Review: Mouch and Company: The Dream Psychic

Mouch and Company: The Dream Psychic by Bob Dixon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Book Info: Genre: Urban Fantasy
Reading Level: Older Middle Grade to younger Young Adult (13/14 on up)
Recommended for: Fans of Harry Potter, people who enjoy stories about young adults with powers
Trigger Warnings: Bullying, murder attempts, violence

My Thoughts: This book will inevitably draw comparisons to Harry Potter, since the psychic abilities of many of the characters will seem much like magic, and like Harry, Mouch has no parents to be seen. Of course, we have no idea what happened to Mouch’s parents, since he has no memory prior to age 9, when he was found in a mall and eventually committed to an asylum. However, there is that section where Mouch works to train his chosen companions, very similar to when Harry trains the other kids in Defense Against the Dark Arts, so there are some similarities, too.

I noticed a few editing errors, mostly really minor stuff like adverb/adjective combinations hyphenated, or an adverb used where an adjective should have been, or missing or extra punctuation. I have, in the past, discussed maybe doing some editing for this author, and if he does decide to have me do some work for him, I would recommend he let me start with this one, just to clean up the last of the errors in it. There were a couple plot discrepancies that bothered me, too. Mouch has never driven, but he hops in a Jeep and drives for hours with no apparent problem. There are some bullies whose names are never given, and it seems more could have been done with them. There are traitors that are just sort of ignored after they are discovered. And what is Dr. Edwards’ connection to Brookewood, and how does her connection to it translate into her apparent disdain for people like Mouch? It doesn’t make sense to me. It seems like some of these issues could use addressing, and that would make the story a bit more satisfying in the end.

Overall, however, I didn’t dislike this book, but I am not really terribly enthusiastic about it, either. I am just sort of “meh” about it. I didn’t think it was a waste of my time, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it to people, either. There are a lot of books that need to be read, and not a lot of time. I guess if you’ve been missing that Harry Potter vibe, this might fill that missing spot in your soul. If you generally like YA fiction, again, you might enjoy it.

Disclosure: I received an e-book copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: Being a teenager is tough enough, but try it when you have schizophrenia and psychic abilities that make all of your imaginary friends real... The odds are against Mouch—he's locked up in Talsom Mental Asylum; his only friends are a sock puppet and his shadow. Worst of all, he suffers from amnesia; his earliest memory is of being found alone in a mall wearing nothing but a pair of polka-dotted boxer shorts, a pair of fluffy, white bunny slippers, and a hat made from a newspaper.... and covered in a generous amount of blood. When an elderly gentleman visits him and reveals that Mouch is not crazy but is actually a psychic, Mouch does what any rational person would do—he runs for the door. Once outside of Talsom, Mouch soon finds himself thrust into a battle against a sinister movement of dark psychics who threaten to destroy the entire psychic community.



View all my reviews