Are you sure there’s no other way?

9. Nine Liars – Maureen Johnson

So, Stevie goes to London, for a mystery from 1995 outside the city in a manor house, Merryweather. It has a ha-ha. I have spent a significant amount of time in London, it is my favorite city I have ever been to, and the wandering around scenes are my favorite as it’s all familiar. I do wish they’d gone to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, though, it’s in a tiny alley and the first time I went I asked the person who brought me if they were taking me there to kill me because it just looked like we were heading down a claustrophobic dark alley at night. Very murdery, Stevie would appreciate that. Plus it’s on Fleet St., which has dramatic associations with murder and this was a story about a group of actors/sketch comedians.

So, the mystery itself comes up while Stevie and co. are on the London Eye. One of David’s school friends has an aunt who said something while on pain killers which sparks the rest of the mystery and there are also flashbacks with lots of Blur. So much Blur. I understand, though. There was so much good Blur. And their CD even maybe participates in an adjacent murder. Once again I did not entirely follow Stevie’s path with her, there was a jump I didn’t expect, but it was a sensible one in the end, so not as “wait, what” as in The Box in the Woods.

Anyway, I did also enjoy the undertones of everyone in the group applying to colleges and trying to decide where they are going after school is over. Stevie is terrified and a bit propelled by the wind and I cannot relate to that at all. However, Stevie should take comfort in knowing that even if you did plan out what you wanted to do, what your goals were, and made a solid effort to achieve them, they can still escape you completely so it’s not really that bad to not know where you’re going, except for like, housing and where your funding is coming from, those are best not left to the wind. Plus at the end she’s in big trouble in multiple ways, which just makes me anxious as a reader. Very.

 

Salem knows being anxious very well. He’s a brave, but also very cautious, guinea pig.