Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson | Bookish Pet Peeves

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson is one of those “boarding school” type mysteries. They’re overdone. Buuuut still enjoyable to read, and Truly Devious is no different.

The story follows Stevie, a true crime aficionado, who is starting at a new school. Her dream school in fact because it’s the location of one of the most famous crimes in history.

Years ago when the school first happened, the founder, Albert Ellingham, is contacted by “Truly Devious,” a mysterious person who demands ransom for Ellingham’s kidnapped wife and daughter. Ellingham never learns who kidnapped his family and never sees his family again. Years later the mystery still hasn’t been solved.

Stevie Bell can’t wait to solve the crime once and for all, but something strange is happening at the Ellingham Academy and it seems that “Truly Devious” has once again appeared.

The story that Maureen Johnson creates, going back and forth between present and past, is so compelling and a completely thrilling take on the “boarding school” usual drama. The story is compulsively readable, like many mysteries, but as a young adult novel this story also comes with it’s annoying teenage drama.

The main character, Stevie, is pretty much the only one who is fleshed out by the end of the book, and I can honestly say the rest of them don’t leave an impression because I hardly remember them. However, I still find that I’m interested in reading more about the story.

Which brings me to one of my bookish pet peeves… I love mysteries. I love the thrill of them. I love that they’re easy reads. I love a good, wrapped up ending. I don’t love a mystery trilogy.

That’s right, Truly Devious is a trilogy. Ugh!

While I enjoyed reading this book and the mystery was quite interesting, I am so annoyed that the author spent so much time on unnecessary teen drama when she could have wrapped up the story in one book. Hopefully, the next two books won’t be dragging out the end of the mystery because I just can’t.

Slightly annoyed,

 

 

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