The Scoop

An unflinching look at what happens to the integrity of an ambitious journalist when she--in desperation--takes a job at an online tabloid news outlet. 

The Scoop, a searing and suspenseful first novel by Erin Van Der Meer, centers on ambitious, 29-year-old Francesca “Frankie” Miller who loses her editorial job at an elitist New York City-based magazine. 

For three months, she scrambles to find work. Losing hope and in desperation, Frankie takes a job at The Scoop, a cultural tabloid-like news website cast as a fictionalized off-shoot of a stereotypical FOX News and/or its parent company The Wall Street Journal. Frankie hopes this job will be a mere stop-gap employment measure, especially as it seems that no reporting is off-limits at this "click-bait" digital news outlet. In need of a steady paycheck and lured by the prospect of a better future job dangled by her domineering male boss, Frankie plays along. She launches a juicy tell-all story that takes down a rock star, but this becomes the tipping point that forces Frankie to ultimately question herself; her morales, values, and integrity; and her ambitions.

 

Van Der Meer presents an authentically based, provocative exposé of the contemporary news industry, delivering insights via the acerbic wit of her protagonist whose plight ultimately descends into a much deeper, surprisingly profound and personally reflective story.

 

The Scoop by Erin Van Der Meer

Grand Central Publishing, $29.00 hardcover, paperback, 9781538776339, 320 pages

Publishing Date: April 21,2026

To order this book on Bookshop.org, link HERE

Learn more about Erin Van Der Meer HERE

The Means

Douglas Brunt (Ghosts of Manhattan) brings readers deep into the competitive world of multimedia journalism as it intersects with the hard-boiled grit of politics. Spanning four years and various U.S. locales, The Means braids together three distinct points of view to form a compelling, complex plot that unspools gradually, deepening the mystery at the center of the book.

Samantha Davis, a former child actress, is smart, beautiful and ambitious. Now a lawyer, she's hired as a national TV news reporter. As she learns the ropes, often the hard way, she pursues an evolving news story concerning the upcoming presidential election that raises her profile and tests her integrity.

Tom Pauley is a handsome, North Carolina defense attorney. After he wins a controversial trial, the well-liked, middle-class fiscal conservative is tapped by the GOP to make a run for governor. Might his popularity and appealing poll numbers encourage him to set his sights on the White House?

Mitchell Mason is a study in personal and professional contradiction: ruthless one minute, caring and sensitive the next. He's a brash, headstrong Democrat serving as president in a post-Obama America. A scandal from his past, however, suddenly threatens to put his re-election bid in peril.

Brunt is meticulous and detailed-oriented. His finely tuned novel is crafted via cinematic scenes, rich in dialogue, that authentically reveal the trappings and snares of power, ambition and human nature. The corrosion of the U.S. political system--on both sides of the aisle--is at the heart of this engrossing, seductive political thriller served with a twist.

The Means by Douglas Brunt

Touchstone, $26.00 Hardcover, 9781476772578, 352 pp

Publication Date: September 16, 2014

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (9/23/14), click HERE