Madison (Maddy) Kasparkova and her two best friends have each been hurt: by their boyfriends, the cruel actions of fellow high schoolers, by life. After realizing that the three of them have suffered but that nothing bad came to the 'bad guys,' she becomes outraged. Maddy wishes there was a way that the others would get what’s coming to them – so the three friends form The Karma Club... and start making sure that the others suffer like they have.I really, really wanted to like this book.
I think I just had a big problem with the central idea; it’s not karma if you’re just out doing bad things to people. The book either had to be really, really dark and twisted or have a super original voice to pull this off. I couldn't believe that a teen girl wouldn't know about karma and understand how it works. At many parts when she was supposed to be in control, Maddy just came off as clueless.
Having said that, I think the book gains strength as it goes and that the strongest part of the book is the ending (or the denouement, I guess, everything past the climax). This part was well crafted and came together nicely. Finally, Maddy was capturing my attention, and I'm glad that I stuck with the book. I haven't read anything else by Jessica Brody (this is her debut YA novel), but I would like to in the future.
Find it on Amazon (available for pre-order, will be released April 2010).
Read it with:
Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott
Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan
Hamlet by John Marsden
I got this book: as an advance reader's copy from Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Macmillan).
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