Sarah Palin Book Called 'Nasty,' 'Petty' in New York Times Review

In an unusual turn of events, The New York Times and the Palins are agreeing -- and it's Joe McGinniss' Palin exposé The Rogue that has them on the same page.

McGinniss infamously penned his book from a house adjacent to the Palin residence in Wasilla, Alaska, and the widely leaked salacious details -- the alleged sexual encounter with basketball player Glen Rice, the suggestions of cocaine use -- have led Todd Palin to slam the book as full of disgusting lies, innuendo, and smears. That's not far off from the Times' lambasting of the book, which reviewer Janet Maslin says is full of hearsay and baseless innuendo.

Although most of 'The Rogue' is dated, petty and easily available to anyone with Internet access, Mr. McGinniss used his time in Alaska to chase caustic, unsubstantiated gossip about the Palins, often from unnamed sources like 'one resident' and 'a friend,' Maslin writes.

That quasi-journalistic methodology has McGinniss quoting strangers about the Palins' toilet and concluding, after weighing the evidence for Sarah Palin not being the mother of her youngest son Trig, that even if Trig is in fact Palin's son she would be capable of faking the pregnancy, a charge that Maslin calls indefensibly reckless. She writes that the book is imprecise and often too busy being nasty to be lucid.

You can read the review here.