The Vanishing Stair: A Truly Devious Novel
Maureen Johnson
Amazon Summary:
All Stevie Bell wanted was to find the key to the Ellingham mystery, but instead she found her classmate dead. And while she solved that murder, the crimes of the past are still waiting in the dark. Just as Stevie feels she’s on the cusp of putting it together, her parents pull her out of Ellingham academy.
For her own safety they say. She must move past this obsession with crime. Now that Stevie’s away from the school of topiaries and secret tunnels, and her strange and endearing friends, she begins to feel disconnected from the rest of the world. At least she won’t have to see David anymore. David, who she kissed. David, who lied to her about his identity—son of despised politician Edward King. Then King himself arrives at her house to offer a deal: He will bring Stevie back to Ellingham immediately. In return, she must play nice with David. King is in the midst of a campaign and can’t afford his son stirring up trouble. If Stevie’s at school, David will stay put.
The tantalizing riddles behind the Ellingham murders are still waiting to be unraveled, and Stevie knows she’s so close. But the path to the truth has more twists and turns than she can imagine—and moving forward involves hurting someone she cares for. In New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson’s second novel of the Truly Devious series, nothing is free, and someone will pay for the truth with their life.
My Review:
9/10
Forenote:
I started this book a while ago then dropped it because I had other things going on. I stopped at about 20% and then I picked the book back up last week. It took a second to remember what happened, but then I was back into the story. Onto the actual review.
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I loved this book for so many reasons that if I listed them, this review could take an hour to read, so I am going to stick to the EXTREMELY big reasons. The first reason was that it was a mystery that involved murder. A fun fact about me is that I love murder mystery books, for all that they are. And Maureen Johsnon is one of the authors that can transport the reader into a character's world. You feel like you are Watson and the mystery solver (Stevie) is Sherlock. I hope you know who that is. This brings me to the next point, the puzzles.
The puzzles in this book start out small and get larger. It is like a reverse Russian nesting doll. The small and easy puzzles eventually lead the character to finding an even harder puzzle than the last. And like the outermost layer of Russian nesting doll, it leads to something giant. Once a puzzle is solved, it leads you to another puzzle, but requires the answer from the last puzzle. There was so much going on. And that brings me to my third point of discussion, the story.
I enjoy how there are parallel mysteries that connect both the past and the present. The writing style of the story reminds me of a current day Agatha Christie novel, because there are tracers of comedy, murder, mysteries, and secrets to be uncovered. I find that fascinating becuase the story from the past, relates to everything going on in the present. It is also like I am getting two very interesting stories, that follow the storyline from the first book. This story closed up some unfinished ends, but left me debating if I wanted to read the next one, the conclusion of the tirlogy. This book really sets up the third book, the final in the trilogy.
OVERALL:
I gave this book a 9/10 because at some points it felt like taffy, being pulled more than anything should be stretched. It is defiantly a Young Adult book, and will interest many murder mystery enthusiasts.