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A review by katsbooks
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
“You have to take things as they are, not how you hear they're supposed to be.”
“When you have enough power and money, you can dictate the meanings of words.”
“There is nothing so serious as a game.”
This was a really fun mystery. I really enjoyed Stevie as a main character. She was funny and relatable and that made the story compelling. I loved the setting. The school was really well written and described. However, I found myself more intrigued by the 1936 timeline. The major mystery in the present day timeline got pretty juicy near the end but suffered from all the time spent introducing the secondary characters and setting for the first 200 pages or so. I appreciated having a large pool of suspects and minor characters but the first half of the book definitely felt like set ups for the rest of the series. I'm not really sure how that could have been rectified but I was drawn in enough to want to read the rest of the series, for sure.
“When you have enough power and money, you can dictate the meanings of words.”
“There is nothing so serious as a game.”
This was a really fun mystery. I really enjoyed Stevie as a main character. She was funny and relatable and that made the story compelling. I loved the setting. The school was really well written and described. However, I found myself more intrigued by the 1936 timeline. The major mystery in the present day timeline got pretty juicy near the end but suffered from all the time spent introducing the secondary characters and setting for the first 200 pages or so. I appreciated having a large pool of suspects and minor characters but the first half of the book definitely felt like set ups for the rest of the series. I'm not really sure how that could have been rectified but I was drawn in enough to want to read the rest of the series, for sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Gaslighting, Death, and Grief
Minor: Alcohol and Drug abuse