Karma: World's First InstaRead

by Kevin Missal

KARMA IS WORLD's FIRST INSTAREAD Karman Malik a lonely man finds his wife standing outside his house. But there are two problems. One, she Karman Malik a lonely man finds his wife standing outside his house. But there are two problems. One, she had died eight years back. Second, she is not human anymore. (Italics) Can he love her again?had died eight years back. Second, she is not human anymore. (Italics) Can he love her again?

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Genres: Mythology

92 pages, Paperback

Expected publication May 1, 2047

About the author

Kevin Missal wrote his first book at the age of 14, and at 22, the St Stephens graduate was a bestselling author with the first two books in his Kalki series which were runaway successes. Kevin loves fantasy fiction and has always been a fan of mythology. His books have been featured in publications like the Sunday Guardian, The New Indian Express and Millennium Post. He lives in Gurugram and he can be contacted at Kevin.s.missal@gmail.com.

Reviews

[Shravya Gunipudi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just read Karma by Kevin Missal and found it quite thrilling.

The book cover was fantastic and had an eerie feel to it. It has the vibe of a horror film which made it even more appealing to me. I love the colour combination and the feel of it. Coming to the title, I have to say it was bang on to the plot. Short, catchy and intriguing. It had all the right elements to it. Also, I have to mention, this being an 'instaread', which basically means it's much smaller than the usual novel, I definitely was excited because I've never seen anything quite like it... A tiny book with so much of depth to it. Great job on that.




Now, the main plot. The blurb behind the book is excellent. It's very short and creates a lovely anticipatory feeling. It is a very engaging read about a widower who begins to see his dead wife. What follows is a series of events, twists and lessons that unravel a rather complicated mess. The book leaves you feeling content, yet with a hint of a doubt in your mind, which seems like what the author intended to do with his story. The writing style is good, the flow is constant and I wasn't bored anywhere. Another factor to take into consideration is how the author cleverly inter-played a few of our societal issues today, in a caste-based as well as legal mix-and-match. This fits well with the theme.



Overall, it was an enjoyable read, one that takes less than an hour to complete. Definitely money's worth. I recommend it.



Cover: 4/5
Title: 5/5
Plot: 4.5/5
Overall: 4.5/5

[Shivani Shah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Anuj Kumar for the Advance Review Copy of the world's first InstaRead— Karma.


Karma is world's first InstaRead. It is smaller in size hence one carry it easily anywhere, anytime they want to. The book is presented nicely.

A fake robbery-turned-murder, a meaningless life and what follows is disastrous.
Karma is a story by Kevin Missal which, in one sense, is based on how politics is trying to mix religion into love. For what the major section of youth in the society now believes one’s caste does not determine the boundaries for love or marriage.

The other loophole that has been exposed is about the number of years it takes in our country to solve a case, if at all it is solved.

There is never only one person affected in a traumatic situation. There is this person and then there are their loved ones. If one’s psychological condition is not taken into consideration after an event of distress, it might lead to terrible fate.

Although it is quite visible that the author has succeeded in his effort in doing justice to the emotions and behaviour of the characters, it does make me feel that a little more research could have made the description of Karman better.

The cover of the book suits the story and the title is perfect.
There is only one editing (grammatical) mistake.
Overall Ratings: 4.6/5

Regards,
Shivani Shah

[Murali Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karma by Kevin Missal, is an thriller blended with mystery, horror, paranormal romance, supernatural and psychology. It is the first Insta Read book contains only 88-pages and a gluing story.

What is Insta Read ?

Insta Read will be a small sized book. Not as big as a novella and not as small as a pocket book.

About the story -

The story is about Kamran Malik's dead wife came after eight years to take revenge for her death by killing the victims. On other side the investigating inspector suspect on Kamran to be the serial killer and arrested him. Also, he proves Kamran does this because of his dissociative identity disorder. But the true reasons are something else which makes you to keep in edge.

The story also shows the truth of our societies like robbery, rape, improper justice. Only flaw is narration, it can be done bit more better so that emotions of characters can be shown well and story turned bit more interesting.

Overall, Karma is a beautifully crafted thriller with twists and turns. Also will give you a short interesting crispy read.

My rating - 4/5.

[Khyati Gautam · Rating 3 out of 5]

The world’s first Instaread KARMA sends shivers down the spines. It is about a man Karman Malik and wife, Urvi, who are attacked because they did an inter-caste marriage. Urvi is raped and buried by the perpetrators. No trace of her could be found.

