Mojo

Mojo

YA fiction
Sometimes a good mystery with surprise twists and turns and a
very unexpected ending can be a really fun read. Tim Tharp's Mojo is
a gem in this genre. If you're anything like me once you start
reading you won't be able to set it down.
Dylan covets the special power he calls mojo. In real life he
has anything but. He's an overweight kid who goes to school and bags
groceries. Like Rodney Dangerfield, he gets no respect. Even when he
discovers the corpse of a schoolmate in a dumpster kids begin to
harass him, calling him "body bag". At the dead boy's funeral he
feels like a total loser. "...If I died five years out of high
school, I probably wouldn't have a single person at my funeral. If
someone found me dead in a Dumpster, they might as well just leave me
there. It'd save the city money for having to bury me."
Little does Dylan know he's about to become a lot less
invisible. A girl from an exclusive private school for wealthy kids
goes missing. Volunteers are asked to scour a nature park. He
discovers a sneaker belonging to the missing girl. He also starts to
fall in with her wealthy schoolmates who seem impressed that he's
working on an investigative story for his school paper. He begins to
pal around with them, thinking that they'll give him the clues he
needs to solve the mystery, collect the hefty reward, and gain some
major mojo.
However, while he's watching them someone is watching him:
someone who feels he is snooping in matters that are none of his
business and will go to any length to nip that in the bud--maybe
someone who has killed at least once.
This is a really good book for the kid who is not fond of books
but needs some reading matter for school. It's also a good read for
people who enjoy a fast paced, suspenseful mystery.
On a personal note, I had the greatest reading experience. Just when
I got to the point where the suspense was really building up all the
lights went off. I got to finish it by the much dimmer glow of the
hubby's camp lantern with moving shadows lurking in every corner and
even the Christmas tree having a sinister aspect. Not that a power
outage is totally unexpected when central Maine is in the grips of an
ice storm. But you want to talk about perfect timing. YOWZA!
A great big shout out goes out to all who are coping with this pre
Christmas inclement weather. Hang in there! It's nothing we can't
handle.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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