'The Hand on the Wall (Truly Devious, #3)' by Maureen Johnson - Review

Synopsis: 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. (Amazon)

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Publication Date: January 21, 2020
Genre: Mystery / YA
Rating: 4 stars

I was nineteen-years-old when I read Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None for the first time, and I am eternally grateful to my uncle for suggesting it to me.  Since then, I recommend it to everyone who's a book lover.  I get mixed responses on that recommendation: “But I don't like mystery.”  Read And Then There Were None.  Trust me.  “The book was published so long ago, is it even any good?”  Read it (Also, why does the book's age matter?)  “Ugh, a book about people stuck in a house?  Does anything even happen?”  What doesn't happen in that house!  Read it and find out.  

No matter the argument, the novel is still worth the reader's time.  Even if it's just to experience the author's talent.

The Truly Devious trilogy brought to mind all of the cozy, warm, indulgent vibes that reading Christie's masterpiece gave me years ago.  Coming to the end of The Hand on the Wall was bittersweet.

Stevie Bell has joined the ranks of my favorite fictional characters.  Stevie, with her anxiety, and her obsession with mysteries and crime, and her ability to just zone the world out while she works a whodunit problem in her head.  She led this story so well, and seeing her during the last few chapters of The Hand on the Wall, among the others in that Great House, personifying her own version of the incredible Hercule Poirot to bring forth the culprit and present her case just made me...proud.  

Maureen Johnson's subtle little way of bringing together ten people and sticking them into a house in the middle of a blizzard while a murderer roamed free and they're cut off from everyone else outside of the school was the ideal ode to a classic.

From the get-go, we've wanted to know what happened to Alice Ellingham.  That has been everyone's goal—both those in-story and the readers'.  I wasn't surprised to find out what Alice's outcome really was, though it was still heartbreaking.  George Marsh's punishment did not come in the form of Albert and what he did to the two of them on that boat.  Marsh's punishment was in finding his own daughter.

There is so much sneaking, so many lies, so much weaving to get through so that one finds the truth.  But Johnson did a good job of slowly untangling the web for us.  That's why mysteries are so much fun: you start at the confounding problem laid out before you, and little by little work your way back to the beginning, learning all the facts as you go.

My only complaint from these novels, including the last, is that the pacing is now and again off.  Something detracts from the main story that leaves you thinking “Was that really necessary?”  In this one, it was the whole debacle with King.  It's a nice addition to the overall plot, and it ties up things with at least one character (David, in this case) but it makes you go over this hiccup mid-storytelling that interrupts the otherwise smooth flow.  It wrapped up well in the end, but the intrusion of it was not well-placed.

Characters are exceptional—I wish I would've had a Nate and Janelle in my life at Stevie's age—the reveal of our modern-day murderer was incredibly satisfying to find (although ever so slightly anti-climatic, again, I feel that this was due to pacing), and the setting...  In a story like this, setting is everything.  Ellingham Academy with its twists and turns, its history, and how far away from the rest of the world it is, could not have been a better choice.  It's a playground for a riddle of this caliber.

I'm going to miss these books, but it was well worth the wait to come to a close in this story.

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