Reviews with content warning for Violence - Nine Liars

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Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson

41 reviews

toffishay's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was a weaker mystery than the others in the Truly, Devious series. A little harder to follow and more of a guess at the end. The travel through London dragged the story to me, but others might find that part interesting. The more social drama between Stevie and her friend group was interesting though; I would have liked to see more of them to offset how annoying Stevie is in this one! The book leaves off on a cliffhanger that I think will have me coming back.

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rcarey18's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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kayladaila's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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purrpurr's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

they came back and suddenly they are out of reach again. with that ending though, i am certain there will be another book. i just ........ need another one.

another spoiler warning for everything that follows.

every truly devious book can be split into the mystery part and the personal part. the personal part was fine, great even but unfortunately this was the weakest book mystery-wise.

i loved the set up but if i may quote my notes: .... peter helped with the whiskey thats all im saying. and although i had many other hunches, this was kind of obvious from the first time it was stated. the fact peter yelled “i’m fine” after throwing up was also so suspicious. and although i loved the time jumps, it just made the whole story slower because stevie had to find everything out after the reader did. just like we could already figure that there was an important hint on one of the analogue pictures – it just took the characters so long to get to that.

so yeah, you could quickly cross out many suspects. for some reason i was instantly sure all the women were innocent. i LOVED sebastian, so i was simply praying he was innocent (and there was loads speaking for that so). oh, and julien was also a given. everyone dissed and disliked him, it would have been too obvious. which leaves yash and peter. the trauma poor yash probably has from this week. horrible. (thinking back to when my notes said: peter and yash <3 married haha guess not)

one more thing: did we find out what the button was? /gen
am i tripping right now or did stevie never tell us. i thought the button was code for the clothes peter had been wearing but i guess not. what was the button? if anyone paid enough attention, please enlighten me.

now we’ll get into the recurring characters. my darlings. although, maybe not in this book – looking at you stevie. i mean yes, lesson learned, but she was so mean and heartless to her friends a few times throughout the book. everything is david, david, david and where did that get you, huh, stevie? (they were NOT on a break, he is in the wrong).

while we have another david L, we have only nate Ws, obviously. except he spent 5K on collage applications, i guess. (i’m baffled this is a thing in the states). apropos being baffled about culture: stevie could have been a little less startled about british and european culture, i know she is smarter than this. shoutout to david though, who answered all her questions about behaviour patterns with “well, they’re british”.

HAPPY COMING OUT NATE ILU AND U DESERVE THE WORLD!

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I don't think this is the strongest book in this series, but I liked the idea of Stevie going abroad to solve a mystery! It's a fun way to expand the series, and I'm assuming that there will be another book because this one kind of just feels like it ends. The mystery is solved, but the drama in Stevei's personal life is not.

I will say, I don't like David as a love interest. Personally, I don't think he and Stevie have good chemistry and I think Stevie can do better. But that's just my opinion! The mystery in this one was a good twisty one, which is one of the main reasons to read this series, anyway.

All in all, a fun addition to the series, and I'm sure that will be another coming at some point!

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katisreading's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.25

I adore this series and all of its characters! Wtf is going on with Stevie and David though? Their whole deal made me so upset and really kind of took away from the story. The murder mystery was decent and I enjoyed the pieces coming in through information and viewpoints from the past. Also, Nate is my favorite forever and always in this series, we need more of him pronto!

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quizzle99's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

Thank you Harper Collins UK for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for an honest review

Genre: mystery

Minority rep: lgbtq+, BIPOC, Disability (anxiety)

I missed Stevie and her friends, so I had a high anticipation going into the book. I loved the change in scenery, as this story mainly takes place in England. It was fun to see the group adapt to a new country and culture while stumbling upon an old murder. This all makes the group dynamic different so I was never bored at what could happen next. Going on a trip with friends tests each others boundaries and habits. Johnson shines a very realistic light on this throughout the story, which I like. These books feel to me to be character driven, and this shows once again in Nine Liars.

There’s also a scene where Stevie has an anxiety attack. I loved how Johnson described what Stevie experiences when that happens and what anxiety can do to your mind and body. I feel like this scene was expertly written and I could very much relate.

The only thing I can fault this book for, is its pace. I felt like some things in the story could’ve unfolded sooner. Still, this book took my attention and didn’t let it go. I really like how these books make me feel like I’m right there with these characters. Even though they have dark themes, it feels cosy to me to read them.

I would highly recommend reading Nine Liars and all the other books!

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bookishlysophie's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Obsessed. How, five books into a series, Maureen Johnson manages to write something this impeccable is beyond me! The plot is intricately layered and, though I did get the culprit wrong, the way the mystery unravelled kept me hooked. The ending was amazing. There has to be another book. I’d highly recommend.

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jillkaarlela's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

Maureen Johnson strikes again with a great Ya mystery!! I loved the whole London Country house Murder vibe, it was definitely such a cozy mystery!! The murder was also well woven into the original stories and characters while still being new and fresh. I love how the books 4-6 have their own standalone murders, it keeps it new and interesting!! (Although I definitely loved books 1-3). I think “box in the woods” (book 4) might be a tiny bit better, and the plot of this one was a tiny bit more predictable than book 4, but this one was still great. I love how Maureen Johnson is exploring different settings with book 4-6, as the first 3 books were boarding school mysteries, but book 4 and 5 were completely different yet somehow worked so well. (Book 4 was a summer camp slasher-esque setting, book 5 was a London country house Cozy mystery) even with these complete setting shofts, Johnson still manages to make the story fit so effortlessly. It’s very rare to see further books in a series/spinoff series that are as good as the original, but these definitely hold up in quality to the originals. I am excited to see what setting Johnson explores next, but whatever it ends up being, I know it will be great.

Just like the previous books, you will probably just want to binge the whole thing in one sitting. If I wasn’t working and at school, I definitely would’ve done that!! Just get some tea and hang out by the fire with this Maureen Johnson twist on a cozy mystery!

We got to see a lot of the character growth of the main characters as they are getting ready to graduate and start their lives apart from Ellingham. We got to see all of their relationships grow deeper and more complex as the individual characters grow and change, which I love. I have loved this journey of growing and maturing with the characters over the past few years!

Again, like I have said in every book, I love how prominent and unapologetically Stevie’s anxiety and panic disorders are portrayed. Stevie is such a well developed, complicated, flawed but still extremely lovable character. I love how we get to see all sides of her and how her brain thinks through mysteries but also how it copes with these mental health issues. Such amazing mental health awareness, as well as so much LGQBTQIA+ rep, which is amazing!!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the sixth (but hopefully not final) Truly Devious book!!

Age rating: 13+, closed door, just violence

Thank you Netgalley for providing this ebook advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I *love* this series and when I heard there was another one coming out, I rushed to Netgalley to see if I could read it early. I'm so glad I was able to, and I read this book all in a single sitting. Maureen Johnson is just so good at crafting these mysteries and tying together the two storylines of past and present.

Also, a couple minor spoilers:

I was excited to see ace representation! And oh my gosh the endinggggg.....it's not a cliffhanger in terms of the mystery, but it's a cliffhanger all the same. The only time I regret reading books early like this is I can't even go on Twitter to beg the author for a sequel, not when this book literally hasn't even come out yet haha.

Tl:dr: I loved this book and can't wait for the next Stevie Bell mystery.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the chance to read and review this ARC.

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