Diablerie

by Walter Mosley

An icy noir from a master of American fiction that proves the darkest secrets are the ones we hide from ourselves.

Ben Dibbuk is an affable guy with a steady job. He has been married to a beautiful woman for twenty years and has a lovely young daughter in college. His life is routine and uneventful, and he likes it that way. When a woman he doesn't recognize approaches him with an off-putting mix of familiarity and hostility, he is completely thrown. She claims he is stalking her, yet he doesn't even know who she is. Then he finds out his wife is having him investigated, but he can't fathom why.

There is only one man he trusts - a security guard at the company he works for - and he pledges to help untangle the web Ben's caught in and protect him if necessary. The only problem is that Ben has no idea why paranoia and suspicion surround him, but as the pieces come together he will have to face the most haunting part of his own soul and make a difficult decision about whether to fess up or cover up.

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.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Relationships, African American, Audiobook, Contemporary, Mystery Thriller

180 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Walter Mosley (b. 1952) is the author of the bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins, as well as numerous other works, from literary fiction and science fiction to a young adult novel and political monographs. His short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and the Nation, among other publications. Mosley is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a Grammy, and PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sexy, lots of hot sex, super kinky! Then there is stalking, affairs, more sex, and a hilarious post coital moment where our narrator ends up with a Charley Horse on his bum!

Read in 2008 by then a 20 something me- I loved reading this piece of erotica and mystery that made me blush.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok now. I think Walter Mosley is a great writer. There's just something really fantastic about how he tells his stories. I like how even if the stories feature main characters who are black, they're not stories about black people, race isn't an issue, the characters are who they are, not their race. This story I cannot give more stars to simply because I can't say I loved it, but that's not to say it wasn't told or written well because it was. It also happened to be disturbing, it had a lot of gratuitous sex, the main character scared me & everyone was kind of a mess. Still, it was interesting. I cringed my way to the end because I wanted to know what would happen & the truth about the mystery that surrounded Ben, the main character. Even though he scared me, Ben was interesting. He was cold & disturbed & had many flaws which made for an interesting read. Towards the end I just felt sorry for him. Though I liked the book okay it was so dark & depressing in tone that I'm hoping to start a lighter read next.

[Derek Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mosley is best known for his action/mystery novels, especially those featuring Easy Rawlins. Though a success through the years, he's been somewhat saddled by the fact that none of the followups in that series matched his first, Devil in a Blue Dress. But in between the more formulaic pieces he's gone in different other directions with varies success.

"Diablerie," to my mind, is the best he's done in years – a short, intense novel driven entirely by character and relationships. The narrator, Ben Dybbik (maybe a little heavy on symbolism here?), is haunted by his own emptiness and an alcoholic past that is mostly a dead blur. There's an existential quality to his inability to love, to mesh with, even to comprehend the people (especially the women) closest to him. If there isn't an influence from Camus here, there's certainly a parallel.

A woman from his amnesiac past stumbles on him by accident, and from that point – though he can remember nothing of her or of those days decades past – she seems determined to undermine his life. But her attempts, in the end, lead to something like a resolution of his demons. Will it last? Hard to say, especially as he may be guilty of all she says he is. A fascinating study of loss that seems to be its own justification.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

I may not qualify in some folk's minds as qualified to write a review for this book on two points...

1) I didn't finish the book. Not even close.
2) This is the first Mosley book I've picked up.

Now, with that in mind. This book was entirely misleading. The jacket makes it sound as if it's going to be a nice little mystery story regarding this great husband/father/employee who suddenly finds himself caught up in stalker allegations as well as an investigation by his wife. I thought, "well, sounds great, I'd like to know why this seemingly great guy is all of a sudden going through all this crap."

Little did I know, the book is FAR from that description. Firstly, the man we meet is shown to be a HORRIBLE father and husband in just the first few pages, even going so far as to sexually abuse his wife and ignore his daughter.

Case closed for me. Now I don't even CARE if this guy is going through shit. The only reason I'd keep reading now is to root for him to fail somehow.

Yeah, maybe I should have kept reading and at least would have a better understanding of where the book was going, but I felt so misled by the jacket blurb that I didn't really care to. And that this was my first Mosley book, I feel no loyalty leading me to "give him a chance."

