Title: Truly Devious
Author: Maureen Johnson
Genres: Mystery, Fiction
Age: YA
Rating: 5.0
FULL REVIEW :
Truly Devious, by Maureen Johnson, is about Stevie Bell, a teenager and true-crime aficionado, who got accepted to Ellingham Academy. Ellingham Academy is an incredibly famous private school for the brightest of students. Albert Ellingham, the school's namesake, was a rich man who loved puzzles and riddles. But, his wife and daughter gets kidnapped, and the only clue is a cryptic letter signed Truly Devious. Everyone there is accepted for a reason, and Stevie's reason is her passion in the Ellington case. She's determined to solve the case, and will go to great extents to solve the last riddle left over.
How do you look for someone who's never really there? Always on a staircase, but never on a stair.
While Stevie is absorbed in the cold case, Truly Devious seems to return. Someone turns up dead, in a seems to be accident. But Stevie knows better, and now has another issue to add to her plate. In the book, she still deals with typical teenage hardships, from fitting in to panic attacks.
How they give you the smallest details and integrate the emotions of the characters really keeps you reading. How everyone motives for whatever they did had a personal justification. You ended up feeling real emotions for the characters, and at one I almost even cried when Stevie had a panic attack. Maureen Johnson truly wrote a masterpiece, and as a person who typically doesn't enjoy mysteries, this is undoubtedly one of my favorite series! However, while the extra flashback history may seem boring or unnecessary, its there to give you clues and to let you see all perspectives. Sometimes its even to throw you off the scent, putting you in the shoes of the detectives who tried to solve it before.
This book I'd say for middle school up, just because they have some higher vocabulary, but winds up fitting into that generation interests well. However, the reader should be interested enough to pay close attention. If you enjoy a good mystery, or if looking to get into mystery, this book and series is for you.
The diverse cast of characters makes it really hard to choose a favorite. Nate is a writer in a writers block, Ellie is a shameless artist, David is the jokester, Hayes is the star actor, Janelle is the inventor and the engineer, and of course Stevie the crime aficionado. I'd say my favorite character is Janelle since I find I can relate to her in a few ways, and she's such a good and considerate friend. When she falls in love with Vi, she makes sure she still spends time with Stevie, and continues to be her best friend. She's in a way, every thing I would want to be.
I have to give this book 5 stars, it just captivated me so much. It's an entirely new genre for me, and I was drawn in immediately. As an extra recommendation, if you enjoyed this book, you might enjoy Time Bomb, by Joelle Charbonneau.
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