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A review by sarahscupofcoffee
The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson
5.0
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Destination: Ellingham Academy on Hatchet Hill in Vermont
Highlight of the Trip: I connected with Nate on the brooding writer condition.
In this second installment of the Truly Devious series, Stevie uncovers another chunk of the murder mystery as more murder and mystery gets layered onto the riddle.
Characters
Characterization is a huge part in this series, which is why I love it so much. Each character is unique, not just from each other, but in general.
Stevie is our protagonist. She’s obsessed with murder mysteries and has anxiety. Murder mysteries helps calm her anxiety, which I find hilarious. It’s accurate, though! The things that calm my anxiety, would probably increase someone else’s. Stevie is determined to figure out who was behind the murders of Ellingham Academy. She’s also extremely smart and analytical.
“This is why I prefer books to people.” – Nate, Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
Nate is a writer and one of my favorite characters. He’s pessimistic and very relatable. I’m a writer, so I understand his struggles and pain. We get to know him well and see this side of him clearly in the first book, but we see traces of his personality throughout this second one, as well.
I’m a huge fan of Larry, the security guard. He plays a minor, yet huge, role in this novel, though. I love how Maureen Johnson puts detail and love into all of her characters, even her secondary ones. She makes every single one of her characters seem important to the story and to the plot.
For example, this is how she describes all of her characters – even the secondary ones, like Call Me Charles:
“Dr. Charles Scott, aka Call me Charles, was the head of the school and Stevie’s adviser. Out of all the Ellingham faculty, he had the most bouncy personality, the one that said, ‘Learning is Fun!’ in giant Comic Sans. He tended to dress in expensive geek chic—superhero T-shirts with designer jeans. His hair was somewhere between blond and the earliest hints of gray. Today he wore a fitted black cashmere V-neck and gray wool pants, looking every inch the aged version of the perfect New England pretty guy. He sproinged up to her like a cartoon tiger.” – Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
There are plenty of amazing and iconic characters in this book that I can talk about forever, but let’s get on with the rest of the review. Characters: A+!
The Plot
In the first book, we learn about the murders and kidnappings that happened within Ellingham’s walls in the 1930s. We flash between present day, with Stevie as our lead teenage investigator, and the past, where multiple people narrate events that will coincide with what we discover in the present. The way those flips are set up is genius and not distracting to the plot or characters in the slightest.
In this second book, we dive deeper into the history and Stevie starts putting together some massive clues with her advanced access. A murder mystery book wouldn’t be good without a fresh murder, so someone else dies. It probably wasn’t a murder, but someone still dies.
One of the things I love about this book is that you expect certain things (murders and mysteries), but you’re still gasping at the end of most chapters. Some of these plot twists seriously took me by surprise and had me bouncing in my seat. My stomach would clench because I would remember a detail from the first book or early on in the second that would match up to what Stevie’s about to uncover. The plotting is masterful.
I called one of these plot twists and I kept yelling at Stevie to hurry up and put the clues together. When she finally did, I literally yelled, “Yes! Go, Stevie, Go!” while I was taking a “relaxing” bath.
There was one issue I had with the book that is spoilery, so SPOIL ALERT in the next paragraph.
You can probably guess this from the first book, but it’s declared in the second: the Truly Devious letter has nothing to do with the kidnappings and the murders. I had a hunch that it didn’t in the first book, but I kept second guessing myself. Why would it have nothing to do with it, if the entire serious was surrounded by it? This was the issue I had with the plot. I don’t like how the title of the book has nothing to do with the real plot line.
However, I can understand why Johnson plotted it this way. I want to see how the third book turns out before I explain why, but I have some ideas!
Anyway, I loved the ending. I was gasping and ready for more when I turned the virtual page (eBook from the library) and saw the acknowledges staring at me. She solves this book’s subplot and then dangles another one in our faces, so we just have to read the next book.
So, Hand on the Wall here I come!
Should You Read It?
YES! I love this series and I think anyone could really get into it. There’s something here for everyone, even if you don’t like mysteries. I don’t like mystery books, but I’m obsessed with this series because of the characters and the masterful plotting.
