Author David Baldacci met President Barack Obama on Saturday.
Bestselling author David Baldacci visited the Gaithersburg Library on Dec. 2 to promote his latest book, The Escape, which happens to the number one book in the country this week.
A master of thrills, Baldacci said he was thrilled to top author Stephen King, who dropped to the number two spot on the New York Times Bestsellers list.
Bethanne Patrick, also known as The Book Maven on Twitter, led an hour long discussion with Baldacci that covered a wide variety of topics from the author’s recent encounter with President Barack Obama at Politics and Prose bookstore to meeting a fan who mistakenly thought he was John Grisham to his hands on research for his thrillers to his foundation’s work to fight illiteracy.
Dozens of Baldacci fans, including some elected officials, attended the event, which also promotes next year’s Gaithersburg Book Festival.
Rockville Mayor Bridget Newton sat in the front row, alongside Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman, who is also the founder of the Gaithersburg Book Festival.
Newton said she is a fan of Baldacci, noting that she has almost finished his latest novel, The Escape.
Another Baldacci fan said he had read all of Baldacci’s books and he was so impressed with this free event that he is making plans to attend the Gaithersburg Book Festival on May 16, 2015. That sentiment was expressed by several other readers in the crowd as they waited in line to have their books autographed by Baldacci.
While on this book tour, Baldacci is also collecting books for his foundation’s program,
Feeding Body and Mind, that distributes the donated books to local food banks. The collection box at this event was full of donated books.
Baldacci told his loyal fans that his next book, Memory Man, will be out in April of 2015.