Thank you, Mr. Knobloch, for your Book Four Series review. I’m truly honored to share; ‘Reciprocating Karma’ 3rd authentic pro delivers. Another chance taken to get the rapids flowing. Such an unbelievable feeling having my book read by anyone. To have it read by a professional editor is a dream I never thought would come true. From keeping a promise to becoming a bona fide storyteller, all my expectations are shattered.

‘Reciprocating Karma’ 3rd authentic pro delivers. In this critique, I hope Paul’s views help readers to dive into the story I created. No amount of thanks can convey how much I appreciate his analysis.

Without you, the reader, travelling the depths of Karma with me, I’d always wonder; ‘What if?’ I thank you for taking an interest in my stories! Just like ‘Reciprocating Karma’ 3rd authentic pro delivers. I’m always interested in how others view my life of Karma. Share your thoughts on the story via the contact page on my site https://marknistor.com/

Dream big, you just never know what ingredients the universe will add to your journey!

‘Reciprocating Karma’ 3rd authentic pro delivers

Reciprocating Karma: The Universe Giveth & the Universe Taketh is a tight, complex, and gripping thriller by Mark Nistor that looks at crime and the institutions and people that deal with it.  It exposes how our actions (and our failures), especially the criminal ones, echo and reverberate, affecting others and often causing a chain of events beyond any we could imagine.

The book makes use of a poem that transforms The Twelve Days of Christmas into a threatening letter, detailing the vigilante action that would unfold in the wake of a trial and police investigation that are not so cut and dry in their transparency.

The plot, as I indicated, is a humdinger. Ray, a detective, is involved in sending Tobin to jail. Tobin, however, is not guilty and is later visited by a man named Forrest, who draws him into his own criminal machinations. As this unfolds, we meet Zoey and Ashlyn, who attend college together and participate in a mock trial that, in many ways, parallels the real-world events. As the plot progresses, we see the fallout from Ray’s actions and from failures within the court system, including the death of Zoey’s brother, Dory, and the murder of Ray’s own daughter.

While all of this transpires, a series of terrorist-like vigilante events unfolds. There is a Molotov cocktail attack in week eight, and by week eleven, the pattern escalates into mass poisoning: “In the eleventh week of retribution, my missing love sent my way, eleven choking nose lifts.” Ashlyn — who has always been somewhat cynical about institutions — and Zoey follow the trail of these acts and develop their own suspicions. Over time, Zoey begins to see the same mendacity that Ashlyn has long recognized; she can no longer avert her gaze.

As we near the end of the trial, there is a character who surfaces and takes the blame for some of the crimes. More truths and motivations are uncovered, and we see Ray suffering from debilitating amnesia, which is definitely a metaphor for denial and an escape from the guilt he feels for his part in everything.

Last night, I watched the Netflix documentary, Wild, Wild Country, about Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his cunning secretary Sheela, who got tangled up in a land grab reminiscent of a classic Western. What struck me is how awful everyone truly was, on both sides, and how they were thoroughly unconcerned with the consequences of their actions, motivated by their own egos and prejudices.

I got the same feeling reading Reciprocating Karma. Yes, we have complex and realistic world-building, the requisite heavies, and the edginess you would expect from a crime novel or a noir. However, what drives this book are its deeper thematic and philosophical concerns.

At the end of the novel, and what really sets it apart, is that it refuses to wrap everything up with a neat little bow. Moral ambiguity reigns, and harm can never be undone; it only gets redirected, locating new victims. Finding and jailing someone is not an act of correction or redemption, but rather compensation, a matter of doing one’s job. The system does not set right the wrongs committed, and it does not heal. We are essentially left feeling like we have a justice system that is performative.

These are some hard truths to confront, but they are also important ones. Just as the legal system has evolved into something performative, so have many of the ways we relate with each other, in transactions mitigated by technology, capital, and ego. Reciprocating Karma is a fine crime novel that deserves to be read simply because it pulls no punches, and it describes our modern ethical dilemma quite succinctly.

‘Reciprocating Karma’ 3rd authentic pro delivers, received January 22nd, 2026