books to her credit, has never penned a novel.

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So it may come as a surprise to some that Louise Penny and her friend Hillary Rodham Clinton have joined forces in creating State of Terror, one dynamite, page-turning thriller. And not just a political potboiler, but a frightening cautionary tale as well.

On the downside, we couldnt get together for extended lengths of time to toss ideas around. But the funny thing is I dont think this could have been written without the pandemic, says Penny in New York City, where she has been promoting the book with Clinton before they set off for the United Kingdom. Our normal lives are so hectic. We would be all over the place, travelling and working. We really wouldnt have had the focus necessary to do this. We just had nothing else to do and we had few distractions.

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Simple as that? Perhaps not.

Regardless, it shouldnt really come as much of a shock that they pulled if off. With 17 Sret du Qubec Chief Inspector Armand Gamache crime thrillers to her credit that have invariably landed her to the top of the New York Times bestseller list Penny, Knowltons gift to the literary world, can construct webs of intrigue with the best of them. And given Clintons stint as the 67th U.S. Secretary of State, she has been privy to all manner of covert operations and scenarios, some of the doomsday variety. That coupled with an over-active imagination as well as perhaps a score or two to settle with that forever-taunting, orange-haired, thin-skinned reality-show shill who defeated her in the 2016 U.S. presidential election has helped elevate this work to the highest order of fictional mysteries. And lets just hope it is only fictional.

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What was great is that it was very clear what each of our roles were, says Penny, whose latest Gamache oeuvre, The Madness of Crowds, came out in August. I was there, because Im a writer. She was there, because shes got the geopolitical knowledge. It was the perfect partnership where we werent stepping all over each other. We talked, we planned, we wrote the 19-page synopsis together, where we put out the plot line and the broad strokes of the characters and their development.

Then I would write and send the pages to her. She would go through them, make notes long-hand God help us and then we would discuss and move forward. So it was a really perfect marriage. We didnt really fight over very much. If she felt something really strongly, I would relent. And if I felt something strongly, she would relent. We have such different disciplines. We werent jealous of each other or peeing over each other.

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One doesnt need to be a Sherlock to figure out that the books protagonist, Secretary of State Ellen Adams, is a thinly veiled Hillary Clinton sans hubby Bill who has joined the team of new U.S. President Douglas Williams. He has just been elected, replacing the dangerously unhinged Eric Dunn. And one doesnt have to be a Sherlock to figure out who he resembles. But the novels focus goes far beyond the White House into, yes, a state of terror affecting the planet, and Adams has an increasingly difficult time trying to differentiate friend from foe in the highest places.

A lot of the focus is on the external threats and all those who have been radicalized throughout the world, but we sometimes forget to turn around and realize that an equally dangerous internal threat is already in the room with us. That really needed to be owned and explored. We also didnt want all the bad guys to be ridiculous, mustache-twirling caricatures.

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As was the case when Bill Clinton hooked up with bestselling novelist James Patterson on The President Is Missing in 2018, there was, not unexpectedly, much skepticism about the collaboration between Penny and Hillary Clinton.

A lot of people when they first heard about this book were probably thinking this was a money grab or a vanity case, says Penny, while pointing out the obvious that neither of them are really in need of more money. We did it not only because it shouted out fun but also because it was a real challenge. I think both of us are in that stage of our lives where we want to stretch ourselves and to try heading to some new territories. Frankly, this isnt a marriage of convenience, because it isnt not all that convenient. Its really kind of difficult. And we had no idea whether we would be able to do it. So it was a huge relief when we wrote the synopsis. Not only did we have a plot we both liked, but that we saw we could work together and not eat each other alive.

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Reviews have been largely glowing.

We were girding our loins for all sorts of ugliness and nitpicking, Penny says. One of the sub-texts running through is how women, particularly of a certain age, are under-estimated, under-valued and dismissed Not only were our characters under-estimated, but so were Hillary and I. Nobody expected us to be able to produce a book that would be legitimately compelling, thoughtful and thrilling with all the different layers. But I would never attach my name to anything I wouldnt consider my best work.

It is thanks to Pennys trusty Gamache that she and Clinton first hooked up together and became fast friends. After learning through a mutual friend that Clinton was a big fan of her book series, Penny invited Bill and Hillary, their daughter Chelsea and her kids for a week-long stay at Manoir Hovey in North Hatley four years ago. When cross-border travel became permissible, Penny and the Clintons were reunited once again in the Townships.

There will certainly be more meetings in the future. A sequel, even a series, is not beyond the realm of possibilities. Nor is a movie.

We havent committed to a second, but we have fallen in love with some of our characters, Penny notes. This has been an extraordinary time, an experience like none other Ive had. It has been a bit of a vacation. But I can hardly wait to go back to Gamache. My heart is Gamache.

bbrownstein@postmedia.com

twitter.com/billbrownstein

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Brownstein: Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton were 'the perfect partnership' - Montreal Gazette