The Bottom Line: A taut, entertaining small town murder mystery with a series-worthy hero. Perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty.
Karma Never Sleeps opens on a drizzly morning in the woods outside a small New England town. Sarah Nelson, a triage nurse out for a run, encounters an injured runner on the trail. Her generous offer to help ends with Sarah caught in a sinister, meticulously laid trap. What’s more, her murder takes place just a few months after the slaying of her friend, Laurie.
FBI agents Gus Wheeler and Vanessa Lambert are called in to determine whether a serial killer could be at work. Fortunately, it seems that the predator has left them a tantalizing clue – a funeral card for Rebecca Munroe, a high schooler who committed suicide a quarter century earlier. Rebecca was similar in age to Sarah and Laurie’s friend group – a sexy, saucy clique known as The Posse – but she didn’t seem to share the same social circle.
Author R. John Dingle delivers the crucial ingredients every small town murder mystery fan craves: scenic antique brick and shingle-style architecture, a seemingly tight-knit community and a killer lurking in the shadows. Karma Never Sleeps holds up as a serial killer procedural, but it avoids the dark terror that typically goes along with the genre. As profiler Gus Wheeler soon learns, the town’s alluring veneer is undermined by infidelity, lies and betrayal – and the cast of victims and gossipy potential victims lighten up the vibe nicely. Similar to contemporary murder classic Big Little Lies, readers will have loads of fun guessing which of the friends or lovers of the first two victims might be the killer – and even more fun wishing some of them would be killed off next.
In Dingle’s debut novel, the first in the planned Gus Wheeler series, Dingle distinguishes Gus as a perfectionist. But unlike Hercule Poirot, he’s no white-gloved neat freak. Gus meticulously modifies a vintage Land Rover to accommodate his gear, including removing most of the seats. He notices seemingly every imperfection, from someone’s posture to the finish on walls. He interrogates data again and again, relentlessly reframing questions to ensure he leaves no detail unnoticed (as Vanessa complains, “Jesus, Gus, you’re like a dog with a bone”). Those qualities make him a worthy opponent to the killer, who he suspects rehearses his kill plans repeatedly in advance. Gus may share the spotlight with The Posse & friends, but Dingle has created a series-worthy protagonist that fans will look forward to spending time with.
Readers will be left anxiously awaiting the series’ next installment.
