The message of Joe McGinniss's first novel, "The Dream Team," is to stay away from fast women and slow horses, but the message isn't what matters here. What matters here is how Mr. McGinniss succeeds in holding our interest through a six-day binge in Miami while old Barnaby tries to handicap the horses at Hialeah, while young Jennifer tries to clutch life to her breast and while the young narrator of their adventures tries to enjoy the fruits of both activities.

The young narrator of "The Dream Team" is an author on tour promoting his best-selling book, while his wife and children languish back home in the East. Though his story is a fantasy, we might as well think of him as Joe promoting his first book, "The Selling of the President." In San Francisco, near the end of his tour, Joe meets up with Barnaby and Jennifer...