A Hole in the Story

In the heart of the #MeToo movement, political journalist Adam Zweig is pulled into a decades-old allegation of sexual impropriety when a former colleague and friend, Valerie Iovine, writes a personal essay about being propositioned at work by their former editor Max Lieberthol when she was a young reporter. Adam was told of the harassment when it happened and can confirm Valerie’s claim, but he has his own complicated past with her, too. Using a mix of wry humor and incisive character study, National Book Award finalist Kalfus (2 A.M. in Little America) explores the sexual politics of the late 1990s and the recent moment, focusing mainly on the way the patriarchal culture of the news business facilitates men’s insidious obtuseness and selfishness to cause harm while they simultaneously claim innocence. This expert handling of the topic will remind readers of the novel Fleishman Is in Trouble and the movie Promising Young Woman.