Truly Devious
Maureen Johnson
New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson weaves a delicate tale of murder and mystery in the first book of a striking new series, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and E. Lockhart.
Amazon Summary:
Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place,” he said, “where learning is a game.”
Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious.” It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.
True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester.
But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder.
The two interwoven mysteries of this first book in the Truly Devious series dovetail brilliantly, and Stevie Bell will continue her relentless quest for the murderers in books two and three.
My Review:
8.5/10
This book. I have a lot to talk about.
This book switched narratives every chapter. Now when it comes to books I find it easier to read if there is a singular story line during one period. This book kept switching from the current year to 1936 every chapter. It made it hard to understand what was more important. I think it would have been better if the first half was in 1936 and the second half was the story that takes place now.
The actual story was really well thought out and I can see that Maureen Johnson actually thought through each piece of the puzzle.
I really love the characters, but I was also super confused with who some of them were. A lot of the people's personalities started to mash together, making it confusing to see who is who. I only really cared about the main character, and it felt the secondary characters didn't shine enough.
The ending was actually surprising, and I didn't see the killer reveal coming, although the last paragraph made the ending feel forced, and it was kind of predictable to know what is going to happen with the killer after the person is caught.
OVERALL:
I am going to give the second book a chance, and hopefully get more invested in the characters. I liked reading it, but it took a while to finish.