Truly Devious (Truly Devious #1)

The end definitely helped bump the score up a bit, but otherwise… I dont know. I love a good mystery, but this was too tween for me (yes, I know its YA. But this was definitely on the younger side of that). For a 400+ page book, it certainly seemed like a lot happened, while at the same time nothing at all happened… that is, until the last twenty pages or so. Im glad the romance was put on the back burner. Its refreshing when theres more focus on plot, especially in YA mysteries, and less on teen drama.

I liked Stevie as a character, but she lost favorable points with me when she withheld evidence for the sake of her own pride and arrogance. Still, she, Nate, and Janelle were the least annoying of all the students most of whom were written like privileged hipsters. Seriously, each and every one of Stevies classmates were described like they stepped out of a factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn where they mass-produce hip, liberal Generation Z progressives. I get these kids are all supposed to be talented and brilliant artists, but never in my life have I heard of or seen 16/17 year olds dressed or styled like caricatures from different decades (and sometimes all at once on one person). It was super unrealistic… and then I saw the authors image at the end, and knew exactly why all these teens wore crafty trashbag dresses, severe black bob haircuts with bright red lipstick, silver coiffed hair and overalls, cat eye glasses and oversized dress shirts, etc. etc.

I also hated the inclusion of politics here. I wont go into details, because that could be spoiler territory, but its clear there is a bias against Republicans. Why are we out to vilify millions of people?

I don’t WANT to keep reading, but I NEED to know the mystery…
Kudos for keeping me guessing, and actually surprising me, but also curse you and your cliffhangers!!

When you’re a novelist you are entering a kind of contract with your readers…you are making them promises. If you’re writing a murder mystery the primary thing you must do by the end of the book is solve the goddam mystery. The answer to the puzzle MUST be given at the end of the book.

Maureen Johnson does NOT do that in Truly Devious. In fact, she DOESN’T solve a current day murder, DOESN’T solve a cold case murder from the ’30s and DOESN’T even tell us the solution to a riddle.

Imagine buying a jigsaw puzzle and opening it up only to find there are only half the pieces you need.
She ends the book with the words, “To be continued…” Apparently Miss Johnson thinks she’s writing an episode of the 1970’s Batman TV series.

The protagonist, Stevie Bell is interesting enough to read. (Stevie is a girl) She has another female character named Element…and a boy named Hayes Major…and a Dr. Quinn (as in Medicine Woman).

I will NOT read the sequel. Don’t care who did it. She didn’t keep her promises. She talks about Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie in the novel because her protagonist loves mysteries…those authors ALWAYS SOLVED THE MYSTERY. They didn’t leave a cliffhanger. This author should have learned from her betters.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
4.5/5 stars
I always forget how much I love mysteries! At first this book reminded me of a Westing Game with a Winchester Mansion twist.

The plot alternates between the Ellingham family kidnappings in the 1930s and the present day Stevie Bell who attends Ellingham Academy intent on solving the mystery of the kidnappings.

The book is full of riddles and puzzles, twists and turns. I found myself reading huge chunks at a time. There was some social commentary embedded within (mostly modern but one part was a clear JFK/LHO nod), but now I wonder if even some of that will be turned on its head. Despite murder and mischief, there was humor sprinkled throughout. The main thing I didn’t like is that when I bought it I did not know it was part of a series (I knew right before starting) and that it ended on a literal “to be continued…” I don’t have the best memory always and tend to mix up or forget things between books.

If you like The Westing Game, Chasing Vermeer, or things like Winchester House you should like this one.

This was really really really good. But that ending???? Naaaaaah.

