Reese Witherspoon teams up with Harlan Coben on her first suspense novel

Reese Witherspoon arrives at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Image: Al Powers/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images

NEW YORK — Reese Witherspoon’s latest literary news marks a new direction for the Oscar-winning actor, producer, and founder of her own book club.

Grand Central Publishing announced Wednesday that the “Legally Blonde” and “Big Little Lies” star is teaming with the bestselling thriller writer and Netflix producer-creator Harlan Coben on a suspense novel, her first work of adult fiction. The book, currently untitled, is scheduled for next fall and is being developed out of an idea — details to come — that Witherspoon came up with.

“To say I am a fan of Harlan’s body of work is a massive understatement,” Witherspoon said in a statement issued through Grand Central, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. “The fact that he found my idea for this thriller intriguing enough to want to partner with me on it as co-author is a dream becoming a reality. Scheming with Harlan on how to thrill audiences with mysterious characters and complex narrative twists and turns has already been more fun than I can describe. I can’t wait for everyone to read what we have been imagining.”

Coben has sold tens of millions of books worldwide, his notable works including the Myron Bolitar series and such standalone novels as “Hold Tight” and “Fool Me Once,” which he helped produce for Netflix. In a statement Wednesday, he praised Witherspoon for her “unrivaled” storytelling instincts.

“Once we began discussing her idea, there was no turning back,” he said. “Collaborating with Reese has been a pure joy and so creatively rewarding. I could not be more excited about putting this novel out into the world.”

Witherspoon, who recently announced she had chosen Lauren Ling Brown’s “Society of Lies” as her October book club pick, isn’t the first screen performer to collaborate with a prominent fiction writer. Oscar-winner Viola Davis is working with James Patterson on a novel about a Black female judge in the rural South. Witherspoon is directly involved in another notable pairing — she and her media company, Hello Sunshine, are set to produce a film adaptation of the Patterson-Dolly Parton novel “Run, Rose, Run.”