It’s been a good year for former Spy staffers. Last November saw the marvelous “Spy: The Funny Years,” which was almost as good as the hype. In March, Kurt Andersen’s “Heyday” received kind reviews, as did Larry Doyle’s very funny “I Love You, Beth Cooper,” published in May. And now, saving the best for last, comes the unexpected pleasure of Jamie Malanowski’s “The Coup” (Doubleday, $22.95).
Rather than taking a cue from his former colleagues, Malanowski wrote a comic novel that’s more comparable to Washington, D.C. satires such as Chris Buckley’s “Boomsday” and Jeffrey Frank’s “Trudy Hopedale,” in which a main character is ridiculed for writing biographies of vice presidents. In “The Coup,” the unlikely hero is a VP for our times: the brilliantly named Goodwin Pope, a software-designing, Ivy League alpha male who entered politics out of boredom, only to be sucked into D.C. intrigue as the result of his resentment for the president.
He’s a man of few qualities beyond his populist appeal and knowledge of chocolate. Taking his bitterness to the logical conclusion, he masterminds a plot to convict this people’s president of treason. As with most books of this stripe, the intersection of politics and media is key in the form of slutty reporter Maggie Newbold, which begs the question: Is there a novelist alive having more fun with characters’ names? Newbold is fairly sure she hasn’t left her underwear with all of her interview subjects (because she doesn’t always wear panties), and she’s also keen to “put some vice into this vice presidency,” bringing to mind Ana Marie Cox’s “Dog Days.”
In other words, the plot of “The Coup” – Malanowski’s first book in nearly 15 years, after stints co-writing the Spy-inspired show “Loose Lips” and editing Playboy – is as far-fetched as Buckley’s “Boomsday” and as wry and knowing as Frank’s “Hopedale,” but with a flavor all its own. It’s a sputtering outrageous piece of work that should cause a slew of inappropriate public laughter. It’s perfect nonsense sprinkled with enough bitter truths, much like Spy used to be back in those funny, funny years.