25 Jan 2020

Blog Tour: The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson – Review and Giveaway!

Posted in Blog Tour, Giveaways |

The Hand on the Wall

Author: Maureen Johnson

Series: Truly Devious #3

Publication Date: January 21st, 2020

Publisher: HarperCollins

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.

I absolutely loved the first two books in this series, so I was super excited to read the conclusion! Along with a stunning cover (seriously, all three of these look so awesome together), this book fits in so well with the rest, making it such a wonderfully chilling and mysterious trilogy.

It took me a while to read the first two books – I actually only picked them up recently, but when I did read them, I read them both in three days. They were super unputdown-able, and I was hoping that The Hand on the Wall was going to be much the same.

It was. I finished this one up in a day. I think I took maybe two short breaks while I was reading this, because it was just so good and I didn’t want to stop reading.

You know how sometimes the first book in a series is amazing, the second one is okay, and the third one is just kind of ‘meh?’ Yeah, that is not the case here. This book was every bit as amazing as the first book in the series, and the second one, too. They were just all so incredible, chilling, and electrifying that they are going to earn a spot on my favorites shelf.

This book has the same stunning writing and detail-oriented characters, plots, and setting that we are used to, which is incredible to me. I love when authors continue to write their books in such a great way all through the series. While I don’t want to discuss it in detail because it is the conclusion, but I do want to emphasize on how amazing this whole trilogy is.

This book was such a satisfying conclusion that really fit in well with the rest of it. It felt like I was reading one long novel, since I read all three books so close together.

Definitely don’t miss this series – especially if you are a fan of mysteries and thrillers!

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

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.