After eight long years, she returns to avenge the brutality cast upon her by the three men. She is illustrated as a ‘Rakshas’, a cannibal. Inspector Chaubey takes on the lead to discover the figure behind the mysterious and dirty death incidents. When he finds the truth, his jaw drops.

Who is the real killer? How can the potent terrible power of a human brain lead to disastrous consequences? Read the thrilling stuff to find out!

Kevin Missal has done a good job at portraying a horror story with precision. The crisp plot and coherent storyline is the best part. The suspense that unveils at the climax leaves the reader in awe. Kudos to the author to develop the book so well.

For someone who has an ardor for paranormal and thrilling stuff, this book is a good read.

[Dimple Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book: Karma

Author: Kevin Missal

Publishers: Kalamos Literary Services LLP

ISBN-13: 9789384315627

Number Of Pages: 91

“Never in the wildest of dreams had he imagined his ex-wife would return from the dead.”

Karma by Kevin Missal is a psychological fantasy thriller which contains almost all the elements that every reader wants in a book. It has sparks of romance, unpredictable twists and loads of suspense accompanied by numerable crimes. In the human world it is impossible for a dead one to return back. What if the person who died long back knocks at your door one day and steps into your house staying by your side? This book is all about the return of a day being back to the human world.

Karman Malik’s wife died eight years back. Yet her memories could not part away from his heart. One day his wife Urvi gives him the biggest nightmare of his life by returning back alive after eight years. Unable to trace out the truth Karman accepts her back and cherishes the moments that he has spent with her. But the moment he realizes that Urvi is no more the same person he had loved but a “Rakshas” he immediately commands her to leave his house. His wife becomes a murderer. She mercilessly keeps on killing people who had ruined her life in the past, ultimately seeking revenge. What will Karman do now? Will he forgive Urvi for her sins? Will police suspect Karman to be behind all the murders?

Review:

Karma was my first InstaRead and I enjoyed reading it. It had all the elements that increased my curiosity to read it. The cover page is very appealing to attract millions of readers towards itself. The title of the book was very apt to the story. The blurb of the book was precise, accurate and catchy. Right from the start of the story to the end this book kept me glued to the pages until I finished it. I finished this book in 45 minutes only due to its short length and interesting plot. The author has presented the story very well and there was a perfect composition of all the literary elements in the book. Right from characterization to the narrative style the author has done a flawless job. This book is definitely a page turner that will make the reader flip the pages with curiosity until the reader finishes the story. Even after completing the book the reader will thrist for more of it. I recommend this book to all the readers who want to some goosebumps of thrill.

Ratings:

Cover: 5/5

Title: 4/5

Blurb: 5/5

Writing and Presentation: 5/5

Plot: 5/5

Overall Rating: 4.7/5

[Aryan Sarath · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was amazed when I got this book. It was surely the World's first Insta Read. A short yet very crisp story that would keep you guessing till the end. When I finished reading it, I was still unsure - just like how it would end in a Hollywood Movie keeping the viewers guessing as to who the real culprit is/was.

Sharman Malik was happily married to Urvi but their life gets shattered by 3 of their neighbours which surprisingly Sharman was not aware of. His wife gets brutally raped and murdered only to return back after 8 years to avenge her death.

What did she do? How did she avenge her death is the story. Beautifully written with perfect synchronisation of events which gave a thrilling read despite the fact that it was a real short story. Read it to find out who the culprit was....

[Aparna Preethi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Karma
- Kevin Mishra

The cover page of the book itself will unmask the creepiness which is crawled inside the pages. ‘Karma’ is a psycho thriller novel. The reason to refer ‘psycho’ will be known at the end, yet with an inconsistency.

Karman Malik is the protagonist of the novella. The story opens with an incident of tense, where three men who have committed a murder are in an urge to bury the truth. With a pause, the story then will be resumed after eight years of that incident.

In the course of the tale, we come to know that the corpse is of none other than Urvi, the wife of Karman Malik. With passing of time, Karman lives an isolated life, accepting the bitter fate. But then one night, his peace is ripped away as he sees his wife in front of his house, who has come from her death, after eight long years…

Karman is unable to believe her existence, but also not able to deny her presence. The real shock hits him as a thunderstone when Urvi reveals herself to be a Monster. She has come to seek Karma by killing the ones who has brought her death, but then she kills a few others reasoning her existence with blood as food.

