DIVA by Joseph Kinnebrew – Reviewed by KIRKUS REVIEWS

In this novel, an anguished man chronicles for his therapist the ways in which a sociopathic woman ruined his life.

A distraught man who is nameless—in the interests of anonymity, he refers to himself as Mr. Chevrolet—pours out his heart to a therapist about the damage done to his life by a wicked woman. He only refers to the woman as Diva, calling her friends “Divatonians.” Mr. Chevrolet discloses that Diva was his paramour and that she destroyed him emotionally and financially, diagnosing her as a sociopath. Revealing various incidents, Mr. Chevrolet laments his fate: “I have been raped Doctor. My life has been threatened by the actions of a demented person. My deepest thoughts and values have been violated by a sick woman who cannot, will not tell the difference between right and wrong, she is a sociopath, Doctor, we both know what that means don’t we. As Elizabeth Browning wrote, ‘Let us count the ways.’ ” Mr. Chevrolet asserts that Diva is a pathological liar, an “unrepentant thief,” a compulsive shopper who only longs for money and recognition, and a nymphomaniac who aspires to be a stripper and a porn star. She is also a reprobate racist, prone to rants about “filthy Mexicans and Chinese.” Kinnebrew maintains a feverish pitch for the duration of the short novel, vividly capturing the desperation of emotionally broken souls. But while it offers some chilling details, this soap-operatic story lacks well-developed characters who register as real people. Most of the author’s rambling book is devoted to Mr. Chevrolet’s endless jeremiads about the despicable Diva. In the acerbic words of the patient, she’s a “two-legged Iberian Cannibal Spider.” He claims not to hate her while he plots his revenge. In addition, Kinnebrew’s writing is a peculiar mix of intellectualism and Harlequin Romance novels.

An intriguing but melodramatic tale about a sociopath.