The ending of a series is always sad. This was no exception for me when it came to reading The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson. This will always be one of my favorite YA Mystery series ever!
Thank you to
Fantastic Flying Book Club for letting me participate in this tour! Check out FFBC’s website to sign up to be a tour host!
About the Book
by Maureen Johnson
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: January 21st 2020
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Synopsis:
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.
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.
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Review
This series is one of my all time favorites and reading this last installment just sealed the deal for me. I listened to Truly Devious in a car full of girls on a road trip down to YallWest two years ago and none of us knew what we were in for. Keeping with the tradition we listened to The Vanishing Stair last year on our way down to YallWest and loved it even more.
This YA mystery is like no other. I love the duel timelines, the multiple murders, and the atmosphere of this old mansion that holds many many secrets. From the first book to the last you will fall in love with the characters and try piecing the mysteries together.
Stevie loves everything criminology and following the clues through book one and book two just get more intense for her. We got to venture outside of Ellingham academy in The Vanishing Stair but now we’re back at school but this time Stevie has even more clues to yet another possible murder. Stevie knows they’re all connected but now she has to piece together a missing persons case, four clear murders, and an “accidental” death. She has her work cut out for her but with her persistence the puzzle starts falling together.
I love the other characters in the book that are on board with helping Stevie throughout her investigation. David on the other hand, especially in The Hand on the Wall, becomes a bit of a jerk to her. I did struggle with his part of this last installment and I’m still unsure how I feel about him in the end.
This final book brings everything together and it was so much fun reading how everything comes together in the end. I am so glad I picked up the audio for all three books in this series because they are so well done. If you want to read a book that is reminiscent of the game Clue but with young people than I’d definitely recommend this series!
About Maureen
Maureen Johnson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of several YA novels, including 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Suite Scarlett, The Name of the Star, and Truly Devious. She has also done collaborative works, such as Let It Snow (with John Green and Lauren Myracle), and The Bane Chronicles (with Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan). Her work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Buzzfeed, and The Guardian, and she has also served as a scriptwriter for EA Games. She has an MFA in Writing from Columbia University and lives in New York City.
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Giveaway
Win a copy of THE HAND ON THE WALL by Maureen Johnson (US Only)
Starts: January 21, 2020
Ends: February 4, 2020
Rafflecopter Link HERE
Tour Schedule
January 21st
January 22nd
January 23rd
January 24th
Booked J – Review + Playlist + Favourite Quotes
January 25th
January 26th
January 27th
Life Within The Pages – Review
Instagram Tour Schedule
January 21st
January 22nd
January 23rd
January 24th
January 25th
January 26th
January 27th
The Clever Reader 
So glad you loved this one, too.
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