The Girl Who Could Move Sh*# With Her Mind

By Jackson Ford. Pub date: June 18, 2019.

3 out of 5 stars. Best enjoyed with a black coffee and some good sushi or Phó.

MY FIRST ARC! Thanks, Netgalley! I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair & honest review. Paying the reaper in spades:

The Girl Who Could Move Shit With Her Mind focuses on our protagonist, Teggan, a devil-may-care-Deadpool-esque early-twenty-something who somewhat mysteriously has an X-Men-level mutation in her genetics that causes her to have PK, or psychotelekinesis–the title says it all: she can move sh*# with her mind. She works for a super secret military organization that goes after bad people while fronting as a moving company called China Shop. Her rag tag team of what basically amount to the Expendables includes Reggie, a super smart hacker whose time in the military left her as a paraplegic, clean-cut office manager Paul (or as Teggan calls him “Agent Whiteboard”), Teggan’s best work friend Carlos, the Mexican ex-pat getaway driver outrunning his past, and Annie, a street tough former inmate who is super secretive about her personal life, and for good reason. The teams works for Moira Tanner, who is honestly a conspiracy nut’s wet dream/worst nightmare, and whom is seemingly obsessed with the greater good.

When their current mark is found dead in a way that only someone with PK could have accomplished, all eyes are on Teggan. But she knows it wasn’t her, which means she has to prove she’s not the only one out there with these abilities–a prospect that is both exciting and terrifying to her. However, Tanner has put an expiration date on her head–prove in 24 hours that there’s another person who could have done this, and she and the team are spared. Fail, and end up in the darkest hole the government can drill. Commence the superhuman-charged high-octane detective story you didn’t even know you needed in your life.

I will admit, it took me a couple of chapters in to really adjust to the writing style and get absolutely hooked, but I did. Ford does a good job at keeping the reader on their toes. Like every book, though, it had is pros and cons:

PROS:

• I don’t usually enjoy more than one POV in a story, but the bounce between Teggan and Jake, the other person with PK abilities who is only committing the murders because he wants to know where he comes from (not giving anything away with that, it’s pretty clear from the first perspective change), is actually really engaging. They’re both anti-heroes who have been dealt a seriously messed up hand. Teggan was experimented on as a kid while Jake has been bounced around the foster system. Life is tough even with superhuman abilities. You really want to root for both sides on this one. I love the level of grey we get with these characters.
• There’s something that Jackson Ford absolutely nails that even grizzled veteran writers don’t always hit on, and that is that his characters are really well fleshed out, even the auxiliary ones. I could almost see the corded muscles on Annie’s arms, the glint on Reggie’s glasses, and hear Africa’s laugh. That’s a huge plus. I felt invested in what happened to these people. Even Jake. Some characters, like Tanner & Chuy, were purposefully elusive. The only character I have a real complaint about is Nic. I really wish he had been more fleshed out. He didn’t even seem like that important of a character when we first encounter him, so when he comes back into the picture it’s kind of like “um…okay? Who is this guy, again?”
• The banter between the characters is seriously hilarious at times. As much as it seems that Teggan got on a lot of people’s nerves, she didn’t get on mine. I get why her personality is the way it is. She’s just super jaded with life and is absolutely limited on choices with very short leash and little free will. Of course she’d end up being a smarta$$–her words are the only way she can actually rebel and she’s got to keep that cushion of humor going or it’ll let the despair in. It’s very clear as the book goes on that she really does care about the people around her, even if she is sarcastic and exhausting at times. It just makes her feel more real to me.

CONS:

• As much as I liked the book overall, the beginning really was difficult to get into. It felt a bit like it was trying too hard, which made it a bit of a slog until you get to the high-stakes part. It also makes you question some of the better parts of the book. I won’t mention anything super specific because *spoilers* but ***SPOILERS***: suffice it to say that the weight limits on her powers are a tad questionable when you add velocity into the mix. Why was she able to stop two people from falling from the sky yet no one questions why she only has a 300# weight limit on her powers? However, this requires a cursory knowledge of physics so not every reader will be as keen on this. It’s also not a deal breaker–this is a work of fiction, not a textbook.
• There’s a slight romance between two characters but it honestly fell super flat. However, not the focus of the book. I just wish that relationship had been a little more well laid out or just ignored all together. It just seemed really hasty and felt like it was a last minute addition to reach a different audience. I am a stickler for romance, but this one I couldn’t care less about.
• (Also may change in the final copy edit:) There were a couple of moments when I think the writer might have made an editing mistake that was missed in post. There was a particular situation where it seemed like an entire paragraph of dialogue was missing because one character asked a question and then the next character responded and the response was clearly for something else that should have be said. It was only blatantly obvious one time and it was a minor situation that I just kind of glossed over, but there were also a couple of situations where words were omitted which kind of messed with the sentence structure. These items are very minor and although they are jarring when you’re trucking along enjoying an action packed book, they weren’t enough to make me stop reading.

Although it took me a bit to get into it, I’m super glad I did. It was a seriously wild ride. However, there was also a cliff hanger ending that has made me really wonder where else the author plans to go with it. It also seems kind of hastily written, but it nonetheless has left me intrigued.