My Dirty California by Jason Mosberg

​I don’t much like large books. For me, optimally, a novel should come in around 300 pages. Which means it doesn’t just take me longer to get through the larger books but it takes me longer to get TO them. And so, this novel, as enticing as it sounded, waiting on my Netgalley TBR list for quite a while. But…once I picked it up, I didn’t want to put it down. Yes, it’s over 400 pages, but it was well worth it for how fun, how engaging, how clever this mystery was.
I’m very selective with my thrillers, striving to avoid the clichéd work populating the market right now. This one isn’t clichéd at all.
My Dirty California is all original, a compelling mystery wrapped into a love song for a state of dreamers.
You get to follow a story of two estranged brothers, one as a ghostly presence lingering on the edges, one as a protagonist trying to solve his murder. It’s a maze of terrific characters and a plethora of concepts from crimes to conspiracy theories, all terrifically written and character driven.
Sun-baked, ocean-bathed, dirty yet so beguiling, California is the main character of this story and so much more than just a location.
The rest of the characters are no slouches either and are compelling in their own ways with their dramas and triumphs, conspiracy theories and crimes and complexly convoluted yet always engaging personal journeys.  
You get aspiring criminals, aspiring detectives, aspiring dimension travelers. A real kitchen sink of a novel in the best possible way.
The mystery at the center of this novel is serpentine, clever, multi-layered, loaded with twists and surprises.
All in all, a great read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.