Truly Devious Book Review

I have been wanting to read this book since the 8th grade, and the entire trilogy has been sitting on my shelf for over a year. Let me tell you, I don’t know why on earth I waited so long to read it! I feel like I haven’t picked up a mystery book where I actually care about the case in so long, but this book was so intriguing to read and I felt so drawn into the world. I honestly have not felt so captivated by a book with the private school murder trope in a very long time, if not ever.

Set at Ellingham Academy, a famous private school for the most exceptional students and also the scene of an unsolved crime, teenage detective Stevie Bell has been accepted with one goal in mind: to solve the Ellingham affair, in which founder Albert Ellingham’s wife and daughter were kidnapped. All that was left behind by the culprit was a poem about murder methods, signed “Truly, Devious.” The book switches between Stevie’s perspective and flashbacks to 1936 to give details on the occurrence of the kidnappings. You really do have to be a bit of a detective yourself when reading this. Every little detail in this book is important, and the tiniest observation can be the key to cracking the case. 

I think the thing that really makes this book is the characters, and there is quite an odd array of them, but they are all extremely lovable (well… mostly. But I’ll leave it at that). The main protagonist, Stevie Bell, is one of my new top favorite mystery women. She is such a genius and I really just love her personality and deadpanning comments. She has such a human quality to her whereas I feel like detective characters can sometimes feel disconnected, cold, and sometimes just straight up unrealistic. I never felt this about Stevie in that she truly is such a relatable character, rather that be her tricky relationship with her parents or battle with anxiety. 

As for the other characters, Stevie lives in a dorm house, Minerva, with a writer named Nate, an artist named Ellie, an actor named Hayes, an engineer named Janelle, and a very mysterious boy named David. All these characters help to create the atmosphere of the setting and become Stevie’s partners-in-crime or her suspects. The mysteries within Minerva house alone are insane!

If you don’t like books that don’t have “the problem is solved and most of the ties are wrapped up” kind of ending, then this book might leave you a little frustrated. But, lucky enough, the renaming books in the trilogy have already been released, so you can just roll right into the next one, which is exactly what I will be doing. I finished Truly Devious in four days and feel so drawn into the story. The stakes are high, the plot keeps thickening, and I am so truly invested in this book series. Five out of five, definitely recommend!

SPOILERS AHEAD! 

Now, if you’ve already read this book, let’s talk about Ellie and David. Umm, hello?! As two of my favorite characters (I have a lot of favorite characters in this book, as you can probably tell), I was not expecting those plot twists. Ellie is just so..Ellie. Like, she couldn’t have committed the murder, at least not on purpose! But there definitely is something else going on, with her last comments about Hayes and “this place.” Why would Hayes take money from Gretchen for Ellie? They didn’t seem to be that close of friends? And Ellie can write? I thought she was more of the visual type. I’m no Stevie, but something isn’t adding up.

I can’t decide if I am surprised about David’s true identity or not. Like, I am definitely surprised that his dad is Edward King, but I was expecting some kind of true reveal. He was just too mysterious. I also can’t tell if I like him with Stevie. I know that they’re not a for sure couple, especially after that last page, but I just have mixed feelings about him. For starters, he first kissed Stevie after she had just discovered the dead body of one of her classmates. Not really the best timing in my opinion. And then he hides her in a closet and gets mad that she went through his stuff. Like yeah, she was wrong, but if you’re going to go for a detective, you’ve got it coming buddy. And if he knew that Stevie hated Edward with all her might from the moment they met, why still try to get her attention? Why lie? She was bound to discover the truth at some point. But anyways, I do love their banter and any man with brown curly hair. 

And of course, who could be Truly Devious? Is he actually behind the kidnapping? I’m beginning to think that Truly Devious isn’t just one person. Whoever it is has to be dead since the kidnappings happened in 1936, so someone else must have taken on that role, especially after the letter Stevie received on her wall. Something is going on with Edward King as well. What is the politician's relation to the overall plot besides to be an utter annoyance?