DiscoverMystery & Crime

Killing Karma

By

Loved it! 😍

Can you kill karma? Peter is digging up his past lives to make sense of his current world and find peace.

Peter is an Afghan-war veteran who returned stateside with anxiety and PTSD as his only souvenirs.


In the present time, Peter works at/manages a small bookstore in Chicago where he rents the upstairs apartment. It’s modest, but that’s who Peter is as a character. His boss is an angry, drunkard of a man who causes Peter’s anxiety to swell.


But then he meets Claire. A sweet, mousy bookworm who introduces him to the idea of reincarnation therapy. This is how Peter meets Theresa, a trained therapist who helps her patients realize their past lives and how those traumas affect their relationships, choices, and reactions in this life. Theresa helps Peter realize the souls of his past tormentors have followed him into the present. The author writes different chapters in various character perspectives depending on what they offer to the story. The narration is 3rd person but sticks to one character’s feelings/thoughts at a time.


Meanwhile, a seemingly unconnected string of murders is investigated and they all have something in common.


The author does a great job of getting right into Peter’s interest in regression/past lives therapy instead of dragging on with a lot of character build up. As the story unfolds we learn about Peter as if we were learning about a new friend: new information arises and we take note instead of the character description taking up space in the story.


The mystery unravels slowly from the detective’s perspective, but not without pertinent information. I can’t stand when a character rambles on without making a point.


Peter shows character development over a progression of therapy sessions which, to me, is way more realistic than having an epiphany and getting your life together after the first meeting. He continues to make mistakes and trust those who seem to do him no harm, but he learns to trust his gut and identify those who do pose a danger to him.


Mental health will never be talked about enough so I’m grateful this author decided to write a book about a character seeking treatment.


There are a few spelling/grammatical errors throughout the book but overall it’s a clean, fast read.


I recommend this book to fans of murder mysteries with a touch of romance. It’s a great read as you try to figure out the murders and how all of these characters play into each other’s lives.

Reviewed by

I am a full-time paramedic but I have always loved English and storytelling. I read a variety of genres, but currently I’m very interested in mystery and thriller novels. I am looking to pursue reviewing and editing novels for new authors.

About the author

Hi, I'm a multi-genre author whose interest in past lives has found footing in many of my novels from science fiction to dystopian fiction to upmarket/literary fiction and now crime/thrillers. It's not always driving the plot, but almost always an underlying theme. view profile

Published on May 20, 2022

60000 words

Contains mild explicit content ⚠️

Genre: Mystery & Crime

Reviewed by