funny and clever in all the ways. would recommend quite a bit. 4 stars, awesome, tysm for the arc. super cool

Hello Fellow Readers,

'Catchpenny' by Charlie Huston has a unique take on magic. Mojo is found everywhere in the world but the more sentimental an object is the more mojo it has. Syd is a thief who travels through mirrors and I wanted to like him, but I took a little too long to get there. I thought the story would be faster-paced as the plot kicks off pretty much from the first chapter but slows down too much to keep my attention. The world Huston created seems so very interesting and the mystery element was pretty good, but the story doesn't seem to be centered around it.

More information, more cohesiveness, and more mystery rather than characterization. There were a lot of side characters and they all seemed so much more interesting than Syd himself. I wish they would have explained the magic (or 'Mojo' as it's called in the book) because that was where my attention wanted to focus on.

Overall, a unique mystery.

Charlie Huston is back to his old style of book, the quick pacing and dialog, and I'm here for it. I really liked the characters in this and will definitely await the next volume.

Sidney has had struggles, with depression, with debt, and his reputation is completely destroyed. He's a special kind of thief who can move through mirrors and steals unique objects that are saturated in mojo, a magical essence brought on by strong emotion. When Sid is presented with an opportunity to take on a case that will erase his debt he jumps on it. He soon realizes this job is much more complicated than it looks, and the stability of the world just might depend on how he goes about completing it.

This book was a weird and wild ride. While there were some things I liked here, the uniqueness being the main thing, I honestly haven't read anything I would compare this to, there was also just too much that I didn't like. First off, the word mojo...every time it was said it felt like fingernails on a chalkboard in my brain and it was said A LOT! There was a ton going on in this book and I had a hard time keeping up with how the magic system worked in this one. The biggest issue I had with this book though was that it came off as one giant rambling of the authors thoughts and lacked cohesion.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this one… I had a hard time getting into the plot and connecting with the characters.

A wonderful concept for a story that moves quickly from one act to the next. Everyday items contain a bit of magic from their owners emotions. Your favorite pillow could generate nothing but good dreams......hmmmm. Charlie Huston is a prolific author, sharing his wonderful stories across many genre. Catchpenny is the MC in this tale of a man who life has brought down only to be recharged in a quest to recapture his past and prove himself still a force to be reckoned with in the world of lost and found. A story that moves quickly and characters that react to each other as if true to life. Definitely an author I'll watch for more.

This was deeply weird and imaginative. A wonderfully adventurous scifi romp for people thinking outside the box.

Thank you for my ARC of Catchpenny. Sadly this was a DNF for me after 15%. Just could not get into the writing and was hoping for something a little darker.

Catchpenny was a fun and intriguing read. I liked the mix of action and character insight. I would read more from this author.

I requested this book specifically to read and see if my husband would want it as a gift, and I'm happy to say that he definitely did and also loved it when I gave him a finished copy for Father's Day! While I love psychological mysteries and a bit of sci-fi, he LOVES that whole genre, so this was a win all around.

I love a good genre-blending sci-fi mystery, but this book didn't work for me. After about a month of trying to give this novel a solid chance, I decided to DNF it. It put me in a bit of a rut, especially for sci-fi books, which are usually my bread and butter. The world was interesting, but the tone was not for me. The tone and writing reminded me of Sarah Gailey's Magic for Liars, which also didn't work for me.

LA has an - interesting - reputation. It’s the City of the Stars, but also all the machinations required to keep those dreams going. Wannabe actors (and now influencers) flock there, hoping for a Big Break, but the break can only come for so many. But what happens to those who get left behind?

In Charlie Huston’s new novel, some might call the eponymous Sid Catchpenny one of those unfortunates. Today, Sid’s a “sly” - someone with the ability to move through mirrors - and he uses his skills primarily for thievery. Sid, like other slies, specializes in stealing objects with emotional or cultural resonance, called “mojo”. (Mojo powers some major magic, from automatons to influence, so can be extremely valuable.) So, when an old friend asks him to help trace a missing girl, and her room happens to be a mojo hotspot, how can he refuse? Pretty soon, Sid’s embroiled in a complex tangle taking him through community theater, D&D, MMORPGs, cults, and the local music scene, on the path to saving the world. Plus, Sid’s got mysteries of his own to solve, specifically relating to his wife’s death.

As an avid mystery and urban fantasy reader, I was obviously intrigued. It’s hard to balance a magical world and a mystery plot, especially one set in a modern-day analogue. I was very curious to see how Huston fared, and whether he was able to keep the balance… (Thanks to NetGalley and Vintage for the review copy!)

