The defeated US presidential candidate will publish State of Terror, her first novel, in October.

She has penned the book with Canadian 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”.

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 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.”

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.”