Thursday, April 23, 2020

67. The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

#3 Truly Devious
Listened to Audio on Libby, borrowed from Bosler
narrated by Kate Rudd
Unabridged audio (8:36)
2020 Katherine Tegen Books
369 pgs.
YA Mystery
Finished 4/23/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.23 - 18,193 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: 1936 and contemporary Vermont boarding school, winter

First line/s:  "The snow had been falling for hours, drifting past the windows, settling on the sill, following little landscapes that mimicked the mountains in the distance. Albert Ellingham sat on an overstuffed chair covered in plum-colored velvet."

My comments:  This third and final installment in an ongoing mystery nicely wrapped up any questions about the two murder mysteries, 1936 and current time, in a satisfying way.  This whole three-book-series was a little too drawn out, I'm sure it could've been condensed satisfactorily, but both books one and two were left with big cliffhangers and that couldn't have been done if this was made into one very long book.  I had to keep forcing myself to go back to listen, even though I did want to find out what the outcome was.  The 1936 - 1938 parts weren't half as interesting to me as the contemporary bits, but no matter.  I didn't really like the narrator's voice for the protagonist, not enough inflection to flat, which changed my perception of her personality.

Goodreads synopsis:  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.
          New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson delivers the witty and pulse-pounding conclusion to the Truly Devious series as Stevie Bell solves the mystery that has haunted Ellingham Academy for over 75 years.

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