About The Book
New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson weaves a delicate tale of murder and mystery in the first book of a striking new series, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and E. Lockhart. A true-crime enthusiast enrolls at an elite school to solve a decades-old kidnapping case, only to encounter new mysteries and murders.
Buy The Book: https://amzn.to/45gUHnU
My Rating
This book wasn’t for me, which is unfortunate. Although this young adult mystery series is extremely popular with readers, I personally just didn’t enjoy it. If I’m being honest, I can barely remember anything about this book, and I think that pretty much sums it up.
From what I remember, the story follows Stevie Bell as she attends her first year at this elite academy, a place with a dark past. Years ago, someone known only as “Truly Devious” kidnapped the wife and daughter of the school’s founder.
In the book, some chapters take us back to the time of the kidnapping, letting us see the events as they unfolded. However, most of the story follows Stevie as she tackles a new murder mystery at the academy. Neither mystery delivered the suspense or excitement I was expecting, and both ended up feeling surprisingly underwhelming to me.
“Games are not fun when you don’t know you’re playing.”
On top of that, I didn’t really vibe with Stevie, and I didn’t find her classmates interesting or likable either. I felt the small romance subplot was a completely unnecessary addition to the story, which might be because I didn’t care for Stevie’s love interest.
Personally, I think the plot moved too slowly and felt draggy. I wasn’t interested in the book, but I read it all the way through hoping for an amazing plot twist ending. Plus, I didn’t like the writing style, which probably made the book not live up to the hype for me.
Overall, by the end of the book, I didn’t feel any desire to pick up the sequel. The ending was a bit of a surprise, but not enough to make me care about the characters or where the story would go from there. The author seemed to be going for a modern Nancy Drew vibe, but it didn’t work for me. However, I would recommend this book to younger teen readers or to those who are just getting into the mystery genre.
Does this series get better? Tell me in the comments! Remember to like and share this post. If you like book reviews, subscribe to my mailing list to be notified about new posts.
Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny
All book synopses are sourced from Amazon or Goodreads.
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