Review--The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

 

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.

I am starting to wonder if Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious series was meant to be a trilogy at first, as the first book did say "trilogy" and yet as I close on The Hand on the Wall, book 3, there are still two other books to be read, with the promise of more to come. It's interesting and I am definitely curious to see what will happen next to keep things running! This installment will bring about an end to many things, but one thing is for sure, the series isn't over yet!

When we last saw Stevie, she had finally put all the pieces together and solved the Truly Devious murders. After her advisor just died in a freak house fire and two students died in horrible accidents...that may not have been accidents after all, she has solved at least one murder among the many and that is the oldest of them all.

But once again, despite the secrets amplifying, we seem to roll back into that "everyday life" mode before things can get interesting once again. We do get more flashbacks from the past, ones that shine an interesting and eye-opening light on the age-old mystery. These were definitely an intriguing factor and honestly, were my favorite parts of the series to date! It's here that we have serious buildup into the mystery from the past, one providing clues and answers that were ultimately shocking!

Back in the present, we have a dangerous storm that is about to hit the school, so the faculty has decided it's best to evacuate everyone to safety and continue the semester remotely. Stevie has just been trying to find the right time to tell the right person what she knows, but the timing is never right. Especially when, Hunter, her advisor's nephew, comes to stay at the school since he essentially has no place to live. If that didn't complicate things enough, Stevie is thrown into further shock when David returns...just as they are all about to evacuate. Instead he makes them an offer, stay here at the school and help him take down his father in his evil scheme of wanting to take over the country via presidency. Naturally, Stevie and her friends are all for it.

Things between Stevie and David remain ever complicated. They've both lied to one another and hurt the other, but yet, they can't seem to come to a reconcile. So in this one, we don't get that much romantic tension, more just tension that borders on something hostile. Not dangerously hostile, but you know that deeply uncomfortable kind of tension where there's something like loathing going on? That kind of hostility.

In the end, all mysteries are solved! Stevie figures out the whodunit to the past mystery and the current murder mysteries and what all transpired. Having just binged these books, I have to say I didn't really see the killer coming. It does make a kind of sense though, looking back as Stevie pieced it all together, but really, I felt like you could make that suspect anyone and it all would've made the same sense.

Now that I am halfway through the series to date, I have to say that I am enjoying it to some point. The mystery elements are always fun and engaging. I do love getting wrapped up in the mystery itself and including scenes from the past puts an interesting perspective on things. It's that in between time that stretches on for too long. Too much time is spent doing ordinary things and being ordinary. The story loses grip on the mystery element and just has a run of the mill basic day in a prestigious high school going on. I just wish the mysterious elements and the danger could play a longer role in the story. Less "ordinary" days and more mystery solving. But again, I will stipulate that this is a "me" issue and has nothing to do with the writing itself.

I am eager to see what mystery will come about for Stevie next now that things have changed by this one's end! I'm off to start the next one as soon as I can find the spare minute! This is a series I will be continuing despite only having feelings of like for it! It's still a good series read, but I had just hoped for a little more mystery and a little less contemporary lifestyles.

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars