The Turn of the Karmic Wheel

“What goes around comes around.” “Good versus evil.” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” “Live and let live.” “Forgive and forget.” These are all saying which revolve around Karma. In “The Turn of the Karmic Wheel” Monica Brinkman explores all of these. In writing an interesting and easy to read work of fiction, she allows the readers to experience how everyday people can either come together for the better, or stand alone for the worse. In my book “Misguided Sensitivity” I include a quote from my great-grandmother which fits this book’s theme. “Treating people with the respect they deserve is the best way to get into heaven,”

Most readers will come away with the idea that the book is about how the interactions between individuals affect the masses, and how the resulting actions can affect your own well being. How the ability to love one another overshadows any selfish act that only benefits you. And how kindness is rewarded, while selfishness is punished.

I came away with a totally different perspective. I related to the characters as “the good guys and the bad guys.” In this story, the bad guys to me are those who are only concerned with greed and how they are seen in the world. Take the three main “bad guys”, Joshua Allen, a financial advisor who never advised, just let his clients lose all their money while he knew when to get out on top. His attitude was “Those goody-goodies who preached forgiveness, empathy, love and understanding were losers with a capital L.” Life was for him and nobody else.

Then there is Monty Frank, the owner of a debt elimination service which never eliminated anyone’s debt except his own. He believed “they got themselves into this, and if he didn’t take their money, someone else would.”

And finally Rosie Richards, the town’s best real estate agent who played the games needed to get people bigger homes than they could afford without any concern for what they would encounter later on.

These “bad guys” represented greed to me. The more I read, the more I began to think this book was a commentary about how the greed in the world has taken over the best of us. And in the end that we have to either change our attitudes or face the consequences, just as is happening today throughout the world.

The “good guys” were three people who had never met before but were on a crash-course to come together and save the world, or at least the town of Raleigh.

There was Angela Frank, Monty’s wife and a doctor who had always heard the “good music.” Karman Shelton, a nurse who was compassionate and kind although her life wasn’t exactly what she had hoped for. And finally Euclid Hannigan, an aging widower who has lost his will to live after his wife dies from cancer, but who listens to the voice of his dead wife to allow him to hear the “good music” also.

When the three of these people do meet and join forces, good triumphs over evil in some ways. Not one to be a spoiler, I will stop at this.
The book was well written and kept my interest from start to finish. Everyone who reads this will come away with a different perspective, mine was that “to those who wait, good things will come” and “everything you do and think will affect your lot in life.” I recommend this book for those looking to escape for a few hours and for those who like books which make you think.