Sammy is in the House!

"The stakes, the pressure, the perpetual potential for both extraordinary progress and crippling failure — everything was ratcheted up to a spectacular intensity, now that I worked for the president and vice president of the United States."

In this incisive comedy, late twenty-something Sammy Joyce — hypochondriac, klutz, jumper-to-conclusions — is in the White House as a health-care advisor to the newly elected administration. All the chips seem to be falling into place: She's living with her best friend, successfully keeping her pet Japanese fighting fish alive, and reveling in her romance with Charlie Lawton, an up-and-coming Washington Post reporter.

However, soon after taking office, the administration finds itself deep in a red-hot White House scandal. President Wye's old problem with the bottle re-emerges. His family is creating havoc. And an informant within the administration begins leaking damaging information. On top of it all, a secret deal with an Indian pharmaceutical company for an experimental drug unleashes a fury that threatens to shake the administration to its core. While the White House braces for a fiery response within the Beltway, Sammy fights to distance herself from the turmoil that surrounds her personally and professionally. But at a time when she needs Charlie more than ever, he gets promoted and moves to New York. As the heat surrounding the Oval Office intensifies, the political climate and Sammy's love life spiral out of control. Can she hold her ground when her relationships, ideals, and most importantly, her ability to trust are all coming apart at the seams?

In Sammy's House, Kristin Gore brings a novelist's eye to the inner workings of the White House, giving hilarious insight and a fresh perspective on political life.

"Kristin Gore, the second of Al and Tipper Gore's three daughters, has been known as the one with a hyperactive funny bone. The young writer, who recently turned 30, has advanced from the Harvard Lampoon to television's 'Futurama' and 'Saturday Night Live' to comic novels involving Washington politics. 'Sammy's Hill,' published three years ago, introduced lovable, klutzy Samantha (Sammy) Joyce, then... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) an aide to Sen. Robert Gary. Now, in 'Sammy's House,' Gary is vice president, in the administration of President Max Wye, and Sammy works on health-care issues in the White House.

The new book is readable, sometimes funny and certainly interesting, but ultimately it has the problem of being two different novels that don't fit together. Perhaps two-thirds of Gore's story is high-grade chick-lit about Sammy's romantic adventures and professional mishaps. The rest can only be read as an angry, down-and-dirty roman a clef in which President Wye and Vice President Gary stand in for President Clinton and Vice President Gore; we watch as the former becomes embroiled in a scandal that horrifies the honorable No. 2 who has served him loyally. Kristin Gore is a comic writer, but there's nothing remotely funny about her scathing fictional portrait of Clinton.

The book starts as chick-lit. Sammy is sweet, smart, sexy and scatterbrained. In the opening scene, she's on a Potomac cruise, hears fireworks, thinks it's a terrorist attack and dives into the river. She has a goldfish named Cal Ripken Jr. She hates cottage cheese and loves Steve Martin. In India she takes a rough ride on a camel that leaves her worried about 'possible harm done to my reproductive organs.' Most of all, Sammy is in love. Mr. Right is named Charlie, and he's an investigative reporter for The Washington Post; he is, needless to say, handsome, talented and generally adorable, but still things go wrong. The lovers have endless misunderstandings. They make up and break up, over and over. When they plan a romantic Thanksgiving in her apartment, her parents appear unexpectedly, catch them in bed and move in. A little of this goes a long way — and Gore strings out the Thanksgiving fiasco for about 15 pages, which include poor Charlie having to sleep on the sofa and Sammy's dad inadvertently killing Cal Ripken Jr.

Meanwhile, a darker story begins to surface. President Wye, a former governor of Louisiana, is sometimes brilliant, but 'he always stared at himself for too long in mirrors,' 'he wanted to please too many people to be able to consistently take tough stands,' and 'he lacked a strong inner compass.' There was a problem during the campaign when reporters realized that Wye's stump speech had plagiarized an obscure foreign politician (something like this happened to Sen. Joe Biden), but he was saved when Gary, the loyal vice presidential candidate, used his 'integrity credentials' to defend him.

