In this sly Washington satire, the second novel from Playboy
managing editor Malanowski (Mr. Stupid Goes to Washington
), a scheming U.S. vice president sets out to “dethrone” the president. After four years in the Senate, Godwin Pope, a rich and handsome Princeton grad, decides to run for president against the incumbent, Jack Mahone, a slick, folksy former Louisiana governor who crushes him in a primary debate. In a surprise move, Jack asks Godwin to be his running mate and Godwin accepts. Soon after their victory, Godwin becomes bored and covets the top job for himself. Enter Irene Kim, a comely trade mission rep (spy?!) from China, who Godwin suspects could snare Jack in a sex scandal of impeachment proportions. The flirtatious fly in the ointment is Newsbreak
journalist Maggie Newbold, a disgraced Pulitzer Prize winner struggling to expose—or embrace—Godwin, a brilliant manipulator who presents a delicious paradoxical choice to Maggie at novel's end. Malanowski's portrait of a master political double-dealer is as entertaining as it is scary. (July)