Destination: Ellingham Academy on Hatchet Hill in Vermont
Highlight of the Trip: I connected with Nate on the brooding writer condition.
In this second installment of the Truly Devious series, Stevie uncovers another chunk of the murder mystery as more murder and mystery gets layered onto the riddle.
Characters
Characterization is a huge part in this series, which is why I love it so much. Each character is unique, not just from each other, but in general.
Stevie is our protagonist. She’s obsessed with murder mysteries and has anxiety. Murder mysteries helps calm her anxiety, which I find hilarious. It’s accurate, though! The things that calm my anxiety, would probably increase someone else’s. Stevie is determined to figure out who was behind the murders of Ellingham Academy. She’s also extremely smart and analytical.
“This is why I prefer books to people.” – Nate, Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
Nate is a writer and one of my favorite characters. He’s pessimistic and very relatable. I’m a writer, so I understand his struggles and pain. We get to know him well and see this side of him clearly in the first book, but we see traces of his personality throughout this second one, as well.
I’m a huge fan of Larry, the security guard. He plays a minor, yet huge, role in this novel, though. I love how Maureen Johnson puts detail and love into all of her characters, even her secondary ones. She makes every single one of her characters seem important to the story and to the plot.
For example, this is how she describes all of her characters – even the secondary ones, like Call Me Charles:
“Dr. Charles Scott, aka Call me Charles, was the head of the school and Stevie’s adviser. Out of all the Ellingham faculty, he had the most bouncy personality, the one that said, ‘Learning is Fun!’ in giant Comic Sans. He tended to dress in expensive geek chic—superhero T-shirts with designer jeans. His hair was somewhere between blond and the earliest hints of gray. Today he wore a fitted black cashmere V-neck and gray wool pants, looking every inch the aged version of the perfect New England pretty guy. He sproinged up to her like a cartoon tiger.” – Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
There are plenty of amazing and iconic characters in this book that I can talk about forever, but let’s get on with the rest of the review. Characters: A+!
The Plot
In the first book, we learn about the murders and kidnappings that happened within Ellingham’s walls in the 1930s. We flash between present day, with Stevie as our lead teenage investigator, and the past, where multiple people narrate events that will coincide with what we discover in the present. The way those flips are set up is genius and not distracting to the plot or characters in the slightest.
In this second book, we dive deeper into the history and Stevie starts putting together some massive clues with her advanced access. A murder mystery book wouldn’t be good without a fresh murder, so someone else dies. It probably wasn’t a murder, but someone still dies.
One of the things I love about this book is that you expect certain things (murders and mysteries), but you’re still gasping at the end of most chapters. Some of these plot twists seriously took me by surprise and had me bouncing in my seat. My stomach would clench because I would remember a detail from the first book or early on in the second that would match up to what Stevie’s about to uncover. The plotting is masterful.
I called one of these plot twists and I kept yelling at Stevie to hurry up and put the clues together. When she finally did, I literally yelled, “Yes! Go, Stevie, Go!” while I was taking a “relaxing” bath.
There was one issue I had with the book that is spoilery, so SPOIL ALERT in the next paragraph.
You can probably guess this from the first book, but it’s declared in the second: the Truly Devious letter has nothing to do with the kidnappings and the murders. I had a hunch that it didn’t in the first book, but I kept second guessing myself. Why would it have nothing to do with it, if the entire serious was surrounded by it? This was the issue I had with the plot. I don’t like how the title of the book has nothing to do with the real plot line.
However, I can understand why Johnson plotted it this way. I want to see how the third book turns out before I explain why, but I have some ideas!
Anyway, I loved the ending. I was gasping and ready for more when I turned the virtual page (eBook from the library) and saw the acknowledges staring at me. She solves this book’s subplot and then dangles another one in our faces, so we just have to read the next book.
So, Hand on the Wall here I come!
Should You Read It?
YES! I love this series and I think anyone could really get into it. There’s something here for everyone, even if you don’t like mysteries. I don’t like mystery books, but I’m obsessed with this series because of the characters and the masterful plotting.