Name: Truly, Devious (Truly Devious #1)
Author: Maureen Johnson
Genres: Young Adult, Mystery
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books, Haper Collins
Format: ARC Paperback
Source: Harper 360 YA
Release: TODAY (US), 22nd Feb (UK)
Rating: ★★★★★
GOODREADS | BUY
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.
**This book was provided by Harper 360 YA in exchange for an honest review.**
KEY WORDS: True-crime, historical, murder, mystery, elite boarding school.
This book was everything I needed and more. I’ve been in the worst book slump since the start of the year and in even worse one for reviewing but here I am having both finished a book and written a review immediately. A little murder mystery was exactly what I needed.
This book was such an easy read and I love easy reads. I love things that suck you in from day one, that you don’t have to struggle through and it’s what my brain needed.
The format of the book was very interesting, alternating between the 1938 mystery, The Ellingham Affair, and the time of our protagonist, Stevie, as she attends the same location, a boarding school in the mountains of Vermont. Obsessed with the original mystery of Iris and Alice Ellingham going missing from their home at Ellingham Academy, Stevie enrolls at the school in a hope to solve the case. I loved the way we found out more about what happened in the original mystery through both case files, and a third person perspective set in that time, right alongside Stevie’s own story and time.
Stevie was a great protagonist, likeable and interesting, but more than that, incredibly realistic. A true-crime aficionado, she goes to Ellingham to solve the ultimate cold-case crime, but when faced with her own mystery, instead of thriving off it, she reacts in a way that seems true for a young girl. While at moments her reaction is perceived by others as cold, her shock and panic are also evident and I loved that. Furthermore, I felt Johnson’s portrayal of Stevie’s anxiety and panic attacks throughout the novel were very accurate. As someone who suffers both, I felt very close to her in those moments and that kind of mental health representation is exactly what we need.
I was glued to this book from the moment I started and with that ending, I cannot wait for books two and three. Please don’t make me wait too long!
Boarding school mystery:
- Wunderkids series by Jaqueline Silvester ★★★★☆
- The Treatment by C.L. Taylor ★★★☆☆
Historical mystery:
- Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalco ★★★★☆
- Shades of London series by Maureen Johnson ★★★★★
Is Truly, Devious on your TBR? Let me know in the comments!
Follow me elsewhere: TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS | ETSY
Advertisements Share this:- More
