Thomas Mallon's success with Watergate, his novel reimagining that subject, gave hope that this book would provide a similar jolt in tackling the Reagan administration during 1986. But as entertaining as some of the gossipy conversations are (Nancy and her astrologer, Nancy and Merv Griffin, Christopher Hitchens and Pamela Harriman), the vaporousness of the president at the center of the story makes the novel ultimately disappointing. If Reagan's official biographer couldn't figure him out, there should be no points deducted for Mallon's ambiguity. But a reader will demand more from a real-life subject of a novel, an intensification, and with Reagan there is only fog.
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