Debut thriller author R. John Dingle chats about his new psychological thriller, Karma Never Sleeps.
Bio:
R. John Dingle is the author of mysteries and psychological thrillers set in New England. He and his wife currently call a small island in Mid-Coast Maine ‘home’, both living, writing and boating from their restored 200-year-old house. The psychological thriller, Karma Never Sleeps, is John’s first novel. It will be published in April 2025.
Welcome, John. Please tell us about your current release.
Karma Never Sleeps is a psychological thriller set in a small, quintessential New England country town that’s home to a group of women (‘The Posse’) who spent their adolescence at the top of the food chain. Their life trajectories were sharp and steep, full of promise. Now in their late 30’s, the strain of living around a secret from their past has frayed the fragile dynamic of their tribe. So when one of them is found murdered they’re all-too-willing to believe it’s a random act of violence. But soon another turns up dead and when her murder is connected to a decades-old suicide, fissures in their delicate relationships are exposed. Kendalton soon becomes a hunting ground of psychological torture, and The Posse its prey. As the FBI closes in, loyalties are tested, vows are broken and long-held lies are shattered in the process. Who will persevere, those bound to a secret for the life they’ve created or one seeking its absolution?
What inspired you to write this book?
The premise of this story was inspired by an experience of my daughter during high school and I wanted to explore how these traits – jealousy, deceit, betrayal – would manifest in women who were frenemies, wives, mothers.
Excerpt from Karma Never Sleeps:
Losing Laur was like a cancer to Mel; an invasive, fast-spreading disease eating away her insides. Nothing smelled right, nothing tasted right, nothing made her happy, nothing made her…her. It was like death with the lights on.
What exciting project are you working on next?
Karma Never Sleeps is the 1st in the Gus Wheeler FBI series so I’ve just provided my publisher with the 2nd book in that series schedule for publication in November 2025. Now I’m editing a stand-alone thriller I wrote between those two books about a group of nerdy twenty-somethings that stumble on a killer abducting women and use their social media prowess to track down the killer and solve the crimes.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I’ve heard that a writer writes, an author writes published works. So, I guess I’ve been writing for decades who’s soon to become an author.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
My day job is consulting so I split my days between writing and doing that work. I’m an early riser so I write from around sunrise for a few hours then again for a few hours later in the day.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I need jazz playing in the background; I can’t have music on with vocals as it distracts me.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A forest ranger. When I went to grade school, they had these questionnaires the guidance counselors made you take and my responses resulted in a forest ranger being the best fit. So in fifth grade I’d found my calling.
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