## It’s all about the vibes
Let’s start with the worldbuilding. There is a LOT of world to build here. There’s a whole magic system - soft; a week later and I can’t exactly tell you how it works. There’s the LA that lives inside this magic system, a whole new entertainment industry for the writing. And there are the connections to the loved and familiar, which are sometimes even harder to get right.

The magic system here could almost be described as “vibes”, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Mojo seems to do everything from enable mirror escapes to power automatons. Unfortunately, it’s trapped by the internet, which puts our magic users’ power at peril - a neat way to limit their scope. Huston writes characters with so much conviction in mojo that it was only after reading that I questioned any of its logic. The breakneck pace helps here too - each scene is followed by another new take on the power of culture on the human experience.

Because Huston wants to explore, ti would seem, every single modern cultural experience. He touches on live performances (from local theater to concerts and shows). There’s video games, contrasted with the routine pattern of D&D. And of course, TikTok and the streaming Internet - simply a drain for our collective mojo. The input side of the equation is a fascinating one, allowing Huston to explore the variety of human connection.

The output side is a little less objectively interesting. The stakes in _Catchpenny_ are mostly personal, and the few mojo “outputs” we see are the same. Think automatons and mirror-jumping: interactions that happen up close and personal, not on a really grand scale. There are points where Huston raises the stakes, but they came a little late for me to rally believe them. No spoilers, but this feels somehow very Gen Z as a book to me - it’s like smashing together Amanda Montell with some magical empowerment and seeing what comes out the other end.

## The vibes of mystery
What about the mystery? _Catchpenny_ ostensibly follows as Sid traces Circe, a missing teenager, at the bequest of an old friend. And there is some good deduction and reasoning involved on Sid’s part as he follows her footsteps. Sid’s also go this own personal mysteries to reckon with: his wife died years ago and he’s always wanted to catch the killer.

There’s certainly plenty of crime to explore in the story. Sid is literally a thief. This puts him in contact with a number of criminals and other shady characters, who think nothing of mafioso tactics to get their way. Huston brings Sid’s depression, anxiety, and excitement to life, and while reading I felt thoroughly engaged in the ostensible crimes.

While _Catchpenny_ is a crime story, it’s more an adventure than any real mystery. Huston is more interested in worldbuilding and twists than deduction, and while his world and characters are compelling, they’re not precisely _guessable_. This can be a good thing, but _Catchpenny_ does not feel like fair play. Instead, it’s a story that uses magic and pseudo-mystery to capture a precise moment in time. Where we once had detectives focused entirely on psychology, we now have a crime - and a detective - running entirely on vibes. It’s a fascinating world, and wonderful way to explore human irrationality and emotion… (even if it’s not, precisely, the mystery I may have expected).

## Something new…
Honestly, I’m not entirely sure where to place _Catchpenny_ in my catalog of reading this year. It’s definitely an urban fantasy setting, and there’s heaps of worldbuilding and exploration. But in many ways, the exploration of mojo feels more sci-fi in spirit, with mojo serving as both technology and MacGuffin, driving the power of human engagement and its role in society. There are also some mystery and crime elements - but our protagonist gets driven _by_ those elements, and they can almost feel like contrivances. _Catchpenny_, it can feel, doesn’t fit neatly anywhere…

…And in many ways, that makes it more intriguing. Huston clearly cares about culture, and _Catchpenny_ is really one extended exploration of the vectors of culture in modern society. Plus some robots. (And who doesn’t love a robot?)

I will be going on vacation soon! Hopefully that will mean more posts, not fewer, but we shall see. Until next time, stay cozy and stay curious!

I sincerely regret it taking me so long to get to this stunning, fun, genius novel - flipping so many genres on its head, it was a wild and delicious ride.

I would have liked it more if the author didn't called magic "mojo". Was it really needed? Was he trying to make it more 80s than it already was? Magic was everywhere, sure. People could use mirrors as portals, sure. Others could harvest this magic for their benefit, sure. But mojo, nah fam

Once musician, now thief Sidney Catchpenny was tasked to find the girl who was missing. He knew that there was something unusual about her. Especially her room, her taste in music, her favorite singer were telling Catchpenny that this was not a big coincidence. As he started to track his girl, more and more characters from the past started to show up. Last one was someone that he was looking for a long time yet did not want to see

It was an interesting take on whodunnit. He meant to solve this mystery, but at the end he found himself in the broken mirrors. He finally realized that everything was truly connected and if he were to open his eyes, he would have saved himself and everyone around him long time ago.

