Book Tour
I am so excited to be hosting a tour for one of my most anticipated books of 2022! See my review at the very end.
The Basics
Book Title: Nine Liars (Truly Devious #5)
Author: Maureen Johnson
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: December 27, 2022
Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/60495147
Book Purchase link:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Liars-Truly-Devious-Maureen-Johnson/dp/0063032651
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nine-liars-maureen-johnson/1141291506
Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Nine-Liars-Maureen-Johnson/9780063032651?ref=grid-view&qid=1671807158984&sr=1-1
Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/978006303265
Book Description
Senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie Bell isn’t going well. Her boyfriend, David, is studying in London. Her friends are obsessed with college applications. With the cold case of the century solved, Stevie is adrift. There is nothing to distract her from the questions pinging around her brain—questions about college, love, and life in general.
Relief comes when David invites Stevie and her friends to join him for study abroad, and his new friend Izzy introduces her to a double-murder cold case. In 1995, nine friends from Cambridge University went to a country house and played a drunken game of hide-and-seek. Two were found in the woodshed the next day, murdered with an ax.
The case was assumed to be a burglary gone wrong, but one of the remaining seven saw something she can’t explain. This was no break-in. Someone’s lying about what happened in the woodshed.
Seven suspects. Two murders. One killer still playing a deadly game.
Author Bio
Maureen Johnson is the #1 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 (now on Netflix), and several works in the Shadowhunter universe with Cassandra Clare. 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.
Author Links:
https://www.instagram.com/maureenjohnsonbooks/
https://www.facebook.com/maureenjohnsonbooks
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10317.Maureen_Johnson
My Review
I have loved the Truly Devious series and own all the copies. So when I tell you that I was so excited to read this one, it comes from an honest place. Stevie is now moody, and at times bratty, throwing mini-fits because she can’t be with her boyfriend, David, since he is in England. So she manipulates her professor to allow her to travel with her friends for educational purposes.
And of course they stumble upon a murder situation that happened many years before. So Stevie becomes obsessive about solving it before they leave the country, and the time starts to run out.
While Stevie is the most basic of basic teenagers because she lacks social skills, she is, in a sense, all of us. I felt like I really related to her because I am awkward and have never met a puzzle I didn’t want to solve. So this book flew by and I devoured it. And then, the ending… cliffhanger and made me so angry. This was not because I hated the ending, but because I loved the characters and something happens that caused me to not only wish I had the next installment immediately, but was so deeply disappointed in some choices that were made.
So yes, I liked this book. And if you like mysteries and young adult books, you probably should start from the beginning.