A new book stars Barack Obama and Joe Biden as amateur detectives, determined to crack the mystery of a suspicious death on the Northeast Corridor.
The tongue-in-cheek novel Hope Never Dies picks up with Obama and Biden after the 2016 presidential election. They've gone their separate ways: Biden's back in Delaware, Obama's out hang gliding with Bradley Cooper. But when Biden's favorite Amtrak conductor is found dead, the two reconnect and start looking for answers.
If you spent much time on the internet around the election, you might recognize these versions of Obama and Biden. Author Andrew Shaffer says when he started writing the book, he drew inspiration from popular memes about the pair's friendship. "I saw that people also had those same thoughts as me. They wanted to see these two people together, having fun, and they wanted to imagine what was going on behind the scenes."
Happy 55th, Barack! A brother to me, a best friend forever. pic.twitter.com/uNsxouTKOO
— VP Biden (Archived) (@VP44) August 4, 2016
Obama: Wave at the people, Joe.
— Reverend Scott (@Reverend_Scott) November 29, 2014
Biden: IMMA POINT AT'EM
Obama: Please just wave.
Biden: pic.twitter.com/5Y6nuvCzcu
biden: cmon you gotta print a fake birth certificate, put it in an envelope labeled "SECRET" and leave it in the oval office desk
— jomny sun (@jonnysun) November 11, 2016
obama: joe pic.twitter.com/UTtv1JkE5o
Shaffer said he went out of his way to avoid politics in the book—creating an alternate timeline of sorts. There's not even any mention of current President Trump.
"I really made a point to not use the T-word, or any sort of thing to remind you what's going on in the world today," he told WNYC. "Take it to the beach, and just turn off the news for a few hours."