From Washingtonian magazine's "Post Watch" column:

If sex sells, former Post executive editor Len Downie's novel about a female reporter uncovering a Washington scandal might have legs.

By the middle of chapter two, a reporter has bedded his source: "Then she turned toward him, reached back and unhooked her bra, freeing her breasts. Mark stood there awkwardly, staring at this effortlessly sexy woman."

Early sex scenes are a bit of a tease as Downie's narrative builds into a potboiler reaching from the newsroom to the White House to the CIA. Sources meet hot reporter Sarah Page -- a combination of Karen Silkwood and Dana Priest -- at the Monocle and the Hay-Adams; the bad guy lives on the St. Mary's River, where Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn have a place.