Mystery• Thriller

Review: Karma Never Sleeps by R. John Dingle

July 17, 2026

Synopsis:

In a small town, the truth can’t always set you free…

When a second woman from a group of friends known as “the posse” is murdered in the woods near the New England enclave of Kendalton, FBI agent and profiler Gus Wheeler and his partner are called in to determine if this is a serial killing. He’s intrigued by a clue hidden on the a memorial picture of a teen who died 25 years ago.

Instead of helping with the investigation, the long-term friends stonewall the agents. But Gus can smell fear beneath their calm masks, fake smiles, and politely vague answers. Digging deeper, he discovers they are being terrorized by cyberstalking, spying, threats and mysterious break-ins. When a third member is hospitalized after a brutal attack, Gus suspects someone in the posse is the hunter instead of the hunted.

Is it the alpha leader Jules, her best friend Maria—married to the chief of police—outsider Mel, or weak link Lizzy? Or someone else bent on revenge? Time’s running out, and Gus’s life depends on his skill at determining who’s the best liar in town.

Review:

I think I found a new author and a new series to binge 🙂 That’s what I call a good start to a series.

We start by getting introduced by learning a bit about Gus. A musician by heart who ended up at the FBI because of being smart and some of his talent fitting very well with what is required for the job. And they allowed him to continue doing what he loves. A win win situation.
He and his partner Vanessa a called to the scene of a murder when it becomes clear, that there must be more to the story and what a story it was. Coming from a small town I understand that everybody knows everything about basically everyone. That is accepted as the default setting.
When the latest murder victim seems to be connected to another one and a tight group of woman in town, it starts asking questions about the connection.

I enjoyed how it was pretty much clear early on, that someone is trying to hide something. Pointing to the obvious choice made sense on paper, that would be way to easy 🙂 Learning bit by bit about what really happened and how everything fit together was very entertaining to me.
Especially the chemistry between Gus and Vanessa, their interactions, the play on a certain age gap (for example the usage of technology) was amazing to see and came across the pages very well. I only started getting to know them but felt an instant connection to them.

🌙 Recension: Karma Never Sleeps (Gus Wheeler FBI Thriller #1) by R. John Dingle
📚 Genre: Mystery Thriller
📅 Release Date: April 14, 2025
📖 Publisher: ‎Tule Publishing
📗 available in various formats
📱 Read as: Kindle
💸 Bought
📆 Pages: 420
⭐️ 4/5