So, sorry Mr. Mosley, you've lost my vote.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

First read with this author. I will try some of his series next.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give it 3.5 stars. Premise: a sober, ho-hum guy may or may not have been a murderer in his past life as a violent drunk. There's a lot of ugly, honest humanity here, and Mosley is a champ at pulling that off without being a total sap. Still, the ending was a little too neatly tied off for my taste.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I didn't like his most famous book, Devil in a Blue Dress, I found this quite good. It's a psychological thriller of sorts. A little sexually graphic though so if that offends, stay away.

[La Toya Hankins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a Walter Mosley fan from way back. I consider Easy Rawlings, Socrates Fortlow, and Leonid McGill literary uncles who I care about and want to succeed no matter what. But, Ben Dibbuk, I don't know about. Dibbuk is a computer programmer whose past begin to shape his present based on a chance encounter with a woman at a book launch party. The event is sponsored by the magazine where his wife works and typically he doesn't attend. Dibbuk, a former alcoholic, seems on the surface a staid individual who is unable to connect with his wife, daughter, his family back west, or even the people he passes on the street everyday going back to work. He has a mistress but even she can't get him to fully be present. As the book goes along. bursts of violent passion breaks through and he begins to question the truth of the accusation the woman hits him with-he is a killer. He disputes that but during his time as an alcoholic he experienced black-outs so he can't be certain what is true or isn't. The book traces his path as he faces the duplicity of his wife, the genuine friendship of a co-worker who reveals a sexual secret which thankfully Ben takes in stride, and begins to make peace with charting a different future than he imagined. While I am glad the truth is finally revealed I question of the fairness of who actually gets punished for the alleged crime. In the end Ben starts a new path filled with connections still I didn't feel a connection with him. Mosley worked his word wizardly with the description but still the story didn't inspire me or leave me hurrying to turn the page to find what happens.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Walter Mosley. One of his first books I read was The Man in the Basement. I loved it. I was hooked. I enjoyed Diablerie. It is well written (like all of Mosley's books), but I just didn't enjoy the story as much as the quirky - The Man in the Basement.

[K2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy FAMILY Love.....lol

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was slow but compelling and more sex than I was expecting.

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 2008. Mosley creates a world of sensuous experiences and all in 175 pages.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. It was a psychological, erotic thriller.

[Boydsy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Now I remember why I don't read mysteries anymore. Mosley is so obvious. First, the main character's last name is Dibbuk. Ring any bells? Spelled Dybbuk in the Jewish language, an evil spirit. Second, the same plot as every thriller. No creativity. Third, more than a lot of sex-perverted sex, every other page sex, infidelity, cheating, paranoia, and violence. Fourth, a limited, cliche vocabulary. At least it's a short book. And Mosley won the O. Henry award. Nothing here. Keep moving.

[Zen Cho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this a quick and enjoyable read, though I wonder whether I give Mosley the benefit of the doubt on gender issues because people like him whom I trust .... Anyway, the main thing that struck me about this book was that there was a lot of a certain kind of sex which I think of as book sex. Though it doesn't only happen in books -- it'd happen in movies as well, I guess, but the movies I watch aren't usually as explicit as the books I read sometimes get. What I'm not sure about is whether this sort of sex happens in real life. E.g. in one scene, the main character is hiding in a closet watching his wife and her lover make out. The wife (who is naked) bends over to look in her bag for a condom and while she isn't paying attention her lover, er, gets in there. Wife is surprised but not displeased and they have energetic intercourse.

Does this sort of thing actually happen in real life??? I mean, leaving aside the fact that that is kind of rapey, is it realistic? Do people have sex in this way? I just feel like there might be more issues of coordination -- e.g. why didn't the lover just knock her over if he was leaping on her like that? Why wasn't she pissed off? I would be pissed off! Bah.

[Inda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walter Mosley was one of my favorite writers in high school and college. While he remains a compelling writer, I just did not feel the same way I did about this one the way I have about his works in the past. Admittedly it has been years since I read his work, but with Diablerie, I found myself not as invested in the characters as I had with others in the past. I kept reading until the end because I did want to find out how the situation would end, but overall I had no feelings toward the protagonist Ben, his family or anyone else in his life. Mosley intentionally makes him somewhat unlikable, but an unlikable character can still draw some emotional investment. I just did not find it here. Overall, this is a good read on a slow day but definitely not one of Mosley's better works.

