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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I really really wanted to enjoy this book more. I loved the storyline and it grabbed me at first. However, itโs a student who is trying to figure out a cold Murder case 90 years ago. Anyway, it became to staccato for me and my interest waned as a result.
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
ehhhhhh this
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alright this book definitely wasn't a favorite of mine, but hey, i'm really liking this thrillers craze i'm on. this review will be similar to my last in focusing on the mystery, but i will also throw in my critiques.
mystery.
alright, so there was the mystery in 1936 with albert's wife and daughter going missing. i thought those 'flashback' moments were interesting, but i got bored. then, we go to the present and meet our main character, stevie. she wanted to be in the FBI, and she's so observant. i think her investigation was definitely fun to watch, but, overall, as a character a little boring. so, about midway through the book, hayes turns up dead. i never really cared for him so that's that. the whole mystery surrounding his death was interesting bc before hayes's death, i was getting VERY bored while reading, but i thought this part was done well and fast paced. we see stevie talk to Genevieve and find out hayes was a jerk (WHO KNEW! *facepalm*) and talk to beth to confirm he was murdered and not an accident. eventually, we find out that ellie knows something and she ESCAPES (what is this). idk that part just confused me that this school has that MANY tunnels, and you can disappear so fast. we find out that student could have murdered iris which i found interesting but not surprising bc there's a bunch of GENIUSES if anyone can get away with murder then it's them.
quickly side characters. i think the only one that i cared about was nate. he seemed so sweet, and i just genuinely liked what he contributed always being by stevie's side through it all. janelle kind of disappeared and reappeared (except when her ID was stolen but whateves). ugh unto DAVID. he was her love interest, and he just/ still is scummy to me. at the end of the book, it's revealed that his dad ISN'T dead (omg really?!?!?) and his dad is Edward King aka the guy that stevie vocally hates. so what/ugh.
this book got three stars because through a lot of it i was confused/underwhelmed. it got three stars bc i think it's on the road to become better bc i just felt like this book set up things, but i really got no answers. we still don't know who did the ellingham kidnapping nor who murdered dottie/ what really happened to hayes. we just clues and got closer to figuring it out. yes, that might be intriguing to some, but being left with more answers then i started with turns me off quite a bit. again, i will read the next one, but i just felt like this book drowned on and didn't meet my expectations.
--------------------------------
alright this book definitely wasn't a favorite of mine, but hey, i'm really liking this thrillers craze i'm on. this review will be similar to my last in focusing on the mystery, but i will also throw in my critiques.
mystery.
alright, so there was the mystery in 1936 with albert's wife and daughter going missing. i thought those 'flashback' moments were interesting, but i got bored. then, we go to the present and meet our main character, stevie. she wanted to be in the FBI, and she's so observant. i think her investigation was definitely fun to watch, but, overall, as a character a little boring. so, about midway through the book, hayes turns up dead. i never really cared for him so that's that. the whole mystery surrounding his death was interesting bc before hayes's death, i was getting VERY bored while reading, but i thought this part was done well and fast paced. we see stevie talk to Genevieve and find out hayes was a jerk (WHO KNEW! *facepalm*) and talk to beth to confirm he was murdered and not an accident. eventually, we find out that ellie knows something and she ESCAPES (what is this). idk that part just confused me that this school has that MANY tunnels, and you can disappear so fast. we find out that student could have murdered iris which i found interesting but not surprising bc there's a bunch of GENIUSES if anyone can get away with murder then it's them.
quickly side characters. i think the only one that i cared about was nate. he seemed so sweet, and i just genuinely liked what he contributed always being by stevie's side through it all. janelle kind of disappeared and reappeared (except when her ID was stolen but whateves). ugh unto DAVID. he was her love interest, and he just/ still is scummy to me. at the end of the book, it's revealed that his dad ISN'T dead (omg really?!?!?) and his dad is Edward King aka the guy that stevie vocally hates. so what/ugh.
this book got three stars because through a lot of it i was confused/underwhelmed. it got three stars bc i think it's on the road to become better bc i just felt like this book set up things, but i really got no answers. we still don't know who did the ellingham kidnapping nor who murdered dottie/ what really happened to hayes. we just clues and got closer to figuring it out. yes, that might be intriguing to some, but being left with more answers then i started with turns me off quite a bit. again, i will read the next one, but i just felt like this book drowned on and didn't meet my expectations.
very good. highly enjoyable. good characters. fun riddles. good mystery. -1 because its not totally solved yet :(
The mark of a good book, of a great book, is not wanting it to end. It's the cliffhanger, the BUT WAIT, wanting the next book right away. This is a GREAT. BOOK. The detective has arrived and I am HERE for it.
