Dog Days

December 12, 2005
Cox came to fame in 2004 as Wonkette, a D.C. insider whose blog injected (and still injects) levity and sarcasm into the earnest national political scene. In her snarky fictive debut, it's August in a presidential election year, and Kerryesque nominee John Hillman has failed to wow the Democratic convention. Worse yet, Hillman is under attack from the Citizens for Clear Heads, who claim that the candidate, as a student, took part in mind-control experiments, and now may be under someone's control. Campaign staffer and heroine Melanie Thorton must divert the media from the Clear Heads story before it destroys what's left of Hillman's appeal; she also hopes to rekindle her affair with a high-powered (but married) reporter. Desperate to distract the press (and herself), Melanie creates Capitolette, whose wholly fictional blog describes paid sexual dalliances with elected officials. (Cox's early blog link to Washingtonienne, whose exploits match Capitolette's exactly, set in motion the chain of events which would reveal Washingtonienne as real Hill staffer Jessica Cutler.) Wanting to keep the Capitolette story going, Melanie and her best friend find a (very) willing D.C. waitress and teach her to play the role of Capitolette—a role she embraces, in bedrooms if not online, as unintended consequences pile up. Cox aims for a light comedy of Washington power, halfway between Primary Colors
and Sex and the City
. Her powers of plot construction, though, don't match her political savvy: emotions are predictable, plot twists few. Fans of Wonkette's wit will find themselves better served by her blog—unless they want to revisit August 2004 as seen from the Kerry campaign, which few real Washingtonians (and even fewer Democrats) want to do.

February 1, 2006
Cox, author of the DC political blog Wonkette, delivers a debut novel about the interplay between Washington's more minor political types during the dog days of August in a presidential election year, when campaign staffers, media, and lobbyists symbiotically angle for the best leaks, stories, sources, parties, and affairs. The novel centers on the shenanigans of two twentysomething Democrats, Melanie Thornton and Julie Wrigley, who work to offset a weirdly silly smear campaign against their candidate. As the opposing side's unmerited story gains speed, Melanie and Julie resolve to shift the nation's attention by creating a tell-all web log written by a fictional sexy girl who offers salacious tales and tidbits about her adventurous love life. After -Capitolette - is born, the city is abuzz with speculation, and all goes as planned. The tide turns, however, when Julie actually hires a girl to "be"Capitolette and has her appear on news shows and at parties. Although a tad tawdry and scattered, this so-called inside look at DC politics easily beats last year's navel-gazing DC blog book, "The Washingtonienne" by Jessica Cutler. Suitable for large fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ"6/1/05.]" -Sheila Riley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2005
Most people will not know Cox by her own name, but those who haunt the blogosphere will know her as the Washington insider who writes Wonkette.com. Often very funny--okay, snide----her online rants cover everything from the baby panda at the Washington Zoo to Pat Robertson's practice of declaring "fatwas" on those with whom he disagrees. It's not surprising that, in her first novel, Cox stays within the D.C. city limits, her cyberspace trolling ground. Her story is set in the seedy underbelly of a presidential campaign during the dog days of August. Melanie Thorton is a second-tier staffer working in Democrat John Hillman's campaign. But her job is really a sideline to her real business, having an affair with a big-name, very married political journalist. When news of the affair starts to bubble to the surface, Thorton and a friend concoct a sex scandal of their own involving a waitress who, in true Frankenstein fashion, takes on a life of her own. Cox easily captures the incestuous and ultimately vapid relationships politics engenders, but that's part of the book's problem. No one is likable here, and all the frenetic action seems pointless. Melanie gets that in the end, but it's something readers will figure out long before she does. Still, Cox's status in the blogosphere will draw media notice and attract readers as wonky as she is.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)