Mouch and Company: The Dream Psychic by Bob Dixon

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.

What I enjoyed most about this book was its creativity. It is full of interesting little details that make the story what it is, and it is one that I, for one, am very glad I read.

Mouch is a fascinating character. He has a dry, witty sense of humor that endears him to the reader and which makes us care about his future. His friends, an actual, talking sock puppet among them provide lots of comedic dialogue and nice moments. They are all rather original, so it was a pleasure to get to know them through the book.

This story could have taken a dangerous turn as we come to realize that all is not as it seems, but the writing steadily maneuvers us through the plot intricacies until we are on the other side. The storyline is very different from the many paranormal books we are seeing these days, and it’s quite refreshing to get a taste of something amusing, yet quirky at the same time. It was an easy, enjoyable read.

I can recommend it to most ages if you’d like to read something a bit different. And book two is at some point coming out, so it’ll be interesting to see how the plot develops.