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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.75 stars. Good pacing, enjoyed the new cast of characters. Got most of the mystery before the Reveal, but wasn’t bored. Minus .25 star for sad relationship cliffhanger.
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books and Katherine Tegen Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Stevie Bell's life feels adrift. With two cold cases under her belt and not a new one insight, she's supposed to be focusing on getting ready for college and deciding what she wants for her future. It doesn't help that boyfriend David has decided to study at Cambridge this semester and she's officially the girl with a long distance boyfriend. And when David offers her and her friends -- the ever-lovely group of Jannette, Vi and Nate -- a chance to come visit, Stevie can't pass it up.
But things in jolly old England aren't exactly how they appear, especially after David's friend Izzy tells Stevie about a double homicide case from 1995 that's gone cold. Izzy's aunt and her eight friends went for a holiday at a countryside manor...but two of them were found murdered the next day with an ax. Something about everyone's stories doesn't add up and it's up to Stevie to figure out who's still lying and who the killer is after next.
As a big fan of the Truly Devious trilogy, as well as "The Box in the Woods," I had high expectations for this book and like always Maureen Johnson did NOT disappoint. The first 20 percent of the book or so was a little slow as all of the components that allowed the Ellingham gang to travel across the pond and while some of it ended up be integral to the central mystery, I could have done without some of the sight-seeing passages.
And the central mystery was brilliant. It felt like the perfect nod to Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes and now that we're on our fifth Stevie Bell novel, I feel as though I'm getting familiar with her thought process and was catching clues along the way. Everything Johnson includes could end up being important and this was no exception. Expertly weaved together. My only complaint is I wish there had been more flashbacks with the Nine, who probably could have carried the whole book themselves. It was difficult to keep them all straight at first but Johnson made sure they were all different enough that I eventually caught on.
However, I was not a huge fan of the turn in David and Stevie's relationship. I never got the impression they were a huge will-they-or-won't-they couple because they always seemed kind of inevitable to me? But these are also high schoolers so it really does be like that sometimes.
Loved loved loved. Keeping my fingers crossed for a sixth book already.
Stevie Bell's life feels adrift. With two cold cases under her belt and not a new one insight, she's supposed to be focusing on getting ready for college and deciding what she wants for her future. It doesn't help that boyfriend David has decided to study at Cambridge this semester and she's officially the girl with a long distance boyfriend. And when David offers her and her friends -- the ever-lovely group of Jannette, Vi and Nate -- a chance to come visit, Stevie can't pass it up.
But things in jolly old England aren't exactly how they appear, especially after David's friend Izzy tells Stevie about a double homicide case from 1995 that's gone cold. Izzy's aunt and her eight friends went for a holiday at a countryside manor...but two of them were found murdered the next day with an ax. Something about everyone's stories doesn't add up and it's up to Stevie to figure out who's still lying and who the killer is after next.
As a big fan of the Truly Devious trilogy, as well as "The Box in the Woods," I had high expectations for this book and like always Maureen Johnson did NOT disappoint. The first 20 percent of the book or so was a little slow as all of the components that allowed the Ellingham gang to travel across the pond and while some of it ended up be integral to the central mystery, I could have done without some of the sight-seeing passages.
And the central mystery was brilliant. It felt like the perfect nod to Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes and now that we're on our fifth Stevie Bell novel, I feel as though I'm getting familiar with her thought process and was catching clues along the way. Everything Johnson includes could end up being important and this was no exception. Expertly weaved together. My only complaint is I wish there had been more flashbacks with the Nine, who probably could have carried the whole book themselves. It was difficult to keep them all straight at first but Johnson made sure they were all different enough that I eventually caught on.
However, I was not a huge fan of the turn in David and Stevie's relationship. I never got the impression they were a huge will-they-or-won't-they couple because they always seemed kind of inevitable to me? But these are also high schoolers so it really does be like that sometimes.
Loved loved loved. Keeping my fingers crossed for a sixth book already.
Nine Liars in the latest in the Truly Devious series, and it moves the action across the pond to England. David is studying there, and invites Stevie, Janelle, Vi, and Nate to come visit him and soak up the history in London.
Their headmaster, Dr. Quinn, is skeptical, but she allows them to go, as long as they check in with her each night to make sure there are no shenanigans going on. She knows that this trip is mostly a chance for David and Stevie to spend time together, but even she can't deny there are educational merits to visiting another country.
When they arrive, David introduces them to Izzy, who is one of his tutorial partners. She has a mystery for Stevie to solve - her aunt Angela lost two friends to a murderer more than 20 years ago. Angela was part of a 9-person theater group at Cambridge. They lived together, slept together, wrote and performed comedy sketches together, and fought together. Right after exams their final year, they went to Sebastian's home, an estate in the country, for one last crazy week together. The first night, they played a game of hide and seek (something they had done many times at Merryweather, the estate), and only seven survived the night. Noel and Rosie disappeared and were found the next morning in the woodshed, chopped up with an axe. The police decide it was a random killing, probably burglars who were caught in the act, but Angela isn't sure; Rosie had told her there was something she wanted to talk about after their game, and she had sounded serious.
Izzy invites the group to her aunt's house to subtly ask about the murders, and they upset Angela talking about it. Later that night, Angela goes out and she, too, disappears. She had started a group chat with her friends about the murder, so the kids know that it was on her mind, and probably why she left home. But where is she? Instead of burglars killing Noel and Rosie, could it have been one of their friends? Could that person now have killed Angela, too?
The story jumps back and forth between present time and 1995, when the murders occurred. Stevie is not only trying to solve the murder, but figure out what is going on with her and David. Long distance relationships can be tough, especially when you're an insecure teenager with too much time on your hands to dwell on possible scenarios.
If you love mysteries and teenage angst, this is a great book.
Their headmaster, Dr. Quinn, is skeptical, but she allows them to go, as long as they check in with her each night to make sure there are no shenanigans going on. She knows that this trip is mostly a chance for David and Stevie to spend time together, but even she can't deny there are educational merits to visiting another country.
When they arrive, David introduces them to Izzy, who is one of his tutorial partners. She has a mystery for Stevie to solve - her aunt Angela lost two friends to a murderer more than 20 years ago. Angela was part of a 9-person theater group at Cambridge. They lived together, slept together, wrote and performed comedy sketches together, and fought together. Right after exams their final year, they went to Sebastian's home, an estate in the country, for one last crazy week together. The first night, they played a game of hide and seek (something they had done many times at Merryweather, the estate), and only seven survived the night. Noel and Rosie disappeared and were found the next morning in the woodshed, chopped up with an axe. The police decide it was a random killing, probably burglars who were caught in the act, but Angela isn't sure; Rosie had told her there was something she wanted to talk about after their game, and she had sounded serious.
Izzy invites the group to her aunt's house to subtly ask about the murders, and they upset Angela talking about it. Later that night, Angela goes out and she, too, disappears. She had started a group chat with her friends about the murder, so the kids know that it was on her mind, and probably why she left home. But where is she? Instead of burglars killing Noel and Rosie, could it have been one of their friends? Could that person now have killed Angela, too?
The story jumps back and forth between present time and 1995, when the murders occurred. Stevie is not only trying to solve the murder, but figure out what is going on with her and David. Long distance relationships can be tough, especially when you're an insecure teenager with too much time on your hands to dwell on possible scenarios.
If you love mysteries and teenage angst, this is a great book.
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:
No
Solid. I love a mystery where the clues are there early and you just have to see how we get to the end. I also appreciate that you don't have to remember the other books.
