Paul Rudnick

Campy Spy Hijinks
A review of the NetGalley ARC eBook read in advance of the Atria Books hardcover (May 26, 2026).

The synopsis describing this as Guy Ritchie directing an episode of Queer Eye doesn't go far enough to describe this comedy spy caper. It is more like an elite team such as from the forces of Kingsman and The Night Agent going up against Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War & Endgame in order to prevent an apocalyptic unleashing of mythological powers such as at the end of Raiders of show more the Lost Ark and it is all scored to music from Follies a.o. by Stephen Sondheim. The twist being that the elite force is gay 🏳️‍🌈 in a subverting of most spy archetypes.

If the above TV-series, movie and Broadway musical references are over your head, then this may not be the book for you. If you recognize all of them, this book will be like catnip 😊. The secret weapon here is that the book is not only written in the style of irreverent movie and cultural critic [author:Libby Gelman-Waxner|729920], the said fictional writer actually makes a late appearance as the aunt of the lead character Andrew Birnbaum.

Before the age of present day takedown critics on podcasts, YouTube channels, substacks a.o. there was Libby Gelman-Waxner's regular "If You Ask Me" column in magazines such as Premiere, People and New Yorker. Libby was the pseudonym of writer Paul Rudnick who combines all of those same snarky, pop cultural references into this campy hijinks spy caper novel with the added delight of bringing the fictional Libby to life.

My thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advance ARC copy for which I provide this honest review.

Trivia and Links
For an early collection of Libby Gelman-Waxner columns see [book:If You Ask Me: The Collected Columns of America's Most Beloved and Irresponsible Critic|1570547] (1994).

I managed to trace a few online collections of Libby Gelman-Waxner columns:
Libby Gelman-Waxner at the New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/libby-gelman-waxner
Libby Gelman-Waxner: The Lost Years https://libbygelmanwaxner.blogspot.com/ show less

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: If Guy Ritchie directed an episode of Queer Eye, it might look something like this hilarious and action-packed spy thriller by Paul Rudnick, acclaimed screenwriter and author of Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style, that blends espionage and social commentary, with an elite, gay secret society.

They are fierce patriots. They are licensed to kill. And they are really, really gay. Welcome to democracy’s secret weapon, the Tuxedo Society.

When show more Andrew Birnbaum, a struggling actor making ends meet by working in a candle shop, gets invited to have dinner with the exclusive Tuxedo Society by his best friend, Brock, his life takes an unexpected turn. What seems like a group of wealthy socialites gathering for gossip and cocktails quickly spirals into a world of espionage, danger, and hilarity.

Andrew soon meets Reggie O’Malley, a Navy SEAL with a penchant for black tie, who recruits Andrew to join the society’s covert mission to protect national security. Armed with gadgets like an inflatable life raft backpack, a yoga mat that doubles as an assault rifle, and, of course, an AMEX Black Card, Andrew quickly finds himself tackling spies, thwarting assassinations, and facing a host of unexpected threats in settings from the White House to the Vatican to the Summer Olympic Games.

The stakes escalate when Andrew and his comrades are sent on a jet-setting mission to uncover the truth about an ancient artifact. Along the way, they clash with oligarchs, crooked senators, and a smarmy televangelist with sinister plans for world domination.

Packed with Paul Rudnick’s signature wit, The Tuxedo Society is a wild ride through decadence, danger, and unexpected heroism, as Andrew discovers that saving the world might just be the role he’s been waiting for.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Take all the silliness of a Bond flick and sprinkle fairy-dust on it, detomate a glitter bomb in a 1979 bath house, pipe in Bette Midler and Streisand and Cher interspersed with Romanovsky and Phillips, and...for the five of you still reading...and here's you a read. The trappings of the twenty-first century feel like they're set dressing. Like, this cisqueer white man cabal of queens sounds like Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. Pastiche of the ways and words of the Good Old Days, fun for a while but...wears thin.

I'm the target audience for this book. I liked it. I really laughed, in pleasure, at the jokes. It gave me the happy nostalgia of knowing someone out there still remembers my heyday.

But it's twenty-fuckin'-twenty-six, y'all. Plug your hearing aid into the charger. Suicide bombers are fiendishly hard to track down using modern data analysis...gaydar shit-sure got no chance. I think we're past this kind of spying being used for humor because we're past this kind of spying being usable in real-world settings, which is always the fun of an espionage novel. It's not realistic or the CIA/NSA/MI{numeral} folk would be on the publisher, the writer, and the writer's mama with every resource they possess; but we-the-reader need to feel it *could* be and that it *could* happen like this.

But there are some lines that truly glitter like well-cut diamonds. Can't quote them because no really good examples don't also spoil stuff, annd if you don't live in fear of the Spoiler Stasi, you haven't been nastygrammed by any of 'em yet. Spoiled things.

Still a fun read, but one I'll send you to the library to check out, not your Bookshop.org cart. show less

(audio) Paul Rudnick is a genius of snark, but who knew he had a soft heart? This saga of two eighteen year olds meeting cute and awkward at Yale, and living their lives together and apart, is so enjoyable that the listener longs for twelve more discs. Farrell is a gay scion of the third wealthiest family in the US, but has stayed deep in the closet until he meets Nate Reminger, a nice Jewish boy from New Jersey, who has also never had a boyfriend. Nate's the narrator, and his luminous show more descriptions of Farrell are almost more than swoony, from his looks to his clothing to his off-campus mansion to his incredibly hilarious observations on everyone and everything. The book is a running commentary of New York culture from the '70s to the couple's seventies. There's tragedy aplenty, much of it caused by Farrell's disgusting family, with long periods of separation, Farrell's unlikely marriage, Nate's insecurities as a playwright, and the riotous descriptions of many segments of the culture and the accompanying zeitgeist, never zeit-y or geist-ier than by Rudnick's acid pen. The narration is flawless and enhances the audio all the way to near-visual heights. A TV series almost seems like a necessity! show less

As we expect from our snarkiest chronicler of gay men's mores and manners, this novel will induce an LOL for every few pages, mostly in asides by the authoritative character. Here it is Jake, deceased partner of Rob, a literary agent, who cannot get over his loss. But unlike most of Rudnick's comic novels, this one throws a spotlight on a straight couple, Linda and Sean, and on a techbro in the Musk mold. The cover art also reflects a typical romance read, which might be Rudnick's intent, show more and not a bad idea if it broadens his audience! All the elements, and a few supporting characters, make for a hilarious buildup to a Maine island wedding. Big fun, with serious contemplation of the nature of love as it is confronted by the practicalities of daily drudgery.

Quote: "It's one of those golf resorts where world leaders meet to discuss income inequality and how to ignore it the rest of the year." show less