A review by no_prince_here
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

I had seen so much hype surrounding this book, that I was actually slightly intimidated to get into it, but I was also hopeful. And I just gotta say, for as long as I felt the first half went on, right after it I just couldn’t put this down. It was simply, too good. The mystery, the characters (apart from a few exceptions), the suspense. It was truly exhilarating. Truly Devious is also very well written. The teenagers in the book feel like actual teenagers, as they should. The writing is sharp and funny, yet terrifying and suspenseful when it needs to be so. I had a few small issues, like with how most times people “said”, they rarely ever “scolded”,  or “scoffed”, or “argued”. However, it surely wasn’t enough to break the experience. The friendship in this is also incredibly well realised, and definitely felt. Unfortunately, while side couples truly shined, the main romance suffered quite a bit. It feels as if it didn’t need to exist, like publishers wouldn’t let Maureen Johnson write a story without a heteronormative, troubled relationship between two cis, white teenagers. I’m not saying that it’s awful, but I could feel the writing decline every single time we got to it. The story, the plot, all of it came to a halt. This is probably the main reason I wasn’t able to enjoy this book enough to give it five stars. A small thing; YA DOESN’T ALWAYS NEED ROMANCE TO BE GOOD. Especially one with such an unlikeable love interest into the mix. Thankfully, for as irritating as he is, David becomes at least sympathetic in the second entry, but that’s a point I can only give to The Vanishing Stair. I’m all in all extremely happy I read this and can’t wait to finish the series! It really does feel like a really good Netflix show. Speaking of… how has Netflix not picked up on this?!