On the other side, Inspector Hemraj Chaubey who deals with this case derives a pattern and comes to know about the death of Urvi which has happened eight years ago, somehow relates to this serial killing. When Chaubey tries to get into the track, he is bewildered to see each lead getting murdered. But finally, they reach the murderer, who is unfortunately not Urvi. The sharp turn in the climax will leave you amazed and at the same time, puzzled.

The author Kevin Missal has brought out the novella in a simple yet catchy way. Simple because, the reader can easily visualize the story, catch because reader can feel the chill of terror.

Karma – Won’t stop until you defeat.

[Ishan Agrawal · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Karma is a bitch" is a commonly heard saying which I really don't agree with. Karma is never a bitch. It's just defined as the payment of your deeds in past and present. If you always have done good deeds there is no way karma will act as a bitch for u. Be the reason for happiness in others life, you will never have to think of what karma does to you.This entire gripping tale revolves around this very theme.

Karman Malik lives alone at his bunglaw , the one which his grandmother had left for him. He is constantly struggling with his past demons and the tragedy of his wife's death that has left him traumatized. He wants to avenge the death of his wife but surrenders to his circumstances when it becomes hard for him to bear. One fine evening, his life comes upside down when he faces his dead wife who has returned from her grave to make the people pay who are responsible for her monstrous disposition. Will she succeed? Is it possible for a dead to return or is just the hallucination of Karman that is getting the better of him ? Will the culprits be caught or punished by the destiny or like most of the cases will remain free ? For all these answers , one has to go through this engaging read.

The story is constructed very well and bears close resemblance to a South blockbuster APARICHIT. It also has stark similarities with INCEPTION , KARTIK CALLING KARTIK and upto an extent to GHAJINI too. The most essential part of a psychological thriller is its pace , narration , suspense and a few elements of shocking twists generally in the form of an unprecedented climax. The novel succeeds in all these fronts.

The novel has two major flaws which to my surprise nobody pointed out.
Firstly, keeping RSS at the major front of all those atrocities in the name of honour killing is what really puts me off and offends me largely. One just can't blame a Hindu wing for such activities which can be performed by extremist group of any religion but singling out one party or group (which in my opinion is the only good thing happened to Indian politics till date as they have kept the little Hinduism left still alive, though its a discussion for another day) is totally uncalled for.
Secondly, one of the culprits is named Prashant in the beginning , then in the middle he become Prakash and all of a sudden at the end , he returned to his original name. These glitches in such a short story of around 8000 words is really disappointing to see. I hope the author will keep these minor but significant blunders in mind while writing future stuff.

Overall , a very nice attempt by author. Looking forward to more such stories in this present world of romantic tales.

[Jalpa Makwana · Rating 5 out of 5]

• Paperback: 92 pages
• Publisher: Kalamos Literary Services LLP (1 June 2017)
• Language: English

Blurb -
KARMA IS WORLD's FIRST INSTAREAD Karman Malik a lonely man finds his wife standing outside his house. But there are two problems. One, she Karman Malik a lonely man finds his wife standing outside his house. But there are two problems. One, she had died eight years back. Second, she is not human anymore. Can he love her again? had died eight years back. Second, she is not human anymore. Can he love her again?

About the Story –
The main 2 protagonists are Karman Malik and his dead wife Urvi. The story starts with a crime scene. The 3 robbers, who are neighbors of karman malik, committed death of urvi and trying to dispose her body. Then after 8 years story resumes with the karman malik who living alone. And one day his wife, urvi back from her death. She is now a like a rakshash who eat flesh and blood. She is now back to avenge her death. She had already eaten the heads of 2 culprits and now the turn comes for third one. Inspector hemraj chaubey investigate the case. And as he found out the links, he manages to track the murderer who seeking the death of third one culprit. Now the question is: Can malik love her wife again as she is not human anymore? Can inspector find the murderer? Can urvi take third one’s life? But the story is not only this. There is a lot more than this. There is a huge twist.

My Review –
First of all, I would like to appreciate the new concept of Insta Read. I really love the short story with lots of surprising elements. You can carry this anywhere. And it’s just short read so one can complete it within an hour or half an hour. It’s catchy horror thriller story. The short and clear depicted blurb. The cover is really appealing and title is best suited off course. The narration is good and flow of the story is flawless. There is lots of twist and turns. The thriller story with horrifying effect. Some scenes are so terrible. And the last ending part which left me with doubt in my mind that what’s really happened? That’s the biggest thing that writer made readers left guessing after finished reading. One of the best reading thriller and yes first Insta Read thriller horror fiction.

