Book Review: Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson was recently released back in February and today I thought I would share my review with you all! Hope you check this one out!

 

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Category: Young Adult, Mystery
Publication: February 16th, 2018; HarperCollins
Purchase: Amazon

Author Maureen Johnson weaves a tale of murder and mystery in the first book of a new series.

Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place” he said, “where learning is a game.”

Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym, Truly Devious. It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.

True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder.

 

Review:

[book rating=4/5]

No no no NO!! I can’t with that ending!!!

This was a ride! Not always at light speed, but pleasantly consistent. Tons of ups and downs, questions without answers. Two mysteries in one.

I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy this or not. I love a good mystery, but I assumed this would be easy to solve. However, even with all that we’ve been told, there’s still not enough to solve the decades old kidnapping and murder. Let alone the recent crime.

Stevie is a lovable character. Relatable. Quirky. An average person. In a school for seemingly gifted and talented, remarkable individuals. She begins to question if her admission was legit. And as someone obsessed with true crime, pieces of her personality definitely coincided with mine. That helped keep me drawn into the story. But what kept me reading were the glimpses of the past and trying to uncover all the bizarre people who are at the school.

At certain points while reading, I had no idea WHAT the hell the point of it all was. The majority of Stevie’s peers were odd and unreliable. Untrustworthy. And the one who was she kept pushing away. And perhaps my fascination with working out the OLD mystery is what kept me from uncovering what David was hiding. That blindsided me and I felt foolish for not working it out.

But wow. This is brilliantly written. It feels as though you are at the school; an invisible classmate taking it all in. Do you remember that old computer game, The 7th Guest? Working out puzzles and trying to solve what happened in the past. It felt just like that! Maybe that’s why I loved this story so much. Because it literally felt like everyone and anyone could’ve pulled off both crimes. And just as we were FINALLY going to get some answers…plot twist and a “to be continued” message. The absolute worst and best cliffhanger.

I will wait for the sequel because I have no choice. And I will pick up book 2 the second it hits shelves because I need all the answers. If you enjoy mysteries and puzzles, give this one a chance. It’s different than all the others out there and a lot more fun.