Review: Excellent story but not always horrifying
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 23, 2012
Overview:  Dina Rae has a very unique writing style.  The book feels more like a screenplay than a novel in parts.  The dialogue is over-the-top dramatic at parts, but with the dark nature of stories such as Bad Juju, there's a lot of reasons for the characters to be upset enough to validate the ample use of exclamation points.  The way the author switched from over-the-top psychological horror to back story and new character point of view was frustrating for the hardcore horror lover in me.  I wanted the gore and horror to never stop.  However, for readers who don't read primarily horror novels, you will appreciate a change of scenery after reading some of the most disturbing parts of this novel.The descriptions and scene setups are so well done that I forgot I was reading a book.  It felt like I was watching reality TV, although I doubt anyone would want to star in this novel.  Don't get too attached to the characters as not all of them make it to the end.  Overall, I think Bad Juju will appeal to readers who like both psychological horror novels and dark stories without the gore (although I would still rate this book R for sex, nasty dead people, and violence).Characters:  I liked how complex and colorful Jake's family was.  There's a couple of white trash stereotypes in the beginning but as the story progresses each character is really fleshed out and the stereotypes forgotten.  Although Henry's family got nearly as much screen time, they weren't as interesting and some of them fell flat.  I was surprised how much attention Britney and Rio had in the story - and even though they were minor characters, they felt unique and as far from the head cheerleader/jock personalities and stereotypes as you can get.Plot:  The story hops around quite a bit, which didn't bug me when I read Halo of the Damned by Dina Rae.  Since this book was more of a hardcore horror book, I felt like the scenes ended prematurely sometimes.  I wanted the creepiness and the gore to keep going and for the scare/creepy factor to be more consistent.  The twists in this book kept me guessing until the last few chapters.  Despite my disappointment in the horror, the story was so compelling and addictive to read.  Dina Rae definitely comes up with some creative dark tales.  I can say with certainty that I've never read a novel like this one.Ending:  I have some mixed feelings about the ending.  I liked what Jake and Lucien were doing with the Voodoo, but I was really tired of Henry and his mother Jess.  I wished for many bad things to happen to the latter pair and not all those bad things came to pass.  I did like how Rio's story ended.  That was a nice twist.