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Title details for Diablerie by Walter Mosley - Available

Diablerie

A Novel

by Walter Mosley
Richard Allen
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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In this icy noir from a master of American fiction, the darkest secrets are the ones we keep hidden from ourselves.


Ben Dibbuk has a good job, an accomplished wife, a bright college-age daughter, and a patient young mistress. Even as he goes through the motions of everyday life, however, inside he feels nothing. The explanation for this emotional void lies in the years he spent as a blacked-out drunk before pulling his life together—years in which he knows he committed acts he doesn't remember. Then a woman from his past turns up at a gala for his wife's new gig at a magazine called Diablerie and makes it clear that she remembers something he doesn't. Their encounter sets wheels in motion that will propel Dibbuk toward new knowledge and perhaps the chance to feel again. With the same erotic force as Killing Johnny Fry but grounded in a far darker vision of human nature, Diablerie is a transfixing new novel from one of our most powerful writers.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 3, 2008

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400126385
      • File size: 165285 KB
      • Duration: 05:44:20

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Walter Mosley's novels are full of everyday people with everyday problems. They rarely feature big, brave action heroes who laugh at death. DIABLERIE is odd, even by Mosley standards. The main character (not "hero," please) is an amoral computer programmer who can't seem to feel anything but lust. But it's just possible that during one of his alcohol-induced blackouts Ben Dibbuk found the passion to murder. Who can communicate all that? Richard Allen is up to the challenge. His rich baritone and silky-smooth delivery make Dibbuk and all the other characters seem so very real. He even makes Dibbuk's Russian mistress sound believable, no easy feat. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from October 15, 2007
      In this short, intense roman dur
      (or “serious novel”), Mosley probes the human condition through Ben Dibbuk, a black man whose name evokes the dybbuk of Jewish folklore. A 47-year-old computer programmer for a New York City bank, Dibbuk is married to Mona, the editor of a new cutting-edge magazine, Diablerie
      , which “can mean either mischievous or evil.” He has a daughter at NYU and a 21-year-old Russian mistress whose apartment and graduate school tuition he pays for. Then a woman he doesn’t remember threatens to shatter the shell Dibbuk has built to protect himself from his troubled, alcoholic past. When Dibbuk discovers Mona is having him investigated, he realizes he risks being charged for a murder he can’t remember but may have committed. As Dibbuk struggles to escape the emotional vacuum of his life, he may not be free to enjoy his reawakening. This is Mosley at his deepest and best, scratching away the faces we wear to reveal the person behind the masks.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 28, 2008
      A taut and suspenseful thriller that follows Ben Dibbuk as he unravels a mysterious plot against him initiated by his own wife, Mosley's latest effort is captivating. Richard Allen's reading, however, is not quite suitable—not because he isn't clear or doesn't reads well, but because his deep and rich tone that sounds almost classically trained doesn't suit the common, everyman character of Dibbuk. Allen's narration creates a disconnect from the story, and he fails to capture the essence of this thrilling tale with characters whose voices only vaguely resemble those of Mosley's text. Though there is an underlying tension created at the very onset of the story, Allen is simply not the right choice for this particular reading. Simultaneous release with the Bloomsbury hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 15).

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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