ISBN 0595213111

Tina Louise was once a professional heartbreaker, delivering retribution upon males as befitting the requirements of her wounded clients. But she's out of the trade now, having fallen victim by her own hard rules of the game, and when approached in a diner by two prospective customers Tina feels compelled to pass on her experiences and sagely advice.

Written in the first-person, Heartbreaker is a tapestry of pointed and often wacky anecdotes peppered with a little sex and spiced liberally with Tina's personal introspections, most notably about those of the male persuasion. I say "persuasion" here because the men she's been involved with are the epitomes of the bad male. Through Tina's saucy recollections we meet the liars who broke her heart, those men whose manipulations prompted her down the Heartbreaker path and helped create the take-no- prisoners bitch she has become. There are women who want revenge and will pay high to see Tina deliver it. In this course we are introduced to some of the most despicable jerks, losers and players this fictional side of the Mason-Dixon line has seen. To all of them Tina dispenses her exacting skills; winning their infatuation and then breaking their hearts, all with a finessed cruelty to balance the oafish behavior of those who hurt her in the past. She has her friends, as hard and self-excusing as herself, and despite her chosen profession Tina's not above judging them either. It is in befriending the man who is obsessed with her best friend that incidently and passionately brings to Tina an ironic justice.

Heartbreaker has a swift moving narrative with an amusing collection of characters. Tina Louise's snappily delivered thoughts and quips about the habits and failures of some men often have more than a grain of truth in them. Just like too many of us, she's been jilted by the integrity-devoid The Man Show type male; guys who want a woman who is anxious to please and takes some pride in her appearance -and too infantile to appreciate it when she comes along. Tina seems to know, too, the difference between the wishy-washy liberal Phil Donahues of this world and honorably virile men, too, and this I especially found refreshing to read.

The language in the book is a little coarse for my personal tastes. The narrative also has a ficklish overtone; Tina wants her cake and eat it, too -talking like a feminist while still expecting men to treat her like a lady and open doors. However, Tina's insightful revelations at the end of the story eases these flaws of her character and she leaves us as a woman determined on re-evaluating her harpy expectations.

I found Heartbreaker an easy to follow and entertaining read for the afternoon. An appreciable fantasy feast of revenge for women who have encountered the worst in the worst types of contemporary men and survived.

Reviewed by Maria Osborne Perry