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carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
the writing annoyed me at the beginning, felt like she was trying too hard with the flowery language. if i've said it once, i've said it a million times, not everything needs to be a danged metaphor, people!!! i liked everything else about the writing, though. not sure if i just got used to it, or if she stopped trying to make everything a metaphor, but it def got better as the book went on.
i love a fun little mystery, and this was def that. already picked up the next one!
Graphic: Kidnapping and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, and Child death
Minor: Classism, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Drug use, Car accident, and Racism
headinthepages's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Body horror, Grief, Mental illness, Alcohol, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Cursing, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
booklover26's review
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing
Minor: Child death, Drug use, and Alcohol
rylin_marie's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Murder, Cursing, Torture, Alcohol, Child death, Stalking, Kidnapping, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, and Gun violence
tangleroot_eli's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
That said, I felt annoyed or outright alarmed about several things in the book that made it harder to get through than I'd expected.
- I know how pedantic this sounds, but the kidnapper is not called "Truly Devious." They're called "Devious." The "Truly" is the letter's closing, like "Love, Tipper," "Sincerely, Your Friends at State Farm," etc. And while I bought that Stevie, a 21st-century teenager who probably doesn't write many formal letters, wouldn't know this, the idea that the 1936 characters would look at a letter signed "Truly, Devious" and call that letter-writer "Truly Devious" was one of the least believable parts of the book.
- Relatively early in the book, Janelle tells Stevie that Vi uses they/them pronouns. Stevie proceeds to use she/her pronouns for Vi for the rest of the book. From this I have to conclude that either Stevie, Maureen Johnson, or the Katherine Tegen copyeditors don't care about respecting people's pronouns.
I did note the book's one solid clue as to Devious's identity before Stevie starts putting things together in the end. But it was so obvious and heavy-handed in an otherwise subtle book that I immediately dismissed it as a red herring. The fact that it genuinely is a clue? I'm still not sure if that's sloppy writing or sheer genius on Johnson's part. -
The book never points toward an adult as a possibility for Hayes's killer. I think this is Johnson's way of showing how little adults matter to Stevie: they're either obstacles to overcome, like her parents, or mentors to learn from, like Larry. But in a book about and allegedly for teenagers, I was disconcerted that the only suspects were teenagers. -
How do I loathe David? Let me count the ways. He's not funny. He's not charming. He's a classist, misogynist, douchey edgelord who thinks that being an ass to pretty much everyone he meets is the way to stick it to his morality- and propriety-obsessed father and doesn't realize or care that he's actually recapitulating his father's worst behaviors. The first time he and Stevie kissed, I groaned, "Noooo! Not this asshole!" The “if a boy is mean to you, that means he likes you, and you should totally go along with that” trope needs to die yesterday. After the scene where David wheedles his way into lunch with Stevie's parents, I was so livid I almost couldn't read on. This isn't my first teen sleuth rodeo. I understand that Johnson writes David this way so that when Stevie starts to suspect that Hayes' death was murder, readers immediately think of disdainful, deceitful David and share Stevie's panic: Is he a killer? Has she been making out with a killer? But this is done in such a clunky way that Johnson may as well put David in a T-shirt that says, This schmuck isn't the killer. But if he's not a killer, he's still a schmuck. I'll read to the end of the original trilogy, because I'm too interested in the Ellingham case and Hayes' death not to know how they resolve. But if David continues to be a major player and doesn't have a major character transformation, I'll not be reading the standalones, because no one needs that much schmuck.
Moderate: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Bullying, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
rissaandherbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Grief, Gore, and Violence
Minor: Car accident, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Alcohol
laurenevlyn's review
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, and Mental illness
Moderate: Child death, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism
akirokis's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Death, Violence, Kidnapping, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Death of parent, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
brookey8888's review
- 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? Yes
4.0
I related to her a lot.
Graphic: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, and Kidnapping
puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Murder
Minor: Alcohol and Injury/Injury detail