Now, two years into the presidency, a far bigger scandal looms. President Wye claims to have not used alcohol for many years. But our Sammy, in her Nancy Drew mode, is among the first to learn that's not true. Soon the president is behaving erratically. He's leaving incoherent voice-mail messages around town, and rumors are spreading. Worse, as Sammy knows, he's also been using an illegal experimental drug to combat his drinking. At a televised news conference, he flatly denies he's had a drink in years, although many people know better. An independent counsel is appointed, and subpoenas begin to fly. Where will it end? Will the erring president survive like Clinton or go down like Nixon? We must take this drinking-and-lying scandal as an analogy to Clinton's problem with bimbo eruptions in general and Monica Lewinsky in particular. (Somewhat similarly, William Safire, after writing speeches for President Nixon, wrote a post-Watergate novel called 'Full Disclosure' in which a Nixonesque president suffered from physical blindness that suggested Nixon's moral blindness.)

The upstanding Vice President Gary is agonized by the scandal and, before he goes to testify, confides in Sammy — they seem to have almost a father-daughter relationship: 'I didn't realize how weak he truly is. ... It's just amazing how quickly a person you thought you knew can completely disappoint you. ... And now we're all trapped. ... Now he's made us all look like liars.'

The roman a clef doesn't stop with the president and vice president. The first lady has a nasty disposition, a 'glossy smile,' a 'hairsprayed coif' and 'heavy perfume' (it makes Sammy sneeze), and her 'paranoia was legendary.' The villainous opposition leader in the Senate is described as waxen in appearance and in bed with the pharmaceutical companies; he also has the rather odd name of Frand, which might be confused with either fraud or Frist. And there is a George W. Bush-style ex-president named Pile (make of that what you will), who in his two terms nearly destroyed the country and in retirement makes a fool of himself in a televised reality show called 'Piling On.'

In all this, Gore demonstrates narrative skill and a knack for good dialogue and vivid descriptions. But will readers who come to this expecting chick-lit enjoy the political hardball, or will political types endure Sammy's romantic tribulations? Gore should have gone one way or the other. If she had written this as a political novel, without the cute stuff, it would certainly have been a cut above average in that genre. As it is, Kristin Gore has not told us anything about Bill Clinton that we haven't known for years. Still, for Al Gore's daughter to remind us of the former president's failings (and of her father's virtues) in this very public manner, at a time when Al Gore may still seek his party's presidential nomination, and Clinton's wife might be his rival, leaves us wondering if her excursion into recent history can be entirely innocent of political intent.

" Reviewed by Carolyn See, who may be reached at www.carolynsee.comDavid Anthony Durham, whose most recent novels are 'Acacia' and 'Pride of Carthage'Patrick Anderson, whose e-mail address is mondaythrillers(at)aol.com., Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group)
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"[An] amusing insider's turn on a place that takes itself way too seriously." Los Angeles Times

"[Gore's] heroine remains compelling and thoroughly lovable, and readers will be thrilled to find Sammy back in the saddle again as she navigates the treacheries of Washington politics and her own love life." Booklist

"A hilarious and suspenseful six-month romp through the nation's capital." BookPage

"Despite a few wicked sparks (the reality show starring the ex-president is priceless), Gore's satire is more affectionate than biting." Kirkus Reviews

The heroine of Gore's bestselling inside-the-beltway romp, "Sammy's Hill," returns, and this time the laughs are richer and the stakes are higher--at home and in the house (the White House, that is).

Kristin Gore was born in 1977 and graduated from Harvard, where she was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon. She has written for several television shows, including Futurama and Saturday Night Live, for which she received an Emmy nomination and a Writer's Guild Award. Her first novel, Sammy's Hill, was a New York Times bestseller and is currently being adapted for the screen by Columbia Pictures. Kristin lives with her husband in Los Angeles.