My ratings -
Cover: 5/5
Title: 4.5/5
Blurb: 4/5
Characterization: 3.5/5
Plot: 4.5/5
Writing and Presentation: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4.5/5

[Kritika Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first of two: first Insta Read (and as can be seen on cover, it is also the first of the world 😉) and my first paranormal romance. When Kalamos offered me this book to review, my first question was, 'what is Insta Read'. Well, it is bigger than a pocket book, but smaller than a novella. Which makes it interesting.

Talking about the story, it is pretty interesting and engrossing. From start to end. Perfect thriller and mystery. The end is pretty surprising. It revolves around two characters, Karman and his dead wife, Urvi. What makes it interesting is the fact how all others are linked.

It touches upon the various issues of society like love, betrayal, rape, religion etc. I liked reading the book, but there are a few things I didn't like and could have been improved. To start with, the narration could have been much better. I understand the purpose was to write a quick story, but it shouldn't be at cost of narration. Also the end was a bit abrupt. And, the editing could have been much better. There are no mistakes as such, but writing could have been much polished.

Overall, it is a nice read and I liked it. I hope Kalamos will take care of narration in the next edition.

[Manoj Sethy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book: – KARMA

Genre: – fiction, horror

Author: – KEVIN MISSAL

Publishers – kalamos literary service

No. of pages – 116

Ratings –

Cover – 4.5/5 Title – 4/5

Blurb- 4.5/5 Plot/content – 4.5/5

Story –5/5 Character -4.5/5

writing and presentation – 4/5

overall – 4.5/5

characters: –

Karman, Urbi(protagonist)

Blurb: –

Karman malik, a lonely man finds his wife standing outside his house, but there are two problems, one she died 8 years ago. Second, she is not human anymore. Can he love her again?

Review –

This book resembles from a south movie named APARICHIT; i.e. multiple personal disorder, wherever I didn’t compare this two, story starts from a murder scene of a girl; after she took revenge, who are responsible for that night. But karman opposes that because he knows revenge isn’t the solution. But nothing impacts to Urvi, except revenge, but she didn’t know with this his husband hasn’t paid so much debt and lives in a jail.

Let –down: nothing

Appreciations:

Fresh story, narration awesome, nothing seems to find boring.



Verdict: – simply splendid (4.5/5)

Value for money: – 4.5/5

Reviewed by Author Manoj

[Khushi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is truly said for psychological thriller that"some secrets never leave us alone" This book is psychological thriller and you will love each and every twist and turns in this book.I found the story quite similar to Manoj Bajpayee's psychological short story as I had seen that it was sort of predictable for me to assume the culprit otherwise it is perfect book for thriller lovers. The author has described the characters nicely as well as the title and the cover is catchy that will attract the readers to read this.Though the size of book is small but yes the description is just apt and yes you can carry it anywhere anytime thanks to this book of instaread.
Now talking about the story it revolves around Karnan Malik,and his wife Urvi.Urvi was raped and murdered 8 years ago but one fine day Karman his dead wife comes before his wife.This can't be reality right?Even he could not believe that his wife has turned monster and kills the people who killed her.while The inspector starts the investigation and finds the link between this murder mysteries with the incident that happened with Urvi 8 years ago.
So who was behind all this?Was Urvi alive?What happened to Karman?To get answer to all this grab your copies fast.I loved every bit of this book.

[Aakanksha Mishra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karma

This is world's first insta read. Karma by Kevin missal is a paranormal psychological thriller. The book is a good light read if you are not afraid of ghosts. You can read it anyway because it's not that spooky but yes some scenes are really creepy.

The story begins with three men who are trying to hide a woman's dead body whom they have murdered after raping her. The girl who died was Urvi and after eight years of her murder she comes back from the bed of death and shocks her husband Karman by her sudden appearance. He couldn't believe that her dead wife is returned and that too after becoming a stupid monster. She even scares her husband by her devilish acts. What she did after that I'm not gonna tell you. My assumption about the story's ending proved wrong because the ending was totally unexpected.

The cover and title of the book, both are really appealing and describes the genre. It's a short novella and I completed it in just 30 minutes so you don't even have to sit for hours to decipher the ending.

[Dipanshu Rawal · Rating 4 out of 5]

About the book-
Karman Malik, a lonely man finds his wife standing outside his house. But there are two problems. One, she had died eight years back.
Second, she is not human anymore.
Can he love her again?