Ellingham Academy is a famous school for gifted people in the mountains of Vermont. It was founded by the very rich Albert Ellingham in the 1930s, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways and gardens. Not long after he opened the school, his wife and daughter were kidnapped in what become one of the greatest unsolved crimes of American history. The only real clue was a riddle listing various methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious”. Eighty years later, Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at the academy. She is obsessed with true-crime and wants to be the one to solve the mystery. However, not long after she arrives, strange things begin to happen, and Truly Devious makes a surprise return…

As soon as I saw the synopsis for this book I had to pick it up. It sounded so good. And it was, it really was. It did, however, take me about three weeks to read it since I had no time to do anything else other than uni work, so I think this took a bit of my enjoyment away. I struggled to keep up with the characters, and to be honest I probably should have left it and then picked it up once I knew I had time so I could read it all at once. The only thing that did really ruin it for me was the ending; it ended so abruptly and I’m so pissed off at how long I’m going to have to wait for the next book. What a cliffhanger. I’m also realllllllllllly annoyed that we never find out who it was that Dottie met in the observatory in the first chapter – maybe in book two or three we will.

I did really like all of the characters even if they seemed a bit one-dimensional. This may have just been because I didn’t have the right time to dive into the story and get to know them really well, though. There were a lot of them to keep track of. Stevie was a strong lead and I really liked her, but she did seem too nosy for her own good. All the other students were really likeable also; I don’t think there were any I disliked. Her mum and dad were really irritating though, but I thought they were written well – no wonder Stevie wanted to spend some time away from them. There was a tiny bit of romance in the book but it wasn’t a huge part of the story.

The setting was really interesting and I enjoyed reading about Ellingham Academy. I think my favourite parts of the book were the parts from when the kidnappings happened in 1936. It was really interesting, and even though I knew they would never catch who did it I kept expecting them to. They seemed to get so close time and time again, yet they never did. When Stevie did finally discover who did it, I was a bit disappointed. I didn’t see it coming – which is a good thing! – but maybe I just wanted it to be someone else. Saying that though, the way the book ended, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was wrong and it wasn’t who she thought it to be all along. The nice plot twist at the end was done really well – I didn’t see this coming either – and it did really shock. I just don’t see what the point in it is yet, maybe I’ll see in later books. I really loved the writing style. It was the kind of book that you could easily pick up and just get lost in, even though I didn’t have the time to. I did manage to get lost in the last half which I read over the course of a day when I did find time.

I might give this a reread soon in the hope I can give it a higher rating. I feel like it deserves more than the four stars I’m giving it but I don’t think it’s quite five stars. The cliffhanger is really annoying, as good as it was. If I had book two right now I definitely would not mind as much, but I really do not want to wait another year or so.

4/5 stars.

Ive wanted to read this book ever since I first read the blurb for it sometime in 2017 and Im definitely glad that I moved it to the top of my TBR list as I thoroughly enjoyed it and literally cannot wait for book two to come out.

The setting of this novel was just fantastic. Ellingham Academy was a wonderful place for a mystery to be set with its remote location, labyrinth layout full of hidden passageways and vast array of differently gifted students. To be honest I think diving into this world would be interesting whatever the circumstances Id loved to have seen one of the Ellinghams unusual parties and I cant wait to explore the school further (hopefully) in book two.

The characters, like the setting, were fascinating to learn about and Stevies point of view was spot on for this mysterious novel. Unlike the characters in most YA mysteries that Ive read Stevie is interested in solving crimes from the start simply because she loves learning about such things. Her entire reason for getting into the Ellingham Academy is to try and solve its infamous mystery and her love of all things crime related shines through time and time again throughout the story. I love that shes different to your typical YA character and I cant wait to see some more of her. The supporting characters were equally fascinating and varied from one another greatly. David is one character who Im particularly looking forward to learning more about in book two as he was definitely a difficult individual to figure out.

As for the story it was utterly gripping and written in a wonderfully compelling manner. I adored both the scenes from the past and the story that unwound in the present. The scenes that told the tales of the past varied from different points of view, interviews and articles; all of which were well written and left me eternally eager for the next snippet of history. Likewise the present storyline was completely gripping and jam-packed with lots of twists and turns. I also feel that the Truly Devious letters deserve a special mention for being so fantastic; they were well written, taunting and oddly fit into the strange environment of Ellingham.

All in all I definitely recommend this book to anybody whose taken the time to read this review. Truly Devious was utterly addictive and I truly cant wait to get my hands on book two.

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