Karma Karma

Lorraine Cannell (Goodreads Author)

4.33 · Rating details · 6 ratings · 4 reviews

What would you do to escape the past?

Seventeen-year-old Jack Ethan Dray has put his street-gang past firmly behind him, or so he thinks.

When he gets a shout-out from an old gang member and his ex-girlfriend starts acting as if they’re getting back together again, Jack worries his past is coming back to haunt him.

Then Bonita Chang asks for his help to find her twin ...more

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Kindle Edition, 273 pages

Published January 14th 2019 by Gothic House

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Feb 15, 2019 Susan Angela Wallace rated it really liked it

Karma karma by Lorraine Connell.
Seventeen-year-old Jack Ethan Dray has put his street-gang past firmly behind him, or so he thinks.
When he gets a shout-out from an old gang member and his ex-girlfriend starts acting as if they’re getting back together again, Jack worries his past is coming back to haunt him.
Then Bonita Chang asks for his help to find her twin brother.
A brother that used to belong to a rival gang.
Jack knows that his only chance of being with Bonita is if he helps her.
But he ...more

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Jan 14, 2019 Victoria Bennion rated it it was amazing

Lorraine sets the tone for Karma Karma with these chilling opening words, ‘JED is gone, he is dead, has been for almost two years or at least... that's what I'd thought.'

Immediately there’s tremendous intrigue. You wonder straightaway, before the story’s even started, Who’s JED?

Lorraine skilfully jumps between two time periods throughout the narrative. When we first meet central character Jack, in the first chapter titled, Then: The Test, he’s completing his initiation into a gang called the Lorraine sets the tone for Karma Karma with these chilling opening words, ‘JED is gone, he is dead, has been for almost two years or at least... that's what I'd thought.'

Immediately there’s tremendous intrigue. You wonder straightaway, before the story’s even started, Who’s JED?

Lorraine skilfully jumps between two time periods throughout the narrative. When we first meet central character Jack, in the first chapter titled, Then: The Test, he’s completing his initiation into a gang called the Ride, by beating up long-time friend Arch. Which made me wonder at first if Jack had killed JED. If he can attack his childhood friend to join a gang perhaps he could also commit murder?

However, in the next chapter we skip forward two years to Jack's new life. He's straightened up, left the gang and has new friends. Things seem to be going well for him until a meditation session at school when Jack comes face to face with a different version of himself. A reflection in a river that looks like him but isn't.

In the chapters titled, ‘Then’ which are set in the past we learn that Sol, the leader of the Ride, nicknamed Jack JED. JED is Jack’s alter ego. Together JED and Sol became involved in unsavoury activities such as, robberies, terrorising a homeless man and racing trains.

In the present Jack thinks he’s left his gang life behind him until strange things start to happen, following the meditation. Jack has a dream in which he’s re-joining the Ride. A dream that seems real, although he wakes up at home in bed. When he gets to college later that day his ex-girlfriend acts like they’re getting back together and refers to the night before, when Jack was home alone.

When the girl he likes Bonita, asks Jack to help her find her twin brother who was a member of a rival gang to the Ride these episodes intensify.

I was truly hooked by this point and stayed up way beyond the witching hour to find out the truth. At one point I suspected Jack had a personality disorder but Lorraine keeps you guessing (and I won’t ruin it for you with any spoilers.)

As Jack’s life starts to unravel the big question is how is he going to salvage it before JED destroys everything?

If you love being fully absorbed in a book, love the feeling of your heart thumping in your chest as you turn the pages then come along for the ride with Karma Karma. You’ll be swept up by Lorraine’s vivid storytelling which captures what it’s like to be a teenager, gang-life, and explores the question of redemption.

(The recommended reading age of Karma Karma is 16+ because of the language.) ...more

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Feb 04, 2019 Jo Wesley rated it it was amazing

This was a fantastic read. Set now and then, we first meet Jed as he was when he was part of a gang and beats up his good friend. We switch over to Jack to see him several years later and doing well in a new school, with new friends, until a class meditation session.

It is at this point that the story really takes off and the reader is propelled between the two timelines, but all the time life is getting stranger for Jack – or Jed. Will he pay for his misdeeds or will get his redemption? It is a ...more

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Feb 10, 2019 Beccy Thompson rated it liked it

I received a copy of this book from the book club reviewer request- thank you
It’s not my usual choice of book but that’s not to say I didn’t really enjoy the book. I loved the twists and turns, especially the way the story moved backwards and forwards through time
I didn’t expect it but the book was really quite thought provoking
A really solid book

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