Karma: A Novel

Robert Zitella
Bluewater Press (2008)
ISBN 9781604520125
Reviewed by Danielle Feliciano for Reader Views (5/08)


Many of us have played with the term “karma.” When thinking about karma and past lives, most people like to imagine themselves having been a king or queen, a great inventor or leader.  However, it is highly doubtful that very many people have thought about the reverse: what if you had been truly horrific; what if you had been the person who is without argument the most evil person in history?  How do you pay off your karmic debt when you have slaughtered thousands and dedicated your life to spreading hatred?

Brad Jenkins finds himself in just this position.  He is the new mayor of his suburb, leading what he sees to be the perfect life.  He has a wife, two kids, and lives up to the stereotype of also having a picket fence.  He wakes before dawn to meditate before starting his days.  He is happy and feels that after a rough past (abuse, alcoholism…), he feels things are just about perfect for him.

Brad soon starts having terrifying nightmares and wakes with the scent of burning flesh fresh in his mind.  When awake, he begins to suffer bursts of rage, feeling himself to be so filled with hatred and the need to lash out that he is no longer in control of himself.  Things are not going well in the political arena, and the people that Brad trusts being to make personal choices that have more of an effect on him that he would have previously thought.  When the city manager embezzles funds to pay off his bookie, and the bookie accidentally kills him, Brad is a suspect.  When Brad’s main opponent’s dog is murdered, the police launch an investigation to find out whether or not Brad committed this crime. 

As the surface of Brad’s life being to crack, he finds himself more and more intertwined with his past crimes and struggles to maintain control of his life as he tries to pay back his karmic debt.  At times, Brad seems pompous and hard to connect with, but overall, the author does a good job in “Karma: A Novel” of exploring an interesting concept of how to pay back bad karma.

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