Hillary Clinton has turned thriller writer with a novel featuring terrorist attacks and a US government “dangerously out of touch”.

The former presidential hopeful will publish State Of Terror, her first novel, in the autumn.

She has penned the book with author Louise Penny.

Publishers say the “high-stakes thriller of international intrigue features behind-the-scenes global drama informed by details only an insider could know”.

Louise Penny (Jean-Francois Berube)The novel centres around a novice secretary of state, who has “joined the administration of her rival, a president inaugurated after four years of American leadership that shrank from the world stage”.

It features “a series of terrorist attacks (which) throws the global order into disarray, and the secretary is tasked with assembling a team to unravel the deadly conspiracy”.

Former US secretary of state Ms Clinton said: “Writing a thriller with Louise is a dream come true. I’ve relished every one of her books and their characters, as well as her friendship.

“Now we’re joining our experiences to explore the complex world of high stakes diplomacy and treachery. All is not as it first appears.”

Canadian author Ms Penny said it was “an incredible experience to get inside the State Department, inside the White House, inside the mind of the secretary of state as high stake crises explode”.

She added: “Before we started we talked about her time as secretary of state. What was her worst nightmare? State Of Terror is the answer.”

Jeremy Trevathan, Pan Macmillan publisher, said: “This is emphatically a story for our times and we are confident it will establish itself as a bestseller for years to come.”

State Of Terror will be published by Pan Macmillan in the UK in October.