Zachary Arlen Post is a lazy but ambitious associate editor at IT magazine who finds himself in a rut: he can't seem to move up. When Mark Larkin comes to work for IT, Zack realizes immediately that he has met his nemesis. Mark plays the magazine power game very well: He works hard (Zack would prefer to trade emails with his unstable, paranoid pal Willie Lister); his story ideas have the right spin for IT (Zack disdains most of what IT publishes); and he knows how to network with his superiors (a skill Zack never mastered). Mark is clearly headed for big things. Soon enough, he becomes Zack and Willie's boss.

Complicating Zack's life further is his involvement with two women at the magazine. One is Leslie Usher-Soames, a British ice queen whose family knew Winston Churchill (Winston Churchill!) The other is Ivy Kooper, a young, earnest intern who is the daughter of the magazine's corporate counsel. Zack is attracted to both women for different reasons: to Ivy because she is sweet and trusting; to Leslie because she has a hyphenated last name and her family is well-connected (Winston Churchill!) But when Zack is forced to choose between them, he opts for style-and the hyphen-over substance.

Emboldened by his decision (and the fact that he got away with treating Ivy so shabbily), Zack turns his attention to destroying Mark Larkin. In a series of complex, hilarious maneuvers, Zach plays Iago to Willie's Othello, and soon Mark is discovered dead-an apparent suicide. The police aren't convinced, however, and as they get closer to the truth, Willie himself commits suicide. Zack is not implicated.

By the end of the novel, two things are clear: Zack is exactly what he wants to be-a senior editor at IT, married to Leslie Usher-Soames, with Ivy as one of his assistant editors-and that what he wants will never make him happy.

SLAB RAT is a hip, sophisticated morality tale that will appeal to any reader who enjoys sharp wit and clever storytelling.