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Truly, Devious (Truly Devious, #1)

Maureen Johnson

Start date: May 1, 2022

Finish date: May 31, 2022

Discussion: Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

Oct 12, 2020 Colleen Scidmore rated it really liked it

Shelves: currently-on-google-drive

Update 4/22/22

“Schools may be famous for many things. Academics, graduates, sports teams. They are not supposed to be famous for murders.”

I did a reread in preparation of reading The Hand on the Wall. I wanted to get a refresher and see if my feelings changed at all on Truly Devious. And I’m happy to say they did not! Obviously the content wasn’t fresh and I already knew the surprises but I still loved the atmosphere that Maureen Johnson surrounded her readers with. I kept picturing a type of Wi ...more

35 likes · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2019 Keri rated it really liked it

Shelves: goodreads-choice-awards, series-not-continuing

3.5-4 stars. I really liked this book and rounded up since all the way through I was hooked. I just didn’t love the ending. I like a good cliffhanger but I felt we weren’t given ANY answers so it was a little disappointing in that way. If we’d been given more this definitely would’ve been a four star read for me. We did get some tiny reveals and I will be reading book two ASAP.
I liked the characters for the most part. Nate was my favorite by far, I loved him and hope we get a lot more of him in ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Jun 17, 2019 Susan rated it it was amazing

I tried to read this book a few years ago and I DNF'd it. I wasn't really in the mood for a mystery at that time and I had checked it out from the library and it was due back. I let it go rather then renew it because I didn't think this was the book for me. Well booktuber and booktuber raved about this book and I saw it at my library one day and knew I had to check it out. I'm so glad I did. I really ended up loving this book. I loved the dual time lines ans learning some of the history from thi I tried to read this book a few years ago and I DNF'd it. I wasn't really in the mood for a mystery at that time and I had checked it out from the library and it was due back. I let it go rather then renew it because I didn't think this was the book for me. Well booktuber and booktuber raved about this book and I saw it at my library one day and knew I had to check it out. I'm so glad I did. I really ended up loving this book. I loved the dual time lines ans learning some of the history from this book. Even if it's fiction the history of Albert Ellingham was really well written.

Albert Ellingham built a school on the side of the mountain in a very remote area in Virginia in 1935-36. It sounds beautiful. It sounds like a school I want to attend actually. If you were underprivileged you were still allowed to attend and Albert would take care of everything. One of his promising students was named Dottie and she was heavily into Sherlock Homes and any mystery she could get her hands on. She found a tunnel under the school and followed it to an observatory that had pillows and chairs and was the perfect place to hide away and read. No one had ever seemed to be in this area so she claimed it as her own. One day she was caught and that would be the last day anyone saw her alive. It also happened to be the day that Iris and Alice Ellingham were ever seen again. The wife and daughter of Albert. There was a huge unsolved mystery surrounding all three people. Two were dead and one is unknown. 80 years later the school is still running and is still a place you got to go even if you couldn't afford it.

Stevie, Hayes, David, Janelle, Nate, Ellie, Pix, and Maris are all part of the Minerva house. Each have their own type of things that is unique to them. Hayes is an actor, Stevie is heavily into mysteries and wants to solve the Ellingham and Dotties mystery. When of them in the group is killed. Is it an accident or do they decide it's a murder.

There is a little romance in this book, a lot of mystery and three different murders 80 years apart. There is a lot of friendship and some enemies. The school is very cool and the back and forth in the different years and what happened in present day and what happened in 1936 is done so great and there is no confusion. I can't wait to pick up the next book in this series. I'm going to go request it right now from the library. I highly recommend this book to anybody who like mystery. ...more

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Oct 19, 2020 Marie (UK) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020-reading-challenge

The opening 100 pages of this book truly pulled the reader in. The Author created a setting both visually - in the map at the beginning of the book and through her narrative building. Like many detective novels there are a plethora of character but the diversity of these characters adds depth and dimension to the story telling. There are many facets to the storyline about which I have questions - for instance what do the Games have to do with it? At the same time there are instances where the au ...more

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Mar 15, 2019 Becky rated it really liked it

Shelves: challenge-reads-2019, read-in-2019, mystery, read-in-2022

Cliffhanger!

"I wrote the first book and then I forgot how to write." Nate, 24%

As someone who is friends with a bunch of writers and who has attempted some writing herself, welcome to writing, my guy!

I read this book three years ago, and I'm surprised what I'm remembering and what I'm not. Roota the saxaphone? Totally forgotten! Who dies and how? Totally remember! So that's annoying, although that's on my brain and not the book's fault. At 24% we're still in the introducing the characters stage, ...more

1 like · Like · see review