BAD KARMA: A True Story of Obsession and Murder

I'm on the fence about whether this is a 3 or 4 star book. The writing was pretty good, but it was awfully drawn out for what amounts to be a surprisingly small story. But also, this was a free book so I can't judge it too harshly.The author acknowledges that she took certain liberties with the dialog, which is fine, but based on the depth of the detail (in my opinion, a lot was unneeded) I had assumed that she had access to diaries or receipts and several conversations with the people involved, but it doesn't appear that she has. Which makes me wonder why we needed to know what type of hot dog Tanya orders and details down to that level. I understand that it sets the scene, but it's a little too detailed -- like maybe the author is involved with set dressing for movies, so the little details mean everything to her, although when they're piled together it adds pages and pages to a book that aren't totally necessary.Anyway, I think the author did a good job of setting up the overall basis for the culture shock and staying very non-biased on either side of the parties involved. The young girl who enjoys the power that she has over men can sometimes seem cruel, but in reality she's not being torturous to him and if he had grown up in America, he would have understood that she was being manipulative and simultaneously naive and wouldn't have gotten so twisted up about interpreting her every action. And Poddar was written in a way that makes you feel extremely sorry for him and wishing that he had someone to stand up for him and help him out before he fell so deeply in love.The biggest let down for me was the end of the book. It literally just ENDS. He kills her, is arrested, and then we get the Afterward. Not that I expected to go through all of the trial transcripts but it seems that there could have been a bit more mention of the details. And not just because I'm rubber-necking but because this trial is the basis for California Law. Based on this case, if a mental health professional suspects that their client is a threat to other people, the doctor can involve the police and the people threatened to notify them and ensure their safety. That's the crux of this case -- the psychiatrists knew Poddar was a threat but didn't have any power or authority to reveal what they knew without leaving themselves open to be sued for breach of confidentiality.

The author tells the story of a true series of events that resulted in the murder of a young woman and a landmark legal decision concerning the obligations of psychotherapists to warn potential victims of their patients. The story is told in the form of a novel rather than a documentary piece so one is cautioned that conversations are not "verbatim" but the essence of the actions, events, and motivations are accurate.I thought the author did a particularly fine job of painting the character of the murderer - the reader is privy into his descent into madness and can get a sense of "why." He becomes a sympathetic character. The motivation of the victim is a little less clear unless we ascribe her actions to an inexperienced young woman simply testing her "place" and her "power" in a young adult world. She is not as sympathetic as her murderer because she was mostly callous to and careless of his feelings but certainly not to the point of "deserving" her violent death. Indeed both the girl and her murderer could be seen as "victims" of cultures and environments that failed to prepare them for adult ways of relating. He was "the nerd she used" to bolster her sense of preparedness and attractiveness to have a romantic relationship. It is certainly not kind and it is certainly is fairly common.Another dimension to the story is formed by the actions of the friends, police and therapists of the young man - chilling in the sense that it was clear that something bad was going to happen and no one could/would intervene. Adequate prose for the genre. Much more than adequate characterization of the key people in the story.

I knew nothing about the incident portrayed in this book and read it on the advice of a friend. It is very intense story written in a very compelling manner. It is hard to put the book down. It was like watching a car wreck in slow motion. Time and again I found myself hoping that somehow one of the two main characters would change their trajectory - heaven knows that had so many chances to avoid the end result. However, as the author so aptly called it - " a death dance" seemed to have a greater power over them. In the prologue, the author says that it could have happened to her. In a lot of ways both characters could be a lot of people of that generation. Stepping out into the real world in the '60s, thinking that we were well prepared for all that would confront us and at the same time not really knowing all the pitfalls that were in front of us. When I first arrived at college, I thought I had my act together only then having to deal with all the angst and complexities of life inside the classroom, outside in social settings, and all the pros and cons of meeting someone and getting to really know that person. The chances we took at that age are remarkable when looked back at many years later. Throughout the book, I was on the edge of my seat hoping against hope that somehow the inevitable would not happen. The author has written an important book, on an important topic - as topical today as it was fifty years ago. The resulting change in the law as a result of this case is probably the one good thing (other than this fabulous book) to come out of this tragedy.