So we follow a mystery at a school. In the 1930's, a very rich man builds a school for unique and brilliant students. They can attend for the last two years of high school and it's all free! In 1936, Ellington's (rich man) wife and child go missing, kidnapped. They follow the instructions (as we see through a bunch of flashbacks and interviews) but they are never returned. A student is mysteriously killed at the same time, the wife's body is found but the little girl never is. A man is arrested and charged for the kidnapping and murders, he even confessed. But he was killed shortly after the trial and it never really added up that he could have done it, other than finding some of the money with him.
The other part of the story is present day and we follow Stevie, a girl who is obsessed with everything detective and has been accepted to this school. She is convinced she will solve the mystery that happened some 80 years earlier. She meets a bunch of friends along the way, and even a love interest named David. She and a famous boy (Hayes - who is famous for a fictional youtube channel-type video blog he made the previous year) work together to make a recreation of the Ellington mystery for his new project. He reads the poem (written by Truly Devious - hence the name) and they film it. One night, Stevie wakes up to see a new poem signed by Truly Devious projected on her wall. Her friend Janelle says it was just a dream but Stevie isn't sure. Stevie notices that Hayes doesn't really do much, mostly other people do the work for him. Hayes stays back after a shoot and he is found later DEAD. It comes out that he was in a room with no ventilation with dry ice and the carbon dioxide killed him. His fingerprints were on a pass to get the dry ice, and the dolly and golf cart used to move the dry ice. Everyone is upset and Stevie and David start kissing etc.
Stevie's parents freak out and she goes to meet them. David awkwardly tags along and Stevie is allowed to stay. Stevie's parents work for this racist jerk of a senator and now they are promoted. Stevie struggles with this. She asks David about his parents and he says they're dead. She goes to his room to talk and they start making out (YA) and are almost caught so Stevie hides in the closet. David leaves. She starts snooping, finds a bunch of expensive stuff and David comes back and they're will they/won't they becomes a definitive NO.
Stevie becomes obsessed with solving Haye's death. Everyone else is convinced she's crazy because it wasn't a murder. She doesn't do her school work, she isn't even all that interested in the Ellington murders anymore. Although, she does find an Ellington riddle (his best riddle he ever wrote - on the day he died) "Where do you look for someone who's never really there? Always on a staircase but never the stair". Stevie discovers that Hayes was talking with his girlfriend when he was supposedly breaking in to get the dry ice. She discovers he didn't write his famous show and didn't do any of his schoolwork either. They go to a dance and Stevie remembers that she got a scratch from getting something out from under the tub that looks exactly like the scratch on Hayes' computer. She thinks Ellie, the out there art major did it.
She gets everyone to go play Never Have I Ever, and turns it into an interrogation. One of her friends called the security guard. It comes out that Ellie did write the show for him. She can't answer why she had his computer. She also talks about "Why did I pay attention to him? To this whole place. Hayes and his stupid ideas. That's what got him killed. His stupid ideas". They lock her in a room so she can get a lawyer but she finds a secret entrance and escapes.
The police ransack Ellie's room and the search is on for her. After, Stevie goes into her room and finds this RANDOM box that has pictures and another poem that sounds like the Truly Devious one and cut up letters and looks like it's the kids who maybe could have done it? Stevie is looking at this when there's a helicopter sound. David goes outside. They see it's a King helicopter landing, the senator Stevie's parents work for, that she hates. David says "Meet my dead dad"
END OF BOOK! So many things left hanging. Who killed Hayes? Who kidnapped Ellington's wife and daughter? What did the riddle on Stevie's wall mean? What does Ellington's riddle mean? Where is Ellie? What did everything in that box mean? Why did Ellie have it? MORE QUESTIONS! I hated it but LOVED IT SO MUCH! Keeps you coming back for more. Loved it. Cannot WAIT to keep going!
