Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

32 reviews

elsebeok's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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mlhanson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

4.0


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bzliz's review against another edition

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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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liesthemoontells's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? Yes

3.75


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maggiegirouard's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

really good, I actually wasn’t able to predict pretty much anything that happened which normally I can, so that was exciting because I genuinely had no idea what was going to happen next, which made it fast-paced and quick to read. Clever, interesting how all the details connected and worked out. Really good representation of anxiety. Some really good, well-written, original lines. Personally I think this was the best of the 3. 

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esterslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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bieni2503's review against another edition

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funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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mariposa517's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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hkburke2's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

He's where all the action is! The build up in the first two books comes all together here. The relationship felt more forced in this one, but otherwise a delight. 

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r_lynn13's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Such a good series. Everything was tied up in a believable bow. I cannot wait to read the companion books. 

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