Truly Devious: A Mystery

GAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! The. Ending.

I loved so much about this book. It is the exact life I wish I could have had as a young teen. (Minus people having to die.) I have dogged eared so many pages, marking those sections that made me love it oh, so much.

pg. 136 :: This was the page that *completely* sucked me in. I had been enjoying the book, but had been picking it up and putting it down for a day or two. However, once I reached this point, I could not put it down.

pg. 178 :: One of my favorite quotes: "The whole thing smelled like a thrift shop that had been baked in a low oven and felt like a too-tight and too-long hug by a rejected muppet." (laughed out loud as I typed it)

pg. 185 :: The brilliant description of anxiety and panic attacks. It's beautifully accurate.

pg. 188 :: "Stevie went outside. The morning was fresh and bright - big blue skies and shaggy, happy clouds blowing over the mountains. It was the kind of morning that mocked the fear of the night before. This kind of pleasantness almost made it worse. How could she be anxious when everything was so cheerful."

pg 197 :: "I think you worry too much," Stevie said. "Of course I *worry* too much," Nate said. "But I'm usually right. The people who worry are always right. That's how that works."

pg. 234 :: How Stevie helps Nate breathe through his panic attack and how she has dealt with her own.

pg. 258 :: "I think I'm fine. Maybe it hasn't hit me yet. Is that bad?" "It's not bad or good. It just is. That's something you'll find out if you decide to go into this line of work. You have to take things as they are, not how you hear they're supposed to be." That was one of the most sensible things an adult had ever said to Stevie.

pg. 318 :: The descriptions of Stevie as she struggles with expressing her feelings. Well stated and so incredibly accurate...esp. for a young teen.

All in all, I loved this book. As I reached the final chapters, I texted my husband (who was out running errands) and required that he stop at a bookstore before he came home to get me the sequel. ;)

This book was filled with so much mystery. I loved it from beginning to end. Not only was the setting and story line unique but so were each of the individual characters you get to know throughout reading/listening to the story. Maureen Johnson did an amazing job of blending present day with that of the past because not only are you getting on mystery but a few. Maureen does a great job of putting you back in time and them bringing you back to the present with the two POV’s she’s written about.
The first incident happened in the 1930’s with a kidnapping and murder. Ellingham Academy reminds me of a combination of H.H. Holmes and The Winchester mansions with it’s unique design. If you’re not careful you may end up in a tunnel that leads you down to the place where bad things happen. I loved the way Mr. Ellingham is portrayed in this book. He’s a rich guy who builds a mansion in the Vermont mountainside where he plans on inviting the most intelligent young minds to attend. Shortly after the first students arrive things take a turn for the worst and all Mr. Ellingham and the authorities have to go on is a riddle. He becomes obsessed over the years with the unsolved murder and kidnapping that took place in his mansion that you find yourself wondering if maybe he had a hand in the crimes.
The second incident happens in present day where Stevie Bell, an aspiring Sherlock Holmes, gets accepted into the school. Little does she know she’ll be mixed up in more mystery than she could ever have imagined. She is such a sassy character whose inner dialogue says everything you’re thinking. I loved her character because it offered so much humor to what you’d think would be a dark tale. She has studied the events that took place in Ellingham Academy all those years ago and is convinced that what the world’s been told about what happened at the academy is not what really happened. You’ll definitely go on quite the ride with Stevie while you try to piece together the evidence that is given to you throughout the book as it jumps between the 1930’s and present day.
Stevie is also surrounded by the most unique of characters. Element is the quirkiest of them all in my opinion. She almost has a Luna Lovegood feel about her. At one point you find her in the pink waters of the upstairs bath tub while wearing her pantaloons and corset. There’s obviously no other way to dye them the pink you want them to be! You’ll also get some darker more mysterious characters from the movie star who doesn’t seem to know the facts about what he’s supposed to have written, the writer who has serious writers block, and the boy with the secrets he is determined to keep hidden.
By the end of this book you’ll be left with so many questions that the next year will feel like an eternity until you get book two. Little did I and my road trip buddies realize it was actually a trilogy until we were almost to the end of the book and we’d had more questions than we had answers. It added even more to the mystery of this story. We were enraptured the entire time and couldn’t wait to finish it when we took off on our 10 hour journey home!

https://thecleverreader.wordpress.com/2018/05/16/review-truly-devious

It was just kinda messy and lacking. Some of the characters were interesting, basically only David and Janelle. I didn’t feel like it was consistent in the way the book itself was set up nor the characteristics of the main character especially. She started off like a Sherlock Holmes type but then she couldn’t put obvious pieces together. In the beginning she had the girl from the bus pinned to the T, but she didn’t give a second thought to the situation with Janelle’s ID card??? Okay.
And in the beginning, mystery was her everything: coping mechanism, hobby, way to kill time, but mainly her coping mechanism. It was always on her mind, but by the middle of the book, it seemed like she was content just overthinking her anxiety and not turning to the ONE THING that put her mind at ease.
Another thing: there were chapters that were set in the 30’s. And then by the middle, there were none, then toward the end there were random FBI interviews from the 30’s and I just think that felt kinda messy.

I tried to like this book, but I just couldn’t. Maybe I’m reading YA mystery novels the wrong way???

I’m confused but i loved it!!! It’s giving a good girls guide to murder vibes 3.75 ⭐️

Honestly expected her to solve the Truly Devious mystery in this novel, but also there are two more books so that makes sense. The last 30% of the book drags on a little bit and gets slow. The beginning starts out quick and exciting, but since it slows down so much at the end I say it ends up being slow. In all I am excited to keep reading the series as the characters are great and it really doesn’t feel like a YA. Very strong opening for a series overall.