[Marissa Morrison · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I waited for Mosley's third book in the Leonid McGill series to arrive at my library branch, I picked up this other novel by Mosley. It's hard to imagine that such a great writer wrote this awful book. The plot is slow (lots of waiting for the protagonist to regain his memory--it finally happens three pages from the end), the characters are fuzzy, and the sex scenes are too numerous and too crude. Yuck.

[Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has alot of sex. Three stars just based on that.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite possibly one of the worst "mystery" novels I've read in nearly ever. A character for whom it is impossible to feel anything whatsoever, a mystery that isn't compelling or engaging, characters that are written as badly as possible and as one-dimensionally as any I've seen, this doesn't read like a novel by a well-respected, long-established master of form, but like a freshman level creative writing piece that needs lots and lots of work.

There is a chance to do something really fun with blackout alcoholism in someone's past (The Girl on the Train treads that vein effectively), but here it's just there to make the past into a "mystery." It's a plot device instead of a character trait, but everything in this novel reads like that.

Mosley appears to have forgotten the basic writing rule of "show, don't tell" and has his character walk us through his psychology, explaining to us why he does what he does, why he acts like he acts. He even has breakthroughs with his shrink after three sessions trying to discover the mystery at his heart. SPOILER: His dad beat him and his brother on a nearly daily basis, and guess what? That'll mess you up.

My favorite character transaction (these people don't relate, they just transact interactions between themselves) is a dialogue that runs as such:

"I might not be able to stop in tonight. I might be arrested for murder."
"I need you to come over. I want to fuck."

This is a man revealing to his mistress that he is currently under investigation for murder, that the police are potentially ready to arrest him for said murder, and her reaction isn't to say "Wait, what?" Her reaction isn't to think, "Uhh, wait a minute...am I sleeping with a murderer?" Her reaction isn't to ask, "What did you just say?" Her reaction isn't to wonder if he's a man who gets mistresses and then kills them. Her reaction is to say "Yeah yeah, murder shmurder, I want to bone."

And the rest of the book is just as bad.

I'd have gone for less than one star if such were available. Alas, 'tis not so.

[Elton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the third Walter Mosley book that I read this year, and it was easily my least favorite. I'm loving Mosley's style of writing because there is a mystery that you're dying to get through, but this time the mystery ended very weakly. The story here is that the main character is a guy who earns a decent living with a wife who likely doesn't love him and a daughter he doesn't connect with, but things aren't so bad. At one of his wife's work events he meets a woman who claims to know him and something bad that he did, but he doesn't remember. This wish accuses him of murder in the past, and Ben, the protagonist tries to figure it out while his marriage goes south.

In the end, it turns out that he really did kill the guy in self defense, doesn't remember it because he drank heavily back then, but gets off because there's really no way to prove it, and they lack enough evidence to indict him. He leaves his wife, realizes he loves his Russian side chick, and presumably lives his life being free to himself. That's nowhere near as good as I hoped.

At least with Easy Rawlings and Leonid McGill those characters were cool, good at detective work, and had great resolutions that made me want to read more of them. I'm okay with never reading about Ben Dibbuk again, but at least I was somewhat entertained on the way.

[Christie (The Ludic Reader) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, so Diablerie was a weird one for me. I haven’t read anything else by acclaimed writer Walter Mosley and I am not sure that I will be rushing out to purchase any more of his work, but all that said, he can definitely write. This book, though, is just odd.

Ben Dibbuk is a successful computer programmer with a beautiful wife and a college-age daughter. He’s 47 and, on the surface at least, has it all together. What he doesn’t get from his wife, Mona, he gets from Svetlana, his 21-year-old Russian grad student girlfriend.

Then at the launch of a new magazine, Diablerie, his wife will be working on, Ben meets a woman, Star, who claims to have known him back in the day. When Ben claims he can’t remember who she is, she replies “Come on, Ben. You can’t forget me, us, that day…not something like that.”

Whatever this something is, it drives Ben batshit crazy trying to remember. Star tells him that they “spent almost twenty-four hours living on whiskey and sex.” As Ben tries to recall this former life, his current life starts to unravel.

Readers will have to decide for themselves whether you care about any of it. I didn’t, but I kept reading anyway.

