R. John Dingle

“A star is born. John Dingle’s Karma Never Sleeps is a fast-paced, chilling thriller about cruelty, lies and vengeance. I couldn’t put it down.”

– Chris Mooney, Edgar Award-nominated and #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

In a small town, the truth can’t always set you free…

When a second woman from a group of friends known as “the posse” is murdered in the woods near the New England enclave of Kendalton, FBI agent and profiler Gus Wheeler and his partner are called in to determine if this is a serial killing. He’s intrigued by a clue hidden on the body: a memorial picture of a teen who died 25 years ago.

Instead of helping with the investigation, the long-term friends stonewall the agents. But Gus can smell fear beneath their calm masks, fake smiles, and politely vague answers. Digging deeper, he discovers they are being terrorized by cyberstalking, spying, threats and mysterious break-ins. When a third member is hospitalized after a brutal attack, Gus suspects someone in the posse is the hunter instead of the hunted.

Is it the alpha leader Jules, her best friend Maria—married to the chief of police—outsider Mel, or weak link Lizzy? Or someone else bent on revenge? Time’s running out, and Gus’s life depends on his skill at determining who’s the best liar in town.

Editorial Reviews

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Natalia Kaval, BookTrib.com

Buried Secrets, Murder and Vengeance in Chilling Slow-Burn Thriller

Does karma really exist, or is it just an excuse we use to explain the cruel twists of fate? In Karma Never Sleeps, R. John Dingle thrusts readers into a chilling exploration of buried secrets, murder and revenge in the seemingly charming New England town of Kendalton. When two members of a lifelong friend group turn up dead, FBI agent Gus Wheeler steps in and finds his investigation spiraling into a sinister maze of deception and a cat-and-mouse hunt for an elusive killer bent on revenge. When a second victim, Sarah Nelson, is found murdered just 6 months after her friend Laurie Turner, Gus and his partner Vanessa are called from their Boston office to the small town of Kendalton to track down a potential serial killer. A chilling clue planted near Sarah’s body points them to Rebecca Munroe, a teenage girl who took her own life 25 years earlier.

A Dark Past That Connects Them All

Convinced that Becca’s tragic death is connected to both murders, Gus and Vanessa are led to the remaining members of the posse — Jules, the group’s alpha leader, along with Mel, Maria and Lizzy — who were not only Sarah and Laurie’s lifelong friends but also Becca’s former classmates. As Gus and Vanessa peel back the layers, the posse’s friendship begins to crack. It becomes clear that these women are bound by more than childhood memories — they share a secret they’ve kept hidden for decades. Meanwhile, cyberstalking, break-ins and escalating threats hint that the killer might be closer than anyone suspects. As tension rises and suspicion shifts within the group, Gus and Vanessa are forced to re-examine Becca’s supposed suicide and the dark history that links them all. Can they uncover the truth before more blood is spilled?

Writing That Draws Readers In

What I appreciate about Dingle’s writing is his cinematic approach that draws readers into the fictional world of Kendalton. Through his sharp attention to detail, Dingle turns every setting — from foggy supermarket parking lots to eerie woods and fading small-town libraries — into a character of its own. The scenes mirror the characters’ emotions and balance the characters’ internal monologues with tightly crafted suspense. Whether it’s Mel silently battling grief behind the wheel of her Jeep or Jules plotting her next move from a dingy motel room, Dingle makes sure the reader is always in step with the characters’ spiraling emotions. The dialogue is crisp and realistic, especially between Gus and Vanessa; their dry humor and rapport add levity to the increasingly dark plot. I also enjoyed Dingle’s characterization. The characters are very complex and emotionally scarred. Mel, for example, is a woman fractured by loss and trapped in a cycle of grief and guilt. Jules, on the other hand, is a masterclass in manipulation and survival, constantly calculating how far she’ll go to protect her reputation. Even Gus is multifaceted beyond the typical profiler archetype and wrestles with his own past wounds while navigating the town’s labyrinth of lies. Each character in this book feels like a product of their environment — haunted by past traumas, loss, old resentments and fractured loyalties.