So we follow a mystery at a school. In the 1930's, a very rich man builds a school for unique and brilliant students. They can attend for the last two years of high school and it's all free! In 1936, Ellington's (rich man) wife and child go missing, kidnapped. They follow the instructions (as we see through a bunch of flashbacks and interviews) but they are never returned. A student is mysteriously killed at the same time, the wife's body is found but the little girl never is. A man is arrested and charged for the kidnapping and murders, he even confessed. But he was killed shortly after the trial and it never really added up that he could have done it, other than finding some of the money with him.
The other part of the story is present day and we follow Stevie, a girl who is obsessed with everything detective and has been accepted to this school. She is convinced she will solve the mystery that happened some 80 years earlier. She meets a bunch of friends along the way, and even a love interest named David. She and a famous boy (Hayes - who is famous for a fictional youtube channel-type video blog he made the previous year) work together to make a recreation of the Ellington mystery for his new project. He reads the poem (written by Truly Devious - hence the name) and they film it. One night, Stevie wakes up to see a new poem signed by Truly Devious projected on her wall. Her friend Janelle says it was just a dream but Stevie isn't sure. Stevie notices that Hayes doesn't really do much, mostly other people do the work for him. Hayes stays back after a shoot and he is found later DEAD. It comes out that he was in a room with no ventilation with dry ice and the carbon dioxide killed him. His fingerprints were on a pass to get the dry ice, and the dolly and golf cart used to move the dry ice. Everyone is upset and Stevie and David start kissing etc.
Stevie's parents freak out and she goes to meet them. David awkwardly tags along and Stevie is allowed to stay. Stevie's parents work for this racist jerk of a senator and now they are promoted. Stevie struggles with this. She asks David about his parents and he says they're dead. She goes to his room to talk and they start making out (YA) and are almost caught so Stevie hides in the closet. David leaves. She starts snooping, finds a bunch of expensive stuff and David comes back and they're will they/won't they becomes a definitive NO.
Stevie becomes obsessed with solving Haye's death. Everyone else is convinced she's crazy because it wasn't a murder. She doesn't do her school work, she isn't even all that interested in the Ellington murders anymore. Although, she does find an Ellington riddle (his best riddle he ever wrote - on the day he died) "Where do you look for someone who's never really there? Always on a staircase but never the stair". Stevie discovers that Hayes was talking with his girlfriend when he was supposedly breaking in to get the dry ice. She discovers he didn't write his famous show and didn't do any of his schoolwork either. They go to a dance and Stevie remembers that she got a scratch from getting something out from under the tub that looks exactly like the scratch on Hayes' computer. She thinks Ellie, the out there art major did it.
She gets everyone to go play Never Have I Ever, and turns it into an interrogation. One of her friends called the security guard. It comes out that Ellie did write the show for him. She can't answer why she had his computer. She also talks about "Why did I pay attention to him? To this whole place. Hayes and his stupid ideas. That's what got him killed. His stupid ideas". They lock her in a room so she can get a lawyer but she finds a secret entrance and escapes.
The police ransack Ellie's room and the search is on for her. After, Stevie goes into her room and finds this RANDOM box that has pictures and another poem that sounds like the Truly Devious one and cut up letters and looks like it's the kids who maybe could have done it? Stevie is looking at this when there's a helicopter sound. David goes outside. They see it's a King helicopter landing, the senator Stevie's parents work for, that she hates. David says "Meet my dead dad"
END OF BOOK! So many things left hanging. Who killed Hayes? Who kidnapped Ellington's wife and daughter? What did the riddle on Stevie's wall mean? What does Ellington's riddle mean? Where is Ellie? What did everything in that box mean? Why did Ellie have it? MORE QUESTIONS! I hated it but LOVED IT SO MUCH! Keeps you coming back for more. Loved it. Cannot WAIT to keep going!
edit: just found out this series is not completed???? ๐
really did not expect hayes to die in the middle of the book
i cant form proper thoughts right now.
what role does edward king play in this series.
why does ellie have the clippings from truly devious? was it passed down in her family.
im thinking that alice is not actually dead, and her descendants could be someone in minerva.
really did not expect hayes to die in the middle of the book
i cant form proper thoughts right now.
what role does edward king play in this series.
why does ellie have the clippings from truly devious? was it passed down in her family.
im thinking that alice is not actually dead, and her descendants could be someone in minerva.