[john lambert · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had read a couple of books by Mosley. He is somewhat similar to Elmore Leonard, with main characters that are either cops or fixers of some sort. I remembered Mosley's books as being pretty good. I remember one title (Debbie Doesn't Do It Anymore) and that it was good.

Well, not this one - Diablerie. The main character is "hiding his feelings," "there's an emptiness in his shoulders." Come on, emptiness in one's shoulders. Humpf! While reading parts of the book I kept on reading, almost shocked, as to how stupid it was. And there is plenty of "love making," which sounds good but is written like an 8th grader. "I want to make love to you. Come over," his Russian mistress purrs late at night. Does anyone actually talk like that? I'd like to think so but not written like this.

Anyway, uptight main character, his friend who is described as a security guard but who knows people high up in the NYC police and FBI chain, angry wife, nice daughter, beautiful horny Russian babe/mistress, so it's a little thin.

Disappointed!

[Steve Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben Dibbuk is a former alcoholic with a history of black-out episodes from over 20 years ago. He is currently a COBOL programmer in a bank, making tiny corrections to a massive program that tracks all the transactions in the bank. I can't imagine a duller job. Every day is an exact duplicate of the day before, just finding bugs and adjusting tax rates.

A strange woman pops into his life at an event where his wife is to be recognized as a writer for a new lifestyle magazine. Suddenly, his life is in complete disarray as ghosts from a past he can't remember attempt to frame him for murder, along with other forgotten events. This psychological thriller races to a murder conviction, but who will it be?

This is the first Mosley book I have read. I am looking forward to reading many more. The narrator of the audiobook does an excellent job conveying the tension and emotions of the book.

[Marianne K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd heard of the author but have never read any of Mr. Mosley's books until an acquaintance told me I was missing something by doing this. Now, this acquaintance seemed to think I was avoiding Mr. Mosley solely because he is Black which had absolutely nothing to do with it. Amazing how people on the opposite side of the political spectrum perceive things. On to the book, I liked the writing but the synopsis of the story was way off. I went into the book thinking it was a simple mystery, instead I got an odd character study of a not very likable Black man who was a pathetic husband and father. What I found funny was the stereotypical portrayal of Black people's sexual appetites. All in all, this was a quick read from a talented writer, but I can't say I'm interested in reading any more by this author.

[Vernita Naylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diablerie by Walter Mosley is a dark, haunting story about life recall. Diablerie means ‘the act of mischief or associated with demonic practices.’ It is our past that can affect our future. This book is for mature audiences only. When Benny runs into Star someone in his forgotten past, his life begins to unravel. This unfortunate meeting causes his past to come back to haunt him which may even cost him his life. Read more https://thejegroupzone.wordpress.com/... Diablerie

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heads up. This is not an Easy Rawlins detective novel. It's actually a mystery wrapped up in erotica in which butt-sex features prominently. I couldn't make heads or tails of the book during the early chapters, but eventually Mosley's mix of carnal and creepy and criminal won me over. His tale of a empty IT guy who finds a reason for living after being accused of murder (dating back to his blackout drunk days) is a strangely enticing read. It went from put-me-to-sleep to keep-me-awake over a period of days.

[Michelle Hendricks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that was good, and not like anything I’ve ever read except another Mosley book. I liked the whole crazy totally indecent fast train wreck of a story, but I hesitate to give it 4 stars for fear that any of my friends will read it and want to talk about it. 😂 So I’m safer going with a 3.

The characters seem too real. You could see it actually happening somewhere. Nowhere I’ve ever been (or hope to be). And yeah, I have another Mosley book on the ‘to read’ pile.

[Terrie Davoll Hudson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a Walter Mosley fan and missed Diablerie when it came out. I was excited to see and start reading it. The premise of the story sounds interesting, but I didn’t particularly fall for any of the characters. Dibbuk has a nice dark and icy persona but I felt nothing for him. The female characters lacked depth. If you’re new to Mosley, don’t read this first. Begin with some of his earliest works for great storytelling and fascinating characters.

[Bill Draper · Rating 5 out of 5]

How in the world is Ben (the main character in book) going to survive these nasty slings and arrows storming his entire life....

You must read to the very end and watch what Mosely does with this character.
I like the psychology and character development, the learning from mistakes and the maturing.

The cuckold voyeur sex is almost blinding in its intensity, but survivable. Strap yourself in, see it through, and be the wiser for it (maybe).