I'm going to give you the Amazon.com summary:
All Dylan wants is mojo. What is mojo? It's power. The ability to command respect. It's everything Dylan doesn't have. He gets no respect at school, and when he finds the dead body of a classmate, even the police push him around. All the thanks he gets for trying to help the investigation with his crime drama skills is a new nickname at school: Body Bag. So when Dylan hears about a missing rich girl from the other side of town, he jumps at the chance to dive into this mystery. Surely if he cracks a case involving a girl this beautiful and this rich, he'll get not only a hefty cash reward, but the mojo he's looking for.
His investigation takes him into the world of an elite private high school and an underground club called Gangland. As Dylan—along with his loyal friends Audrey and Randy—falls down the rabbit hole, lured by the power of privilege, he begins to lose himself. And the stakes of the game keep getting higher.
I thought Dylan made some really bad decisions. He was extremely naive, and this allowed him to end up in some really strange situations that to me seemed overly dramatic. The private school kids were very stereotypical and also unbelievable. The parents were almost non-existent.
I thought the premise was interesting, and the ending did have a bit of tension, but again, I just didn't believe any of it. My favorite character was the homeless person, Rockin' Rhonda. She was entertaining. I thought the friendship between Dylan and Audrey was genuine. So, there was some good stuff, but mostly Mojo was a disappointment. I didn't really like The Spectacular Now either (yes, I know, finalist for the National Book Award), so maybe Tharp just isn't the writer for me.
Published by Knops BFYR, April 9, 2013
ARC won from RandomBuzzers
289 pages (Qualifies for my Books You Can Read in a Day Challenge!)
Rating: 2.5/5
I liked Mojo okay, and my students like it, which is the big thing! Why middle schoolers want murder mysteries is beyond me, but this was one I thought they could handle.
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