Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

60 reviews

carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

4.5/5

Stevie continues to be my little baby. She's so weird and awk and SMART! Oh I just wanna swaddle her. She's so unintentionally --and also intentionally-- funny (

running away from David???? lmfao!

). 

In contrast, we have my enemy: Nate 👿🤬. He's soooo fucking annoying I'm sorry literally the only reason this book is 4.5 instead of 5 stars. Every time he showed up I'd literally yell at my book for him to go away (let's remember, I never claimed to be sane). He irked me to my very core. Less of him in the next book, hopefully.

God, poor Ellie. To die like that. Fucking horrible.

The whole David/EK/Stevie situation was annoying, I both get and am annoyed by David's reaction to it. Def understandable given the circumstances but I wish he would just forgive her (selfish, ik). There's actually something clinically wrong with that boy -- someone needs to get a therapist involved frfr. But just like Stevie running away, it's hard to fault them for their behavior. They're literally 17.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Confinement, Grief, Child death, Mental illness, and Kidnapping

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Vomit

lillianreads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Murder and Kidnapping

headinthepages's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Abandonment, Death, Gore, Body horror, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Alcohol, Confinement, Violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

babsi_222's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Blood, Child death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

rylin_marie's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my goshhhhhhhhhhhh i’m speechless

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug use, Medical content, Mental illness, Addiction, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Murder

m4rtt4's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

never been a fan of the Edward King plotline (imo it's unnecessary), but apart from that I liked everything else in this book and just absolutely could not put it down. A perfect story to binge-read!! + I loved that this book focused more on the mystery part and not all that teen relationship drama like the first one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

books4em's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book made me remember why I love thrillers - but not just any thriller, those thriller series where you are left without the one last answer to the mystery. You have so many of the pieces fitting together, but then there's that one question that leaves you hanging. Add in a new cliffhanger, and you've got those specially amazing thrillers. That was The Vanishing Stair. I am about to immediately pick up the third book in the Truly Devious series because this was so good. Johnson really knows how to write a story that keeps you captivated. Reading the two timelines at the same time is a key aspect of this series and one I enjoy greatly. Combined with the fantastic descriptions of the setting of Burlington, Ellingham, and Vermont in general, it is truly amazing (pun intended). The whole subplot with Edward King I'm not a fan of, but I see its purpose. Same with the Dr. Fenton and Hunter subplot - not sure where that's going. As with Truly Devious, I appreciated the queer rep with the side characters (one of whom uses they/them pronouns and it's seamless) along with the mental health rep. I liked how these points continued from the first book. I also liked how this book focused more on solving the Ellingham case, not just the one in the current timeline. And by far, the best moment in this book is on page 348 where Stevie is talking through the murders with those involved in the cupola and the ghost of Dottie looks at George Marsh's ghost and turns to Stevie and nods and Stevie nods back. Yes!!! That moment of understanding and thanks from Dottie is insurmountable! But still, where is Alice and what's the secret surrounding her?! I need answers, so on to book 3!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Confinement

Moderate: Death and Murder

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Kidnapping

tangleroot_eli's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

I like every part of this book except David; I dislike David so much it almost ruins my enjoyment of everything else in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Animal cruelty, and Death

Minor: Kidnapping, Body horror, Vomit, and Sexism

themoodreader's review against another edition

mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Death, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, and Murder

bzliz's review

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? It's complicated

3.5

The Vanishing Stair poses many new questions in the Truly Devious series while answering a few previous ones. Stevie is taken back to school by David’s father- a stuck up conservative senator who lacks any moral compass- because he thinks she can keep his son contained at the school. It works for a time. Like the first book, pretty much every adult seems kind of shady. 

Character death spoiler:

Stevie and David find Ellie’s body in a tunnel previously unknown. We aren’t given a clear picture of her death but it weighs on Stevie to know that her body has been there the whole time people had been trying to puzzle out her escape.

We meet a few new characters- Dr. Fenton and her nephew Hunter- who are also involved with the Ellingham case. Stevie manages to piece together the identity of Truly Devious as well as pinpoint someone who was absolutely involved in the kidnapping of Iris and Alice Ellingham. 

Something I haven’t decided if I like or not is the way we cut back to the 1930’s for some chapters. On one hand I enjoy getting to see how things actually happened but on the other hand it feels like cheating since there’s no way for Stevie to ever be privy to these details so it feels like we’re waiting for her to catch up to us. I will be continuing the series but I hope it doesn’t drag out terribly. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Child death