The Box In The Woods: A Truly Devious Novel
Updated: Feb 20, 2023
Maureen Johnson
Amazon Summary:
After solving the case of Truly Devious, Stevie Bell investigates her first mystery outside of Ellingham Academy in this spine-chilling and hilarious stand-alone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.
Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal (that means boring) summer.
But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the notorious unsolved case, the Box in the Woods Murders. Back in 1978, four camp counselors were killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in a gruesome display. The new owner offers Stevie an invitation: Come to the camp and help him work on a true crime podcast about the case.
Stevie agrees, as long as she can bring along her friends from Ellingham Academy. Nothing sounds better than a summer spent together, investigating old murders.
But something evil still lurks in Barlow Corners. When Stevie opens the lid on this long-dormant case, she gets much more than she bargained for. The Box in the Woods will make room for more victims. This time, Stevie may not make it out alive.
My Review:
8.5/10
Here we are. Another Maureen Johnson book. And this time it is a standalone? Or a spin off? This book takes place after the initial trilogy of Truly Devious, but has the same characters as the first three, so call it what you will. Now that I gave you a preface of the novel, let’s get into it. First up is the characters. I love each of the characters so much because they are all relatable to me in one way or another. There was this one point in the story where Stevie had to bike around a lake, and up a giant hill, and almost passed out. #relatable. One girl loves arts & crafts, just like me. #relatable. Those were the returning characters, but this also introduced a lot of new people to the story, which are only in this book, I think. That was nice because I don't have to keep track for the future novels, which is great. Now along with the new characters, there was one really pivotal character missing from the this book. I was a little sad when he was absent from the story. It was only 50% into the book when David, her boyfriend, to come in. David in the other stories was very important because he is the son of a mayor, and he ruined his father's campaign. The dynamic felt a little weird without the full group, but luckily he does come back. Moving away from the characters, let’s discuss the story element. I found this novel to be a fresh and original take on a campy murder mystery. Who doesn't love a psychological version of the Friday the 13th franchise? The story was clearly thought out. Maureen Johnson always has a way, a secret formula to her novels that keep you wanting more and more, like a when you run out of lemonade, and want more. But there is one thing I would like to say about pacing in the story. Now I loved this book, but I felt sometimes the scenes and story were dragging along. I didn’t hate that, but I found at some parts my attention did wander. I have a somewhat short attention span, so there were times when I needed to switch to something else. But then 80% into the book, when everything was coming together, there was a way that the author eventually ropes you back in. The ending was shocking and I was like WHOAH!!!! I didn’t see it coming. OVERALL: I found this book to be a cozy mystery which kept me on edge most of the time. This book did do justice as a standalone, and I think anyone that just picks this book up, without reading the trilogy, would enjoy this book.