In Brad Meltzer’s latest novel, The House of Secrets, Jack Nash is the host of a long-running popular TV series that investigates the unexplained.

The fictional series, which also is called The House of Secrets, indulges Jack’s many obsessions—JFK and Benedict Arnold’s Bible among them.

But after his death—and I am not giving away any spoilers here—Jack’s own house of secrets is uncovered. (My review is here.)

Jack may not have simply been an inquisitive man deeply invested in eccentric facts—he also was working with the government.

In one of those odd truth is stranger than fiction, or maybe fiction follows facts, this kind of really happened.

To Brad Meltzer (pictured at left).

Almost.

Meltzer has been relating this story and how it influenced his novel The House of Secrets.

In an email and a press release, Meltzer explained how he nearly became a secret agent:

“A few years back, I got a call from the Department of Homeland Security asking me if I’d come in and brainstorm different ways for terrorists to attack the United States. I was honored to be a part of what they called the Red Cell program.

“Still, the one thought I was never able to shake was: ‘What a creative way for the government to get information from its citizens.’ Over the next year or so, the government continued to use me to do their own private research,” wrote Meltzer in the email.

Meltzer added: “When someone has a theory on the true killer of Abraham Lincoln, or the whereabouts of George Washington’s stolen teeth (which really are gone), they don’t send that info to the White House. They send it to me (and Jesse Ventura). Sure, 98 percent of the letters are nuts. But 2 percent of them are right on the money. 

"And I’ve made a career from it,” he added

Meltzer used many of those oddball facts in the History Channel series Decoded, which ran for two years. (The series currently is in reruns.)

The House of Secrets also includes a couple more you-won’t-believe-this oddball facts.

As Meltzer said, “This exclusive revelation focuses on the former leader of a foreign country who publicly looked like an enemy of the United States, but in reality was feeding our government secret helpful information. Why? You won’t believe it.”

And, again, without giving away any plot points, Meltzer uses an amazing story about George Washington and Benedict Arnold in his book.

The House of Secrets also marks the first time that Meltzer has used a co-author for one of his novels.

Tod Goldberg is better known as a literary novelist than a thriller writer. And in this case, Meltzer and Goldberg make a darn good team.

And for a bit of humor, this video that Meltzer made years ago never fails to make me laugh.