Diary of a Mistress

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY MAY 8, 2006

Miasha's by-the-numbers potboiler follows the travails of an unlikely trio whose lives get upended by the vengeful act of a woman scorned. Suicidal Angela sends a diary purportedly detailing her steamy affair with Carlos to his wife, Monica. At first, Monica doesn't believe that her loving husband would two-time her, but after reading a convincing account of how Carlos bedded her best friend, she puts him in the hospital and herself in jail. Guilt hits Angela after she watches news coverage of Monica's attempted murder conviction, prompting her to confess that she made up the diary as revenge on Carlos for not requiting her love. Monica sees her sentence reduced and, a few pages later, snags a half-million-dollar book contract. The moral? "God has total control and everything happens for a reason," or so Monica writes to a former cellmate. Miasha (Secret Society) can cook up a sordid soap opera plot, but the flaccid characters, awkward pacing and lack of a sense of setting will frustrate readers looking for something more than a hair-salon drama.