This is the third book in a trilogy; I've reviewed the first book, TRULY DEVIOUS and the second book, THE VANISHING STAIR.
This is a mystery themed trilogy. If you don't want ANYTHING RUINED, DON'T READ THIS REVIEW.
Sidenote, I'm aware that I literally received this book around 4:15pm on January 21 (the day it was released), and I finished it by 7pm on January 22. I didn't stay up all night reading, I may have just waited at a dealership for some car maintenance to be done for a couple hours and, well now here we are. (...did I also furiously write up all the previous blog posts I've been neglecting just so I could blog about this book? also yes. what upppp)
An amazon summary, "Ellingham Academy must be cursed. Three people are now dead. One, a victim of either a prank gone wrong or a murder. Another, dead by misadventure. And now, an accident in Burlington has claimed another life. All three in the wrong place at the wrong time. All at the exact moment of Stevie’s greatest triumph . . .
She knows who Truly Devious is. She’s solved it. The greatest case of the century.
At least, she thinks she has. With this latest tragedy, it’s hard to concentrate on the past. Not only has someone died in town, but David disappeared of his own free will and is up to something. Stevie is sure that somehow—somehow—all these things connect. The three deaths in the present. The deaths in the past. The missing Alice Ellingham and the missing David Eastman. Somewhere in this place of riddles and puzzles there must be answers.
Then another accident occurs as a massive storm heads toward Vermont. This is too much for the parents and administrators. Ellingham Academy is evacuated. Obviously, it’s time for Stevie to do something stupid. It’s time to stay on the mountain and face the storm—and a murderer.
In the tantalizing finale to the Truly Devious trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson expertly tangles her dual narrative threads and ignites an explosive end for all who’ve walked through Ellingham Academy." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
Everyone is on campus, except for David, because David noises (see last book). Hunter has also joined them on campus on account of his Aunt's house burning down in the fire (including said Aunt). Stevie thinks she's solved the greatest case of the century, but, she FEELS like there's something more to the story. All of the present day deaths don't quite add up, there's something there that involves Alice, the case, and Ellingham... but what?
Stevie is losing sleep, barely eating, and has lost herself into solving the modern day three murders and figuring out how they relate to the original three murders. Everything seems to be a bit of a mess, she's behind on schoolwork, the world seems out of sorts with David (including herself), and she's coping with her anxiety as best as possible. The tragedies seem to be over at Ellingham, until Janelle's machine that goes about doing an elaborate thing to accomplish one small task, but something goes wrong. A canister explodes, a student is hurt, and it's decided that Ellingham will be closed down for the remainder of the term and students will be evacuated before a huge storm hits.
Unless someone convinces the students of the Minerva house to stay behind...
Dun dun dunnnnn
I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. This is what book two was leading to, and I love book two, but I acknowledge it for what it is (another step to the real solve of the mystery), and I kind of loved all the different winding ways the characters managed to come together.
My predictions/hopes in my book two book review were wrong, and I'm pretty happy that they're wrong. This turned out way better than I anticipated. With the modern day culprit revealed, well, it just brings so many more things together.
The past stories are so good, the present stories are so good, and everything just kind of lines up neatly but in a very messy way.
I just might have to start reading more mystery novels.
Since this is the trilogy finale, and I'm among the few who have probably already finished reading it, I'm not going to say anything about the ending. Except I loved it. A whole lot. It left me with that satisfaction of reading a tale well told.
Happy reading!
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