The Karma Code

Enjoyed this novel of a gentleman who attains success to easily and the final job that is his redemption and salvation. Complex characters and enjoyable premise.

Juujarvi, Finland is a small town that is the perfect place to live undisturbed. A place where Clifford Bouvier a psychologist, can carry out his research and obsession. However, with a town with a handful of inhabitants, it is not the best place to slowly bleed to death from a stab wound. His last words were "The Key" and "Candice."

Candice Palmer's beloved uncle has just died, and although the police have deemed it a robbery, she thinks otherwise. She has a good reason to believe that his death was suspicious. She knows that Clifford was involved in research that would give access to predict a person's future behavior. Specifically, it looks at one's previous life and to predict actions in their present incarnation. In her uncle's home and lab, the hardware stolen contained the results. When Candice hires a well-respected PI, and ex-operative to investigate Clifford's death, they both are suddenly being hunted down by rogue CIA, police, and a counter-terrorism team and are in danger of falling off the grid forever. And with the Code.

The narrative was very thrilling and suspenseful with chase scenes, theft, and murder. The spine of the story, based on the philosophy of reincarnation, gives the reader an experience of rebirth, altered states, extrasensory perception, and after death communications. This concept is fascinating to me, but others may find this misaligned with their belief system. However, the author does an excellent job of making this a believable premise by burdening us with a Schrodinger's Cat assumption (the cat is dead, the cat is not dead) about life after death. Just because we cannot see it does not denies its existence. The book starts off with a great hook in Finland and bounces between Scotland, Boston, and D.C. where several exciting story lines take place. Many different agencies and people want the code to predict the future and are unwilling to stop until they have it. The cat and mouse chase is a great one!

Harry Walker is a multi-layered character with strength juxtaposed with vulnerability. A man with a girl every night is lonely in life, but you see him longing for something more when there is an unexpected lingering touch. And a protector of Candice, the "Key." Candice was less developed and seemed just to carry the plot along. The backstory of her past life, however, was good historical fantasy. On a side note, some of the smaller characters in the book were also entertaining, especially the ladies at the local bar in Scottland.

Davidsohn creates beautiful scenes with ease. Each place that he describes whether it's the town of Santa Claus or a small town in Scotland, the images pop out of the book. The story flows well, and although the narrative jumps between several different countries, it is neither choppy or confusing.

The Karma Code was a thrill ride with suspense in all the right areas. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you, NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.