Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

39 reviews

bookb1itch's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A Most Excellent end to a brilliant series.  I'm looking forward to recommending this to readers of "Good Girl's guide..." and "inheritance games".  I really liked the Stevie Bell character and her friendships were believable.  Loved the switch between 1930s and present-day, as well as the use of press clippings and podcasts. a very engaging mystery.  Highly recommended!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Infidelity and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, and Pregnancy

emmajh91's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

bumblingbee03's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rylin_marie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

omggggg i love this series !!!

okay so for a while i shipped stevie and david, then stevie and nate, then stevie and hunter, and then overall picked david. 

the ellingham family is so dear to my heart i love them. and dottie epstein !! they all deserved sm better my heart breaks for them all. 

the only thing that annoys me is the stereotyping. this book automatically assumed all republicans are bad and racist and sexist which def isn’t true. i get there are DEFINITELY some people (not just republicans) like that and its completely disgusting bhr just assuming they all are is kinda annoying ? 

(if we’re being so fr i hated david for like 99% of the series and tbh im still not a huge fan 😭)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

blewballoon's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It's hard to talk about this one without spoiling anything, I tried to avoid even reading the synopsis of these books after I started the first one and I think that's the best way to go into it. I know this isn't the true end of the series, but this book is a good stopping point if you get this far and don't immediately want to continue (which is the case for me). Overall I did enjoy this mystery and the eclectic mix of characters involved. I enjoyed the chapters from the past and then seeing the information there reflected in the present. If you are looking for a YA mystery/thriller with a romance that only kind of gets in the way, I would recommend this. There are some slightly more graphic passages dealing with deaths, especially in the parts of the story that take place in the past, but it's usually from characters describing what they experienced and the reader is just filling in the blanks.

I did figure out who was responsible for the present day deaths, but only a little bit before the reveal. I had considered a variety of suspects and I was actually really glad it wasn't some of the people I thought it might be. I think the ending was satisfying, although I wish the guilty party hadn't gone out the way they did.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, and Vomit

kawaii_rose's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Sexual content

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

A satisfying but not overly pat resolution to the mystery! Not a lot of David! MOOSE!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death of parent

themoodreader's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

bzliz's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

It’s nice to see this mystery come to a close with Stevie and her crew coming out relatively unscathed. The characters are generally secondary to the plot and don’t see a lot of personal growth. 

I can’t even begin to sum up the events of the book without giving away major plot points so check the following spoilers if you want to know whodunnit:
<spoilers>”Call me Charles” aka Stevie’s advisor is the culprit behind the deaths and accidents at the school. Alice’s body was found while tunnels were being filled in but as a member of the faculty he couldn’t claim the reward. He used dry ice to make a tunnel deadly and lured Hayes there presumably after Hayes heard him conspiring with his accomplice, leading to the death in the first book. Ellie- after Stevie accused her of being the brains behind Hayes’ show- said some things that make Charles nervous so when she ran, he blocked her into the tunnel where she eventually died, giving us death number two. Dr. Fenton was the accomplice and became Stevie’s advisor at Charles’ hand. When Fenton stopped going along with the plan and gave Stevie a warning that Alice was at the school, Charles turned on the gas burner in her kitchen and she died in the resulting fire- death #3. 

He got Fenton’s nephew to come stay at the school since he still needed a partner who wasn’t faculty but thanks to David’s return and desire to destroy his father’s campaign- Stevie and her crew didn’t evacuate like the rest of the students and he couldn’t bring Hunter in on his scheme. 

As Stevie grandstands and explains this all to her crew, Charles, and the remaining faculty, Larry is scanning the walls of the second floor looking for where Charles hid Alice’s body. They find it and Charles tries to escape which leads to a steep fall and his own demise. 

Ultimately, David is able to crumble his father’s campaign & Stevie has solved the case. She even decides not to come forward with evidence of Alice’s birth parents and adoption when the body’s DNA doesn’t match the Ellinghams.

So many things happen in this that it would be impossible to sum it all up. I do wish some of the discoveries here had made it into the previous books so it didn’t all come crashing together right at the end but I suppose that’s what you get with YA mysteries. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

laurenevlyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Amazing book. Amazing series. Amazing conclusion. The Truly Devious Series is a mystery masterpiece and The Hand on the Wall is an amazing ending to the Ellington case. I can’t wait to read the next two as soon as possible!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail