Hunter Biden book: President’s son to release memoir in April

Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden and a focus of repeated attacks by Donald Trump, will release a memoir in April.

The book, titled Beautiful Things, will focus on Mr Biden's publicised struggles with substance abuse, the publisher Gallery Books said in a statement on Thursday.

Beautiful Things was acquired by the publisher, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in late 2019, but was kept a secret as Mr Biden's father was still campaigning for president and his own finances were under investigation by the Justice Department.

Mr Biden's book was circulated among several authors before it was announced, receiving advance praise from Dave Eggers and Anne Lamont, according to the Associated Press.

“In his harrowing and compulsively readable memoir, Hunter Biden proves again that anybody — even the son of a United States President — can take a ride on the pink horse down nightmare alley,” legendary author Stephen King wrote in his blurb of the book.

“Biden remembers it all and tells it all with a bravery that is both heartbreaking and quite gorgeous. He starts with a question: Where’s Hunter? The answer is he’s in this book, the good, the bad, and the beautiful,” he added.

In a preview of the memoir released by Gallery, the president's son wrote: “I come from a family forged by tragedies and bound by a remarkable, unbreakable love.”

Mr Biden, 51, is the oldest surviving child of the president, whose first wife and 1-year-old daughter were killed in a car crash in 1972 and first child Beau died from brain cancer in 2015.

The AP reported that the title of the memoir, Beautiful Things, refers to an expression Mr Biden and Beau would say to each other after he was diagnosed with cancer. They used it to emphasise what was important in life.

The book was written in collaboration with the author and journalist Drew Jubera.

Mr Biden, who is a lawyer and former lobbyist, has been the focus of repeated attacks by conservative politicians and pundits, who have claimed without evidence that he influenced US foreign policy while on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

Although the claims were never corroborated, Mr Trump, the former president, and others insisted that Mr Biden used his father's name for his own personal gain.

In 2019, after it was revealed that he pressured Ukraine into investigating Mr Biden and his father, Mr Trump was impeached by the House. He was later acquitted by the Senate.

Despite Mr Trump and his children's repeated attacks on Mr Biden, including about his struggles with addiction, Mr Biden defended his son during one of the debates for 2020's presidential election.

“My son, like a lot of people, like a lot of people you know at home, had a drug problem,” Mr Biden said. “He’s overtaken it. He’s fixed it. He’s worked on it, and I’m proud of him. I’m proud of my son,” he added.

The Justice Department also announced late last year that it is looking into Mr Biden's tax affairs, and the AP reported that he had received a subpoena to discuss his business dealings. He has denied any wrongdoing.