Truly Devious Series

        Sixteen year old, crime junkie, Stevie Bell just got offered her chance of a lifetime. She just got accepted into her dream school, the highly prestigious, Ellingham Academy in Vermont, which just so happens to be the academy where many years prior in the twentieth century there were multiple crimes committed, including murder. Originally from Pittsburgh, Stevie was ready to uproot her life to go live in the mountains with the determination to solve the presumably cold case of Truly Devious. The three part series of Truly Devious, The Vanishing Stair, and The Hand on the Wall written by Maureen Johnson follow Stevie in her journey at Ellingham while she tries to solve this case and the others that follow. Full of insane twists and turns, as a whole I rate this series a 5/5 stars. 

        The series starts off with Truly Devious, which sets up the mysteries for each of the books without knowing. I thought that Truly Devious would be my favorite book of the series from the start just because of how solid of a foundation it created for the next books, but as I read The Vanishing Stair and The Hand on the Wall, it was proven that each book would be better than the next. Given a good foundation that they had, the books following Truly Devious focused a lot of the mysteries going on because it didn't have to give any background since they continued from the previous book. In the original, we were introduced to almost all of the characters we would see in the next couple of books, with only a few outliers that didn't fit in the original plot. The main characters stayed the same pretty much throughout all three of the books, with Stevie Bell being the protagonist in each book. The friend group created at Ellingham was built on a big trauma bond after the first few 'mysteries' left their group of friends with less people. It didn't stop them from looking into more interesting things at the academy though, instead it brought them together so they could figure things out for the peers they lost. Even though Stevie was the main crime solver, she could not have done it without all of her friends at Ellingham. As we progressed into the second and third book of this trilogy, you could see how the relationships between the characters were so important because they all worked together. Also, you could see how the dynamic shifted a bit and the main focus of the books changed a little bit, too. Other than this, the three books were very similar to each other. Like I said before, I couldn't even pick a favorite because each of them have their own things that I like. 

     I thoroughly enjoyed the writing of this trilogy. The way it was written kept me engaged, and it kept me unable to put the books down. I found myself going from one book straight to the next because of the way they were written to end on a cliffhanger that keeps you hooked and wanting more. That being said, I think that the way the books were connected and transitioned between each other was really good and smooth. The mysteries of the second and third books - The Vanishing Stair and The Hand on the Wall - were introduced into the plot at the end of the previous book. This helped the transition stay smooth between the books and it helped the story line actually make sense, rather than just pulling more mysteries out of nowhere. A part of the writing that I liked was that all three of the books are written in a fast-paced way. While reading you don't get bored reading a bunch of filler because everything that's happening is relevant to the mystery being solved and because of the way the books are written - at least for me - it was easy to quickly glide through the pages, preventing the normal mid-book stall. One of the main differences between these books and other books is that throughout each of them the time period of some chapters goes back to the 1930's when the original Ellingham crimes were committed. I really liked this part of the books because it made them more interesting to read, and it helped break up the chapters a bit. Also, sometimes when the time would change it would give you information that would help you slowly piece together the mystery happening in the current time. Another piece of the writing that I enjoyed was how you could see the characters were written to change and mature a little from book to book. This overall helped the books move along and keep my interest peaked in not only the main plot line, but also in each character. All in all, I think that the main thing these books have going for them is the ability to keep the reader engaged over three books, because that can be very hard to do, but in the Truly Devious series this was not an issue. 

     I rated this series a 5/5 stars because of how engaging and interesting it was. While reading each book I found it hard to put it down, and not read the next book right after finishing the first and second one. I loved all of the characters and each of the new plot lines introduced as the series went on. Normally I don't go for books that are a part of a series because there is always one that's better than the rest and sometimes it gets hard to keep reading about the same characters, but I did not find that to be a problem with this series. I loved each of the books more and more as I kept reading each one and I always wanted to know what could happen next with the characters at Ellingham. Each of the books flowed into each other really nicely and that was another reason why I liked the series so much. I don't have any major complaints about the Truly Devious books because, in my opinion, it was one of the better series of books that I've read. I couldn't rate this series anything less than a 5/5 stars. I would recommend the series to people who like YA mysteries that will keep you engaged and wanting more.