The Perfect Slow-Burn Thriller

Thematically, Karma Never Sleeps meditates on guilt, complicity and the corrosive nature of secrets. Dingle dives deep into how trauma reshapes people, especially when left to fester. The idea of karma looms heavily as characters confront the ripple effects of past actions they believed were buried forever. The novel asks hard questions: How long can loyalty mask complicity? Can redemption ever outweigh the damage already done? In the end, Dingle suggests that karma doesn’t just “never sleep”; it lies in wait, demanding reckoning. Overall, Karma Never Sleeps is a slow-burn thriller with psychological depth, driven by morally gray characters and haunting small-town secrets. While the ending left me reflecting on the ripple effect of past sins, it also made me question whether closure is ever truly attainable, or just another illusion we cling to for survival. This story is perfect for readers who prefer character-driven mysteries over cheap thrills. Fans of psychological thrillers like Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies and Kate White’s The Secrets You Keep will be captivated by Dingle’s exploration of fractured friendships, hidden pasts and the sinister forces lurking beneath small-town life.

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Bella G. Wright, BestThrillers.com

The Bottom Line: A taut, entertaining small town murder mystery with a series-worthy hero. Perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty.

Karma Never Sleeps opens on a drizzly morning in the woods outside a small New England town. Sarah Nelson, a triage nurse out for a run, encounters an injured runner on the trail. Her generous offer to help ends with Sarah caught in a sinister, meticulously laid trap. What’s more, her murder takes place just a few months after the slaying of her friend, Laurie. FBI agents Gus Wheeler and Vanessa Lambert are called in to determine whether a serial killer could be at work. Fortunately, it seems that the predator has left them a tantalizing clue – a funeral card for Rebecca Munroe, a high schooler who committed suicide a quarter century earlier. Rebecca was similar in age to Sarah and Laurie’s friend group – a sexy, saucy clique known as The Posse – but she didn’t seem to share the same social circle.

Author R. John Dingle delivers the crucial ingredients every small town murder mystery fan craves: scenic antique brick and shingle-style architecture, a seemingly tight-knit community and a killer lurking in the shadows. Karma Never Sleeps holds up as a serial killer procedural, but it avoids the dark terror that typically goes along with the genre. As profiler Gus Wheeler soon learns, the town’s alluring veneer is undermined by infidelity, lies and betrayal – and the cast of victims and gossipy potential victims lighten up the vibe nicely. Similar to contemporary murder classic Big Little Lies, readers will have loads of fun guessing which of the friends or lovers of the first two victims might be the killer – and even more fun wishing some of them would be killed off next.

In Dingle’s debut novel, the first in the planned Gus Wheeler series, Dingle distinguishes Gus as a perfectionist. But unlike Hercule Poirot, he’s no white-gloved neat freak. Gus meticulously modifies a vintage Land Rover to accommodate his gear, including removing most of the seats. He notices seemingly every imperfection, from someone’s posture to the finish on walls. He interrogates data again and again, relentlessly reframing questions to ensure he leaves no detail unnoticed  (as Vanessa complains, “Jesus, Gus, you’re like a dog with a bone”). Those qualities make him a worthy opponent to the killer, who he suspects rehearses his kill plans repeatedly in advance. Gus may share the spotlight with The Posse & friends, but Dingle has created a series-worthy protagonist that fans will look forward to spending time with.

Readers will be left anxiously awaiting the series’ next installment.

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Kirkus Reviews, kirkusreviews.com

In Dingle’s whodunit, a serial killer targets a small group of friends in suburban New England.

In his debut novel, the author introduces readers to his bass-playing FBI agent, Gus Wheeler, who’s in the prime of his career, working as a field agent in Boston and pursuing his musical interests in a touring band. His newest case involves two longtime friends, murdered in quick succession in (fictional) Kendalton, Massachusetts. Gus and his partner, Vanessa Lambert, head up there just in time to examine the second crime scene, where they discover a surprising signature from the killer—an old photo of a girl, Rebecca Munroe, who died by suicide as a teenager some years ago. When Gus and Vanessa ask the victims’ friend group about Rebecca, they’re met with clear deception, as the women claim they barely knew her. Gus, a small-town native himself, knows this can’t possibly be true in a place the size of Kendalton. The narrative shifts, then, to spend time with each of the women in the group, and readers come to learn about their unique history as childhood friends. They also find out that Rebecca was no stranger to these girls, and that her death is not as straightforward as it initially seemed. As Gus and Vanessa scramble to find the killer and uncover secrets, the murderer’s rampage goes on. Although conventions of the genre abound in Dingle’s novel—the requisite will-they, won’t-they between FBI agents, the one evil friend who pushes the others into complicity—the action is well paced enough to keep readers turning the pages. The prose is occasionally striking, such as when it addresses the very act of writing itself: “And it was with this feeling of apprehension, of loss, that she stared at the blank page that would, at some point, contain the words that, woven together, would become the eulogy.” Fans of classic mysteries and FBI thrillers in particular will be happy to race this one to the finish line.

A well-rendered, fast-paced murder mystery.