<P> But as presented by Malcolm, what drove McGinniss to this strategy were professional and structural liabilities--MacDonald's "lack of vividness," his drawbacks as the real - life figure who would serve as main character for his book . MacDonald, charismatic in person, lost vigor on the page . As other journalists noted, when interviewed MacDonald could "sound like an accountant ." </P> <P> "As every journalist will confirm," Malcolm writes, </P> <Dl> <Dd> "MacDonald's uninterestingness is not unusual at all...When a journalist fetches up against someone like (him), all he can do is flee and hope that a more suitable subject will turn up soon . In the MacDonald - McGinniss case we have an instance of a journalist who apparently found out too late that the subject of his book was not up to scratch--not a member of the wonderful race of auto - fictionalizers, like Joseph Mitchell's Joe Gould and Truman Capote's Perry Smith, on whom the' non-fiction novel' depends for its life...The solution that McGinniss arrived at for dealing with MacDonald's characterlessness was not a satisfactory one, but it had to do ." </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> "MacDonald's uninterestingness is not unusual at all...When a journalist fetches up against someone like (him), all he can do is flee and hope that a more suitable subject will turn up soon . In the MacDonald - McGinniss case we have an instance of a journalist who apparently found out too late that the subject of his book was not up to scratch--not a member of the wonderful race of auto - fictionalizers, like Joseph Mitchell's Joe Gould and Truman Capote's Perry Smith, on whom the' non-fiction novel' depends for its life...The solution that McGinniss arrived at for dealing with MacDonald's characterlessness was not a satisfactory one, but it had to do ." </Dd>

Wrote the book about author who deceived his subject