by Maureen Johnson
Release Date: January 16th 2018
2018 HarperCollins
Kindle Edition; 416 Pages
ISBN: 978-0062338051
ASIN: B07252X6ZH
Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Young Adult
Source: Review copy from publisher
4 / 5 Stars
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.
My Thoughts
Truly, Devious is the first book in a planned trilogy, and I really enjoyed it. I did go into it knowing about the trilogy and I think that helped as having read this author before I expected her to set up things slowly and build toward a climax. What I wasn't sure of though, is whether this would be a standalone with a separate mystery in each story, including one thread that continues throughout all the books. It became very apparent quite early on that it would be the latter case so I wasn't too worried about the mystery and just enjoyed the world-building.
First of all, I really liked the characters, including the secondary ones. There were quite a few quirky ones, including one of Stevie's roommates, and I liked learning about them and the mysteries that surround them as you can't have a mystery novel without having characters with deep secrets. Stevie is a true-crime aficionado and so am I so I could identify with her quirks quite easily as well as her interest in everything that was happening around her. I could also understand her fascinating with the crime that took place at the academy in the 30's and how it would draw her to study at a place like that. I would have been poking my nose into as many places as I could have within the first couple of days as well as looking for archives and other materials to get my hands on.
The pacing in the story is good, and while some people may find it a bit slow, I liked the building up of tension and events, knowing that more would come in future books. I tend to have this thing for boarding school thrillers and although it didn't have a supernatural element in it that I also love, there were enough secrets and interactions to keep my happy. The narrative does switch back and forth from the present to the past, the past one from differing points of view as well, but it was done quite seamlessly that it flowed nicely and didn't really interrupt the present-day narrative. It also helped give insight into the current mystery if you paid attention.
Verdict
Truly Devious is a solid book overall and I am looking forward to continuing Stevie's adventures in the next book (The Vanishing Stair). And while the ending did not clear up the mystery, and I'm still not sure what I think about certain revelations, I did expect it to end somewhat this way so I wasn't expecting any great revelations at the end. I do think that mentality helped though as some people wanted closure on their mystery and weren't happy with the ending. But not me.!! If you prefer books that have neatly wrapped-up endings then I do not recommend this one (and I would also stay from Karen Marie Moning books as well if you do); however, if you like suspense and expectation, with a nicely written story, with some cheeky nods to past mystery writers, then this one is for you.
It sounds like a compelling read!
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