Oooph, this was…different. I normally love genre mashups. I loved some of Charlie Houston’s previous books, most notably the Joe Pitt series. I thought this was going to be a great new start to a new series. But for me there was just wayyyyy too much going on to keep everything straight or to care about Sid, Circe, or any of the characters. Using mirrors to travel to different places? Cool. Magic is real? Cool. But then add on the different types of magic users, add in the loan shark who has Sid’s heart, the former model super magician that Sid sold his voice to, a suicide death cult, a missing girl, the taxi cab driver…it was just too much for me, like reading an ADHD detective magician story. It totally lost me at the video game. I got to about 35% then skipped around to the end.

If you love genre mashups including sci-fi mixed with magical detective fiction give this a try, you may like it more than I did.

Thanks to the publisher and author for the e-arc I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I also got the audiobook from my library.

Catchpenny
By Charlie Huston

This is a very strange book. It's the story of Syd Catchpenny, a thief who can travel from place to place through mirrors with the help of mojo (also known as magic). Syd suffers from depression and low self-esteem. He was once a wonderful singer with a great career ahead of him, but is now reduced to a voiceless wreck of a guy without a heart – literally.

The book deals with a video game that threatens, by directing the courses of magic, to cause mass suicides and destroy the world as we know it. Only a sixteen year old girl named Circe stands between the powers that be and changing the world as we know it into something better.

At first, I thought this was more of a Young Adult book. I wasn't sure that the gaming and internet parts of the story were going to hook me in. But I was wrong. Quirky as it is, I still found myself reading along right up to the conclusion. If you are looking for something different – maybe outside your comfort level a bit – I would recommend this book.

I thought I would hate this book ... I was so wrong. This one will go down as one of my favorite. Highly recommend it. There is magic in it. Just read it and enjoy!

This isn't a genre I'm normally drawn to, but the description, along with an author I've been wanting to read for years, attracted me. And I'm glad it did - I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Sidney Catchpenny is a man who's possessed some serious talents in his lifetime. But when we meet him, he's not in a good place. He's been suffering from serious depression for years, and hasn't been able to do what he once did best so is definitely down on his luck. He lives in a version of this world where magic abounds (though not everyone knows it) and his talent is his ability to move through the world using mirrors. And steal things, that's his other talent. But now he can barely drag himself out of bed, and he's barely hanging on. But a friend drags him into a case that rejuvenates him, and as he tells about the investigation, he also discloses his life story. Is he a reliable narrator? Well, he's a thief, so assume nothing.
This book kept me interested throughout - the descriptions of how magic operates in Sidney's world, the power of mojo, Sidney's backstory. It was always surprising, always engaging, and at times though-provoking. (As in "Man, if this were true, it would explain so much...") It definitely requires that "suspension of disbelief" that some readers just don't enjoy. But if you can get past that, you may just enjoy it as much as I did.
Thanks to Netgalley and Vintage for providing a digital copy for an unbiased review.

Ebook/Fantasy: I received this ebook from Netgalley in return for a review. To me, the book was 100 pages too long. I only finished it by skipping through some of the repetitiveness. I did like the mystery and Sidney's world. It reminded me a lot of Sandman Slim. I liked that the author had a sense of continuity and the settings were easy to follow. There are a lot of strange characters along the way either helping, warning, or hindering Sidney's search for the missing Circe. I did not like that the author/editor chose to repeat Sidney's thoughts instead of giving the reader more insight into what mojo is and or it's history. I really didn't get a sense of if the whole world knew about mojo or was mojo a secret.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor as well as the author for this ARC in exchange for my unbiased and honest opinion.

#NetGalley #Knopf,Pantheon,VintageandAnchor #CatchPenny #CharlieHuston

Title:Catchpenny
Author: Charlie Huston
Publisher: Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor
Publication Date: April 9, 2024

Themes: Science fiction, fantasy, mental illness, nostalgia, magic
Trigger Warnings: portrayals of depression, magic

This will be a quick one. It wasn’t for me. This story had good bones. Sid Catchpenny is a professional thief who suffers from debilitating depression. His unique abilities have given him the reputation of being one of the greatest thieves ever but his depression is threatening to destroy that. When a unique opportunity presents itself, Sid takes it and does his best. His job is to steal curiosities, or objects that contain mojo, or magic.
This is a very unique book. The author is creative and has a way with words. There are quite a few beautiful and compelling quotes in this book if one can wade through all of the word vomit to find it. The main protagonist is intriguing and likable in his way. Having said all that, the book was way too long for me. I had a lot of trouble caring about what was going on because of all the rambling. Sid was likable but he was also whiny. This was a definitive struggle to get through and I have to admit that I didn’t make it all the way through it. The science fiction/ fantasy mash-up just wasn’t for me. I do appreciate the ARC and will give this author another chance at one point or another.