Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

137 reviews

liesthemoontells's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

I found this book very slow in its pacing and wasn't a fan of the sharp cuts back and forth from the 1930s to the present, I felt that there wasn't enough done in the modern day plot to justify linking it back to the past.

I found the main character Stevie pretty insufferable, which wouldn't have been such an issue if any of the other characters were well-rounded and likeable.

As the book was a quick read and ended on a cliffhanger (and I already downloaded the sequels) I will keep reading, hopefully the pacing and characters evolve from here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Racism and Xenophobia

thebookpaiges's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Mental illness, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Kidnapping

jamespotterluv's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

YALL this was mad. im so ANNOEYDSAUI like bro. i cant even spoil it for yall bc by the end half the plot twists aint even solved. like cmon. im lowkey addicted to this series. i need to finish it bc what. so there's quite a few plot twists and there's one right at the end, y'all know which one i mean. i guessed most of the plot twists im not gonna lie, most were predictable buT I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING LIEK WHAT. crazy. the writing was sanist a few times. it felt like diverse characters were j included for it to be diverse. like, a sentence was made abt them, maybe about like their pronouns or smth and that was it. u got one sentence. if ur gonna represent someone do it right! like, the author misgendered her own character. bfr. i felt like the author kinda rushed the ending? i mean, great ending, don't get me wrong. this was a medium paced book up until chapter 26. after that i was like "more is happening in these last chapters than the 26 chapters before it" like sm was happening n it was hard to keep track of who did what.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Misogyny, Death of parent, Grief, Sexism, and Transphobia

bzliz's review

adventurous funny 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

3.25

This is an easy read for any YA mystery lovers and unlike many YA mysteries I’ve read

no mysteries get solved! Clues are constantly missed by police but always found by our teenage detective Stevie. Crime scene investigation takes approximately an hour or two in this world and virtually no evidence is taken by police which is pretty convenient for Stevie. She also somehow avoids getting in actual real trouble for putting her fingerprints all over actual clues (which she doesn’t appear to hand over to investigators anyway) and for tampering with crime scenes.

The romance between Stevie and David came out of nowhere for me. I do enjoy the importance Stevie places on trying to maintain her friendship with Janelle and it would be an easy step to say Stevie is autistic-coded, though it is unclear if that was intentional. 

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Content Warnings

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

whewtaewoon's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Sexism

widgetknits's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence

rissaandherbooks's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I legitimately love everything about this series. So, so good, and an absolute MUST READ for mystery lovers.

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Content Warnings

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

oceanwriter's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

When Stevie Bell is accepted into Ellingham Academy, a school for gifted students, she thinks it's the chance of a lifetime to solve the 'Truly Devious' murders. What she doesn't anticipate is a classmate turning up dead. Was it an accident, or has there been another murder on the property all these years later?

I ate up the setting of this book. Ellingham Academy would have been my dream school at this age and I loved all of the different personalities of the characters. It could be over the top at times, but that's to be expected in a YA book. That was part of the fun, too. It's also the definition of a page-turner. As soon as I got to the end I had to start The Vanishing Stair.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

laurenevlyn's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.25

I enjoyed this book reasonably well. It was very slow to pick up and I did manage to predict a good amount of the twists. Nevertheless, I’m excited to see what happens in the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child death, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism

quillify_'s review

adventurous challenging dark funny informative 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Cursing, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders