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itsheyfay's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Honestly not my favorite of the series, but I still love Nate, Janelle, and Vi, and Izzy was a great addition to the group.
But the main mystery was hard for me to stay engaged with and follow. There were too many variables and too many people, so the reveal (while some pieces of evidence made sense) didn’t feel gratifying. Plus, maybe I missed it, but there was no clear motive for the murders.
But the main mystery was hard for me to stay engaged with and follow. There were too many variables and too many people, so the reveal (while some pieces of evidence made sense) didn’t feel gratifying. Plus, maybe I missed it, but there was no clear motive for the murders.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail
callidoralblack's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
growintogardens's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The last book was so good, and then we're given this, which is the weakest of the series imo. The author does a pretty good job writing creepy mysteries (this one was ok), but honestly, the relationship between Stevie and David is almost enough for me to stop reading entirely. He's the woooorst.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Toxic friendship
tori2629's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
The 5th book about true-crime obsessed, detective prodigy Stevie Bell. While the actual mystery of this one felt maybe a little rushed I guess? I still enjoyed it a ton! I didn't exactly guess the whodunnit, but I rarely do, so to me it was a decent reveal. I love how the mysteries that Stevie is solving take place in different time periods. 1930s, 1970s, 1990s, its a good variety.
MJ is great at writing quirky but realistic characters, and she definitely knows her way around true crime so, I feel like she's really found her niche here!! I have enjoyed her writing before, I liked Shades of London, and my Sister in Law Loved Suite Scarlett, but she MJ has a bad habit of leaving a series on a cliff hanger and not getting back around to writing/publishing the last book... so.... Fingers crossed for Stevie Bell!!
I feel like I'm in the minority for actually liking David, but I'm also a super weirdo who likes Logan the best out of Rory's BFs on Gilmore Girls, so IDK. Maybe I have a just thing for a subtype of "Bad Boys" and it's "Rich Rebels" (I just thought of that now, go me.) He genuinely cares about Stevie, he knows he's not who he was "raised" to be, and he wants to prove it. He screwed up big time at the end, but he's also having a bit of an identity crisis. All of the characters are freaking out about the future in their own way, (except maybe Vi, who seems to be pretty chill about it.) Janelle is WAY overthinking it, and making spreadsheet after spreadsheet, Stevie is absolutely avoiding thinking about it as much as possible, and Nate is secretly stressing and not telling anyone that he might just be the most freaked out of all. David's way of dealing with it is to be an impulsive idiot. It all checks out. I'll be ok with it if things get resolved in the next book... *AHEM. MJ.*
MJ is great at writing quirky but realistic characters, and she definitely knows her way around true crime so, I feel like she's really found her niche here!! I have enjoyed her writing before, I liked Shades of London, and my Sister in Law Loved Suite Scarlett, but she MJ has a bad habit of leaving a series on a cliff hanger and not getting back around to writing/publishing the last book... so.... Fingers crossed for Stevie Bell!!
I feel like I'm in the minority for actually liking David, but I'm also a super weirdo who likes Logan the best out of Rory's BFs on Gilmore Girls, so IDK. Maybe I have a just thing for a subtype of "Bad Boys" and it's "Rich Rebels" (I just thought of that now, go me.) He genuinely cares about Stevie, he knows he's not who he was "raised" to be, and he wants to prove it. He screwed up big time at the end, but he's also having a bit of an identity crisis. All of the characters are freaking out about the future in their own way, (except maybe Vi, who seems to be pretty chill about it.) Janelle is WAY overthinking it, and making spreadsheet after spreadsheet, Stevie is absolutely avoiding thinking about it as much as possible, and Nate is secretly stressing and not telling anyone that he might just be the most freaked out of all. David's way of dealing with it is to be an impulsive idiot. It all checks out. I'll be ok with it if things get resolved in the next book... *AHEM. MJ.*
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood and Murder
Minor: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
stuckinatimeloop's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.0
the thing about these books is the characters don't have a lot of depth. they're likable, sure, but you don't form a connection with them really. they're just there. they have the potential to be something more, but the author focuses more on the plot. and that's not a bad thing, it's what makes these books likable because the plot is written well.
to me, books that have well written characters are more impactful and stay with me for longer. like a study in charlotte. amazing detective series with amazing characters.
