Bad Karma

The True Story of a Mexico Trip from Hell

By: Paul Wilson

Narrated by: Joe Zieja

Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

In the summer of 1978, 21-year-old Paul Wilson jumps at the chance to join two local icons on a dream surf trip to mainland Mexico, unaware their ultimate destination lies in the heart of the drug cartel country. Having no earthly idea of where he’ll get the money to pay his share and determined to prove his mettle, he does the only thing he can think of: He robs a supermarket. And, if karma didn’t already have enough reason to doom the trip, he soon learns one of his companions is a convicted killer on the run and the other an unscrupulous cad. Mishap and misfortune rule the days, and mere survival takes precedence over surfing.

Original photographs (including pre-kingpin El Chapo), and Wilson’s strong narrative style, combine to make this true story personal—in the tradition of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara, and Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—except this tale had to wait for the statute of limitations to expire before it could be told.

Readers Favorite Silver Award winner for 2020!

©2019 Paul Adam Wilson (P)2021 Paul Adam Wilson

Critic reviews

"Bad Karma has instantly joined the pantheon of great adventure writing!” (Elizabeth Howard)

A must listen! Coming-of-age / buddy comedy adventure

I loved Paul Wilson's book, so I figured I'd give the audio version a try... and I’m so glad I did! The Narrator (Joe Zieja) does an incredible job of capturing the voice of each character. You’ll feel like you’re along for the ride start to finish.

Highly recommend! Touching moments w/ laugh out loud comedy.

GOOD THING THERE'S A STATUTE

GREAT FUN. SINCE I GREW UP JUST BEFORE THE AUTHOR IN THE SAME AREA AND COULD PICTURE
ALL HIS ROWDY ADVENTURES. HE PUSHED THE LIMITS WITH EVERYTHING HE DID WHILE I WAS QUIETLY
LIVING 'LEAGALLY' ON THE SIDELINES. THANKS FOR TAKING A CHANCE YOUR KIDS WON'T BELIEVE YOU
AND WRITING THE BOOK.

Awesome Book

This is a great book. Started to read the book, then decided to go to the Audible version because I knew I’d wouldn’t put it down. Audible let me listen while I did other things and the narration was good. It held my interest to the end.
To sum it up, the author could have lost his life and ended up saving his soul.

Loved this book

Great adventure, told with self deprecating humor and by a young man w a conscience, albeit not a well developed one. Loved the humor and laughed out loud from time to time.

What an incredible story!

Once I started listening, I couldn’t stop! I read Bad Karma last year so, when the audio book came out, I immediately purchased it! I was once again pulled into the story and I again found myself completely immersed int this fantastic tale! The narrator’s style and his ability to capture the personality of each character made it difficult to pause the book. I found myself saying “maybe just one more minute!” I spent the entire day rushing though tasks in order to return to the audio book!

great story

well told story from begining to end
thanks for sharing your experince and adventures in mexico

CRNK 1

brought back many memories. at 74 I have settled in IB bringing back many memorirs of my 70s and 80s growing up in VA. respectly submitted. CRNK 1.

Great Read!

A fun, interesting Baja adventure. I really enjoyed the story and the honesty of the author in sharing the good and the bad of his experience.

Fun Story

really entertaining fast moving story. makes a surf trip to Mexico sound exciting. packing my bags.

Interesting story— language too rough

I enjoyed the book and the interesting stories and descriptions. The reader is impressively talented with voice and accents and really added to the experience. My only complaint is that the language is way too harsh. For people who don’t appreciate f-ing language, it was annoying to hear non-stop and almost caused me to stop a couple times. Too bad they couldn’t just mute that a bit and more people would enjoy. Overall, really great book! Well done.