A review by lilifane
The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

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

2.0

Yeah, no. I'm a little disappointed, although it wasn't that different from the previous books. But it still managed to show me even less of the things I was interested in. First of all, the first half was SO boring. Nothing happened at all. And although this was also the case in the first two books, there were still interactions between the characters that I liked. There weren't even many of those here. What frustrated me the most was the way Stevie "investigated". The "clues" didn't make ANY sense and lead to nothing. And she didn't do anything? Simply stumbled upon some random things by accident, didn't really explore them, and in the end she just told everyone what had happened? 
I would have probably accepted it if I actually liked the revelations. But they were ... boring as well. I think there just wasn't enough material for a trilogy here and to stretch it like this didn't help. 
For some reason, I still enjoyed the interactions between Stevie and David. Apparently, I like to torture myself. And my favorite parts of the book were actually the flashbacks to the past. Those surprised me more than the rest trilogy.
I will probably still read the fourth book, maybe a change of scenery will help... 
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