Review – The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford

What a title. I mean, who would not want to read a book with a title like that? The story sounds good. Teagan has psychokinesis, meaning she can indeed move shit with her mind. Working as an “operative” for the US government, Teagan and her equally sketchy team take on jobs that require a particular skill set – Teagan’s skill set, Of course, apart from her gift, she sucks as an operative, and relies heavily on her team to see things through. However, when a person they were hacking turns up dead, by psychokinesis, Teagan finds she’s the obvious centre of attention. As she spirals down a particularly gnarly rabbit hole, Teagan finds she’s the one holding her team together. But can Teagan hold up and clear her name? Or will she end up back as an experimental subject in some secret government institution?

Here’s what I thought:

• The title gives you a clue as to the dialogue in the book. I liked it, and it definitely suited the story, but some people may be less enthused about it. If you want to a bone to pick, Teagan has been in some kind of institution for most of her life, so it’s a bit odd that she picked up the local slang in a year or so
• The story is told for the most part from Teagan’s point of view. I’ve always been a big fan of first-person mysteries (which this is), so it’s a win for me, Why do I like it, you ask. I like that we learn as she learns, and there’s no “Deep Throat” moments unloading tons of plot and helping ruin the surprise. The other point of view is Jake, the other PK. While he’s obviously the murderer, he as clueless as Teagan about the greater mystery, and the author does a spectacular job of not dropping too many breadcrumbs. For the record, I thought it I had it figured out, but I was wrong
• It’s high-octane. It starts with Teagan and Annie jumping off a skyscraper and doesn’t really let up, apart from the occasional flashback to let us catch our breath. The timing is a bit off though, in my opinion. In what is maybe a 36 hour (max) period, it just seems longer
• The cast of characters suffer. They get hurt, they get hungry, they get exhausted, and flip their gourd with great regularity. In essence, they have limitations. Teagan’s team spent as much time at loggerheads as they did sorting stuff out. Sounds like a real “work” scenario? It is
• I think it’s a tad too long. They probably could have cut 50 pages off without losing much of the story. There was no real fluff, no moment of “get back to the story already,” but I still think they could have shortened it a little
• There will be a sequel.It already has a title, and based on what little we’ve been given on it, I think I might like it more than this one, but we’ll wait and see,

This was a fast, fun ride with a cracking mystery to boot. Not the best of it’s kind, but definitely worth somewhere between 3½ and 4 stars.