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A review by alparker394
Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson
funny
mysterious
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? It's complicated
2.0
2 stars//Kindle + Audiobook
This was a huge letdown for me and by far my least favorite of the Truly Devious series.
It's been a while since I read any of the others, so I'm not sure if it's a "me" problem or a "them" problem (them being the characters,) but I found very little to like about this one. As in every Truly Devious novel, we are following two timelines - present day, where teen detective Stevie Bell is working to solve the murder, and in the past, whenever the murder took place. In this book, the "past" is 1995, and we're following a group of nine friends in England who have a very, very rough night. I think the main reason I had such a hard time enjoying this book was because a) I found this group of characters hard to follow because there were nine of them; and b) I found them all to be unlikeable so I really didn't care about them. On top of this, Stevie's relationship with David continues to annoy the crap out of me because I think he's a jerk and she could do so much better... but I give her grace because she's a teenager and we all make dumb relationship decisions when we're 19 (or 31, let's be real.)
This book's one redeeming quality was its setting: London. If you know me, you know I'm a sucker for British anything and everything, so maybe this is part of why I had such high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, it just didn't live up to my expectations and I don't know if I'll be picking up the next installment, even with the cliffhanger.
This was a huge letdown for me and by far my least favorite of the Truly Devious series.
It's been a while since I read any of the others, so I'm not sure if it's a "me" problem or a "them" problem (them being the characters,) but I found very little to like about this one. As in every Truly Devious novel, we are following two timelines - present day, where teen detective Stevie Bell is working to solve the murder, and in the past, whenever the murder took place. In this book, the "past" is 1995, and we're following a group of nine friends in England who have a very, very rough night. I think the main reason I had such a hard time enjoying this book was because a) I found this group of characters hard to follow because there were nine of them; and b) I found them all to be unlikeable so I really didn't care about them. On top of this, Stevie's relationship with David continues to annoy the crap out of me because I think he's a jerk and she could do so much better... but I give her grace because she's a teenager and we all make dumb relationship decisions when we're 19 (or 31, let's be real.)
This book's one redeeming quality was its setting: London. If you know me, you know I'm a sucker for British anything and everything, so maybe this is part of why I had such high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, it just didn't live up to my expectations and I don't know if I'll be picking up the next installment, even with the cliffhanger.