Truly Devious: A Mystery: 1 (Truly Devious, 1)

Product Information

Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2018 * Junior Library Guild Selection * 2019 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Nomination * 2019 ALA's Best Fiction for Young Adults Nomination * Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books 2018 * Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction 2018 * 2018 Nerdy Book Club Young Adult Winner * Seventeen Best YA Book of 2018 * Lincoln Award Nominee * 2020-2021 South Carolina Book Awards Nominee * 2020 Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award Winner Where do you look for someone who’s never really there? Always on a staircase but never on a stair.” For the first 60% of the book, absolutely nothing happens, and Stevie doesn't come up with any new ideas. Surprising, right? And then a student is killed, and we get the weakest explanation for it possible. And then nothing happens until the 90% mark, when we get a bit more of an idea as to what happened. And then nothing happens through the end of the book.

Re-reading in anticipation of the release of Nine Liars in December. I'm super excited to return to this installment. but overall this is a fun and exciting book. definitely not as good as the first one (based on how i remember it), but still very much worth my time. im looking forward to seeing how things get wrapped up in the concluding instalment! This time, there is a real cliffhanger at the end and we finally learned the kidnappers’ identities but it resulted with more unanswered questions! We’re still in the dark about student murders and perpetrators! And the anxiety rep was perfect. Although Stevie was a very dull narrator with not much of a personality, this felt like an OwnVoices book. Mental health rep is very important, especially in books outside of contemporary fiction where these things aren't usually depicted.George Lois is someone who brought revolutionary changes in the advertisement campaigns. The verisimilitude of the majority of the advertisements to reality was a specialty at that time. As time passed and legends like Lois left us. Many modern-day advertisements are nowhere near to reality. The author is aptly criticizing this loss of quality and ethics in advertisements through Stevie. And please, to people who asked me to read this, just shoo go away you may not be able to Handle this!! The other morning he started something called ‘screaming meditation,’” Nate said. “Guess what happens in screaming meditation? Did you guess screaming? For fifteen minutes? Because that’s what happens in screaming meditation. Fifteen. Minutes. Outside. At five in the morning. Do you know what happens when someone screams outside for fifteen minutes at five in the morning at a remote location in the mountains, especially after a . . .”

Truly Devious is truly amazing. It is a MUST READ. Book #2 is already going to the top of my most anticipated releases for 2019.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

can we talk about how smart stevie is for a second?!? shes literally a genius. i dont understand how she figures out the things she does, but she does, and it blows my mind everytime. i loved following her train of thought, and watching her connect the dots of the mysteries was so fun!! i also thought her anxiety was so well written. her mental illness was subtly incorporated into every decision she made, and it was so fascinating to read about. basic premise is that a wealthy 1930s tycoon starts a free school for children in the mountains of vermont where he also hosts small but lavish gatherings with the rich and famous. said tycoon's wife and child are kidnapped. present day true crime lover stevie gets into this free school for kids and decides to solve the mystery.

If you enjoyed the first book, I think you will enjoy this one as well. Honestly though, I did not love this quite as much. This book should be called: The Vanishing Cash, because I didn’t learn my lesson the first time around, and yet again spent real money on this trash.** Before meeting with the gang, we get introduced THE NINE: bunch of comedy writer teenagers who have complex relationships, dating with each than breaking up and dating the rest of group members ( story takes place in 90s so it’s understandable that their relationship patterns remind us Aaron Spelling’s young adult series like Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place) Pretentious Sebastian, free spirited Sooz, Irish joy Rosie, vintage styled Noel, natural athlete Peter, comedy nerd Yash, heartbreaker Julian, aspiring history student Angela, medical student Theo are the group members. They are vivid, interesting characters and as soon as I got introduced with them I wished they had their own book instead of being part of Stevie Bell mystery drama. Amount of the character numbers is already too much. I got a little exhausted to concentrate on the nine and gang of Stevie including David’s new British friends! Also the ending was great and I can't wait to read book 2. Since I have such conflicted feelings about this book I won't make any recommendations.My feelings toward the characters did not change, I am not a big fan of any of them but I stand corrected on one point; I mentioned on my review of book 1 that the characters should be better given that it is a school for the best of the best. I don’t know how it escaped my attention but really, most of the students in the school were there as friends of the owner or they are connected to him in that way whether in the past or present! On the night Dottie Epstein is killed, Francis and Eddie secretly observe Albert and Miss Nelson—the housemistress of Minerva, where Francis lives—embracing in the gymnasium building, which is under construction. A worried Albert gives Miss Nelson a gun and tells her to protect herself and the students as all of them vacate the school. In a later chapter, it is revealed that Albert and Miss Nelson were having an affair. My surprise stand out favourite was .. the romance!? Now I don't usually care much for romance subplots but I am FEELING THIS ONE. The miscommunication was kind of annoying, but overall I am really, really into David/Stevie and like ,, actually felt my cold dead heart move a little every time they talked. And the ending! I don’t think it was real cliffhanger! It made me more pissed off! If he is a real person, I’ll punch David on the face! I wish the ending would be a big revelation or clue about one of the murders ! but it's not really that simple. stevie is a little uh... weird and she has to contend with the other strange characters in this boarding school as she tries to uncover what happened so many years ago. oh yeah, and one of her classmates happens to get murdered. no biggie.