i do like truly devious though. overall it's a fun teen detective series. i hope in the future books the characters get more development.
also nate fisher my aroace icon.
to me, books that have well written characters are more impactful and stay with me for longer. like a study in charlotte. amazing detective series with amazing characters.
i do like truly devious though. overall it's a fun teen detective series. i hope in the future books the characters get more development.
also nate fisher my aroace icon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Vomit
theespressoedition's review
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship
Minor: Sexual content
booksmoviesandstories's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
bookishgoob's review against another edition
lighthearted
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship
purrpurr's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
they came back and suddenly they are out of reach again. with that ending though, i am certain there will be another book. i just ........ need another one.
another spoiler warning for everything that follows.every truly devious book can be split into the mystery part and the personal part. the personal part was fine, great even but unfortunately this was the weakest book mystery-wise.
i loved the set up but if i may quote my notes: .... peter helped with the whiskey thats all im saying. and although i had many other hunches, this was kind of obvious from the first time it was stated. the fact peter yelled “i’m fine” after throwing up was also so suspicious. and although i loved the time jumps, it just made the whole story slower because stevie had to find everything out after the reader did. just like we could already figure that there was an important hint on one of the analogue pictures – it just took the characters so long to get to that.
so yeah, you could quickly cross out many suspects. for some reason i was instantly sure all the women were innocent. i LOVED sebastian, so i was simply praying he was innocent (and there was loads speaking for that so). oh, and julien was also a given. everyone dissed and disliked him, it would have been too obvious. which leaves yash and peter. the trauma poor yash probably has from this week. horrible. (thinking back to when my notes said: peter and yash <3 married haha guess not)
one more thing: did we find out what the button was? /gen
am i tripping right now or did stevie never tell us. i thought the button was code for the clothes peter had been wearing but i guess not. what was the button? if anyone paid enough attention, please enlighten me.
now we’ll get into the recurring characters. my darlings. although, maybe not in this book – looking at you stevie. i mean yes, lesson learned, but she was so mean and heartless to her friends a few times throughout the book. everything is david, david, david and where did that get you, huh, stevie? (they were NOT on a break, he is in the wrong).
while we have another david L, we have only nate Ws, obviously. except he spent 5K on collage applications, i guess. (i’m baffled this is a thing in the states). apropos being baffled about culture: stevie could have been a little less startled about british and european culture, i know she is smarter than this. shoutout to david though, who answered all her questions about behaviour patterns with “well, they’re british”.
HAPPY COMING OUT NATE ILU AND U DESERVE THE WORLD!
another spoiler warning for everything that follows.
i loved the set up but if i may quote my notes: .... peter helped with the whiskey thats all im saying. and although i had many other hunches, this was kind of obvious from the first time it was stated. the fact peter yelled “i’m fine” after throwing up was also so suspicious. and although i loved the time jumps, it just made the whole story slower because stevie had to find everything out after the reader did. just like we could already figure that there was an important hint on one of the analogue pictures – it just took the characters so long to get to that.
so yeah, you could quickly cross out many suspects. for some reason i was instantly sure all the women were innocent. i LOVED sebastian, so i was simply praying he was innocent (and there was loads speaking for that so). oh, and julien was also a given. everyone dissed and disliked him, it would have been too obvious. which leaves yash and peter. the trauma poor yash probably has from this week. horrible. (thinking back to when my notes said: peter and yash <3 married haha guess not)
one more thing: did we find out what the button was? /gen
am i tripping right now or did stevie never tell us. i thought the button was code for the clothes peter had been wearing but i guess not. what was the button? if anyone paid enough attention, please enlighten me.
now we’ll get into the recurring characters. my darlings. although, maybe not in this book – looking at you stevie. i mean yes, lesson learned, but she was so mean and heartless to her friends a few times throughout the book. everything is david, david, david and where did that get you, huh, stevie? (they were NOT on a break, he is in the wrong).
while we have another david L, we have only nate Ws, obviously. except he spent 5K on collage applications, i guess. (i’m baffled this is a thing in the states). apropos being baffled about culture: stevie could have been a little less startled about british and european culture, i know she is smarter than this. shoutout to david though, who answered all her questions about behaviour patterns with “well, they’re british”.
HAPPY COMING OUT NATE ILU AND U DESERVE THE WORLD!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent, Outing, and Toxic friendship