Review-
This book blurb is perfect and starts the mystic vibes for the readers. The book is a horror thriller which has an intriguing and gripping plot. This genre is not my thing, so it was a unique taste for me.
Plus, being of a tiny size, I couldn't care less to taste something different. The story also touches the genre of psychology and social philosophies.

The vengeance for Urvi brings out many twists and turns to the plot, as to how she rose up from her grave and how is she going to effect her enemies. The suspense of the storyline prevails till the end of the book.

The cover, the language, the editing, everything of this "InstaRead" is up to the mark.
Certainly, a wonderful start of this Insta-Read thing.

[Dhwani Swadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read full review here: https://thereandtheir.com/2017/08/06/...

This is quite a short book, quite literally.

The story starts with four men and a corpse of a woman. We come to know that this was a case of a robbery gone wrong and now the men were trying to buy the body so that no body comes to know what they have done.

We are then brought back to the present where it has been eight years and Karman has gotten over the crime and is now living alone. As he is going about his life, one day his dead wife returns. He discovers that she is now a monster.

While the plot line is quite good, there were far too many editing errors which mars the experience of reading this book. There were certain plot points that the author introduces, but does not really follow through with them, so one is left wondering why they were introduced in the first place.

[Anant Garg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The review by many have already told what the actual content is.

I rated it a bit less not because of the content of it, but because of the availability of such content already on the Internet. And also because of the many cops related video series available now a days, which more or less serves thriller content like this. This insta read didn’t create a heavy impact on my mind as it looked more or less like one of the episode of that.

Though, the story telling is good and the money I spent in purchasing it, doesn’t seem wasted. In short this thriller could always remain in ‘read’ and ‘to be read’ list of readers, who are into thriller matter of reading.

[Himanshi Dhaka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very precise in it's own way, the book leaves the reader in suspense. This book is meant to be read in a single sitting and keeps the interest of the reader alive till the end, leaving the reader wanting more. It also brings out the thoughts and the ability to reason even if it's in our subconscious mind. It's a type of story that would take one's mind and soul. What makes it all the more intriguing and readable is the fact that it is so unique that one does not come across such type of stories frequently.

[Jenny Arora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firstly, Thanks to Kalamos for sending me an Advance Review copy of Karma, it came as a surprise and I was really happy receiving it.

The first thing that I noticed about the mini book was it's cover.
I love the cover, it's perfectly spooky and promising.

The story is actually a psychological thriller put under paranormal covers. Right from the very first page, the book succeeds to hook you up and keeps you so until the end.
Even though it is a really short read, there are plenty twists and turns, all unexpected.
The characters are all very interesting, even though the characteristics are not very well defined, but I think it suffices.

I found a few minor, almost negligible, grammatical errors in the book. While the flow of narration is just perfect, not too fast, not too slow. The narrative is pretty straightforward and weaves an intricate story in less pages.

The cover quality is pretty good and the pages are nice too.

What is appreciative about the book is the new concept of a Flash Fiction, an Instaread, introduced by Kalamos.
I mean there are a lot of people out there who want to read a book but find it hard going through 300 page long book. This book is for them.
Also, it helped me get over my reader's block.
Another pro is that you can carry it anywhere, it literally fits in your pocket.

Ratings -
Book Cover and Quality - 4
Storyline - 4.5
Language - 4.5
Average - 4.5

I really like the idea of a Flash Read. It's really just hardly a twenty minute read.

I'd give it 4.5/5 stars.

Definitely, give it a try.

[Divya Ramnath Bandodkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karma is a blend of horror, love and psychology.
The cover of this book shows a lonely man and a lady in the background. The shades of black and blue is perfect and goes in hand with the genre horror. The book is small in size having 85 pages. The book is a quick read and you will finish reading it in half and hour.
Moving on to the story, I didnot find it spine chilling one. I like to read horror which gives the reader goosebumps and Karma isn't that kind. I was reminded of the Indian cinema, 1920- Evil Returns at some instances. I found the surprise element missing in this story. A few incidents from this story made me laugh rather than making me scared. The story starts off well but as you read further, it loses its charm. It turns monotonous and predictable.
The simple language and lucid narration makes this book an easy read. The story is presented well with good twists and turns. The story is plotted well.
I rate:
Cover: 3.5/5
Characters: 3/5
Story: 2/5
Karma gets an overall rating of 2.5/5 stars from me.