Book Review: Mojo

Title: Mojo

Author: Tim Tharp

Publication Date: April 8, 2014

Publisher: Ember

Genre: Mystery

Pages: 288

Age Rating: Readers over 14

My Opinion: 7/10

Hi, Readers!

       Every once and a while, I enjoy reading a good mystery book.  Trying to figure out the culprit before the main character solves the mystery is a lot of fun.  In the novel Mojo, author Tim Tharp includes a great mix of mystery and comedy to create a lighthearted and entertaining read.  However, some of his characters were not my favorite.

       Dylan is an ordinary high school boy who enjoys writing for the school newspaper and hanging out with his best friends, Audrey and Randy.  However, when Dylan finds the dead body of his high school classmate discarded in a dumpster, he is worried, to say the least.  Therefore, as soon as a girl from a local private school goes missing, Dylan feels obligated to investigate and he believes the cases may be intertwined.  He starts writing a column in the school newspaper about the disappearance, but he becomes more involved in the case than expected.  His investigation takes him to Gangland, a dangerous club created by students from the private school.  Faced with rich kids, overzealous parents, and the police, Dylan must figure out who he can trust while attempting to solve the mystery of the missing girl.

       The best part about Tim Tharp's writing is that he seamlessly integrates comedy into his storytelling.  Some of the situations that Dylan must face made me laugh out loud.  For instance, Dylan has an obsession with cheeseburgers, so whenever he feels passion for something, he connects it back to his love of burgers.  In addition, Tharp uses his comedic style in order to deeply develop his characters.  He even uses a joking manner when describing characters.  Specifically, Tharp described Randy as "wearing a cheesy collared shirt that was unbuttoned far enough to expose his pale bony chest.  I should also point out that he'd been trying to grow a mustache... which had the texture of armpit hair.  Apparently, he thought it was suave."  Just imagine a whole book filled with descriptions as wacky as these.

       However, one drawback of the novel is that none of the characters really stood out.  Although Tharp made Dylan into a funny character, I did not particularly like him.  Many of his decisions and thoughts made me mad.  For instance, it took Dylan the entire novel to figure out that the 'popular crowd' was using him for their own personal advantage, even though all of the signs were there.  I got frustrated that Dylan was self-centered throughout his search for the missing girl, and it got to the point where I wondered why he was even looking for her in the first place.

       If you are a mystery lover, Mojo would be an entertaining read for you.  I enjoyed reading it and it made me laugh, but the novel lacked a certain something to transform it from good to great.

Happy reading!