On the edge of a ridge removed from the sea lay a small wooden inn half-buried in snow. Four hooded figures, grunting against the storm, struggled unbidden into its darkened entry. Snow swirled in around them, and the clouds of their breath were torn away.

Thus begins The Apprentice, the 1996 novel by I. Lewis Libby, better known for fictitious weapons of mass destruction. The novel went into paperback after some decent reviews, but appears to have sunk without a trace. Amazon claims that you can find copies for as little as $124, but the cheapest I could see in Abebooks.com was going for $169. I don’t think the price has much to do with the quality of writing: “grunting against the storm”? “struggled unbidden”? “the clouds of their breath were torn away”? This first paragraph reminds me of nothing more than Snoopy typing on the roof of his doghouse.

Word is that Libby is working on a new piece of fiction, soon to debut in federal court.