Review—The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

 

All Stevie Bell wanted was to find the key to the Ellingham mystery, but instead she found her classmate dead. And while she solved that murder, the crimes of the past are still waiting in the dark. Just as Stevie feels she’s on the cusp of putting it together, her parents pull her out of Ellingham academy.

For her own safety they say. She must move past this obsession with crime. Now that Stevie’s away from the school of topiaries and secret tunnels, and her strange and endearing friends, she begins to feel disconnected from the rest of the world. At least she won’t have to see David anymore. David, who she kissed. David, who lied to her about his identity—son of despised politician Edward King. Then King himself arrives at her house to offer a deal: He will bring Stevie back to Ellingham immediately. In return, she must play nice with David. King is in the midst of a campaign and can’t afford his son stirring up trouble. If Stevie’s at school, David will stay put.

The tantalizing riddles behind the Ellingham murders are still waiting to be unraveled, and Stevie knows she’s so close. But the path to the truth has more twists and turns than she can imagine—and moving forward involves hurting someone she cares for. In New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson’s second novel of the Truly Devious series, nothing is free, and someone will pay for the truth with their life.

Diving straight into Maureen Johnson’s The Vanishing Stair was a breeze since I just finished the first book. Things were a little more intriguing in this one and yet I still felt a bit bogged down by too much “everyday events.” The air of mystery is a bit thicker this time, yet it still takes a little too long to get into it all as there was a lot of ordinary life to sift through. But still I persevere!

We pick up shortly where we left off, except a few weeks have gone by and Stevie was sadly pulled out of school by her parents who thought it was unsafe. But then Edward King, David’s father, her parents’ boss, man wanting to run for president l, offers her the deal of a lifetime: return to Ellingham Academy and watch out for David. David had been acting out and King thinks her presence might help soothe and tame him.

Back at school, everyone is abuzz about Ellie and how she likely killed Hayes and has now gone on the run and no one can find her. David asks for Stevie’s help in trying to look for clues in Ellie’s room as to where she might have gone. He’s worried about his friend and just wants her to be safe. 

Stevie is also given an assignment to work with an author of an Ellingham case book. Fenton is a bit scatter-brained but is highly intelligent and knows her stuff. Stevie is thrilled to be working with someone who’s obsessed with the case as she is. 

Then we have an interesting set of flashbacks that present new suspects in the actual Ellingham case! I found this part to be most intriguing and honestly these segments only continue to build!

By the end, we’re left with answers and questions. While it felt like we were breaking ground into getting Ellingham answers and answers to the current events we only got a little before things blew out of proportion and we were left with more questions!

The pacing this time was a little better than the previous book but there were a few too many “ordinary” interludes where the mystery was set aside for just basic life. It did make those chapters drag a bit but the mystery wasn’t left alone for long.

As for the developing relationship between Stevie and David, well these two have a lot of issues to work through. They both have their faults and yet they are still drawn to the other. It will definitely be interesting to see what happens between these two as the series goes on. They are a bit like Veronica and Logan from Veronica Mars, they both have problems but things are electric between them. If only they both stopped keeping secrets!

In the end, The Vanishing Stair definitely held my interest more than its predecessor. The mystery element wasn’t as strong, but the prevailing secrets only continued to grow! There’s still so much we don’t really know about everything and we continue to hit roadblocks on those answers. Time will only tell when the truth will be revealed on all the mysteries and I am looking forward to the journey!

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars