we'd be about mid-way through it.
The protagonist has been given heroic qualities. He parlayed his reputation for busting big-time white collar criminals into the governorship of a large state. From that powerful position, he continues to be a thorn in the side of the Wall St. crooks and liars. Yet for all his smarts, he somehow overlooks that the prey he's stalking has friends in very high places. Then because he can't help himself, he consorts with a high priced hooker. Leaving behind the evidence of the arrangement of the assignation. The prostitution ring is busted by the Feds and Mr. Hero gets scooped as client #1. But no John Doe invisibiilty cloak for our hero. He's outed immediately in the media.
The hero's life is ruined. The political career over, the marriage in shambles, possible indictment under the Mann Act and the crooks and liars breaking out the Dom Perignon.
Would you stop reading the book at this point? Have the deeply flawed hero fade away as one more stupid politician that got caught with his pants down? I'd like to continue reading a few more chapters. Is the hero really that dumb (and he may well be)? Can he figure out a way to fight back against the crooks and liars even though his life as he and we knew it is over? Or is he three steps ahead of everybody and all will be revealed in the last chapter including that the hero is a super-hero? (Okay, Sptizer's human; so, it's unlikely that he's been writing the story; oh, but if he were, it would be one of the best thrillers of all time.)
If it's just a tawdry little tale of the secrets of a rich and powerful man (and soon to be ex-governor), it's a story for the consumers of tabloids and the sooner it disappears from all other media sources, the better. If the tale is the secrets of a rich and powerful man and the secrets and illegality of the powerful men that are taking him down, it's better for Spitzer to postpone that resignation. Who knows, even if he didn't write the story and was just a stupid jerk, he might still get lucky and take down some very powerful and rich people with him.
(My fantasy thriller is that Spitzer laid a big trap for the Feds. One that creates a portal into the NSA-Telecom black box. One that gives him standing to go after the telecoms. And Kristin the prostitute is a an undercover agent for the forces of good.)