mindfulness might save your life

Bjorn Diemel is facing some challenges in his life. While he studied the law hoping to become a partner in a law firm, he is instead a criminal defense attorney whose time is spent on only one client, Dragan, a criminal with his finger in drugs, guns, and prostitution. Bjorn spends a lot of time setting up legitimate businesses for Dragan to launder his money through. And life at home is also not what he had planned. His marriage is dying because he has to spend so much time at work, but he adores his daughter. He will do anything to spend time with her. Even try a mindfulness coach.

Bjorn isn’t excited about going to a mindfulness coach, but his wife insists. And actually Bjorn takes to the lessons quite well. One of his first lessons is about being in the moment. So if you’re standing at the door, waiting on your mindfulness coach to answer the door, don’t have an argument with your wife in your head. When you’re waiting on the door, wait on the door. When you’re arguing with your wife, argue with your wife. It’s about being present.

So when there is an emergency situation with Dragan while Bjorn is supposed to be spending the weekend with his daughter at the lake, Bjorn puts his new mindfulness practice to the test. He helps his client get out of town, and then he focuses his attention on his daughter. When he is with his daughter, he’s with his daughter. So even if there is a large criminal stuck in the trunk of his car, he is with his daughter. He focuses his attention on her until it’s time to stop.

And after he drops his daughter back with his (soon-to-be-ex) wife, then he deals with the very difficult situations his client Dragan has left him in. It will take all his mindfulness lessons and a certain amount of cunning to get himself out of the mess Dragan got him in, and, more importantly, to get his daughter into a good preschool.

Murder Mindfully is a dark comedy that is smart, innovative, and laugh-out-loud funny. Translated from German, this crime novel mixes together the mindfulness movement and self-help books with the mindset of the lawless. This book is not for everyone. There are some pretty gory scenes, and several of the characters don’t seem to have much of a conscience. But if you can get behind that, then you’re in for quite a wild ride.

I listened to Murder Mindfully on audio, narrated by L.J. Ganser, and I thought he did such an amazing job with the voice of Bjorn. It’s written in first-person, so it’s all about the voice of Bjorn, and Ganser nails it. He voices Bjorn’s skepticism, his concern for his daughter, his logic (twisted as it is sometimes), and his new understanding of mindfulness. Listening to this book was so much fun, and it will keep bringing a smile to my face for some time to come.

A copy of the audio book for Murder Mindfully was provided by RBMedia through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.