The Hand on the Wall audiobook

They say: “Third time is a charm” and when I agree: because third book of the series is the BEST WRITTEN, RIVETING, EXCITING, ENTERTAINING, A GREAT TRIBUTE TO AGATHA CHRISTIE BOOKS!The weakest thing about Truly Devious series is lack of adorable, likable characters but you slowly get used to their quirkiness, strange antics and their asocial manners. Stevie is adorably weird, introvert, die-hard fan of crime thriller podcasts, cold cases from the past (I’m not talking about younger version of myself. This is Stevie!) and Alice Ellingham’s kidnapping case is her big obsession that slowly gnaws at her. (Yes she cannot take a shower, wearing same clothes every day) I also loved Nate from the beginning who is also socially disturbed, geek but he wrote a book and made so much money, of course he is my favorite. And asshole David gets disappeared at the nearly end of the second novel. He already earned too many punching me against the face and keep on doing for days points from me! And yes, at this new book, he was still pretentious douchebag and treating Stevie so mean and unfair. But he gets jealous, spying on Hunter and Stevie like a hawk and follow Stevie at everywhere. I wanted to scream at his face: “Make a decision! Do you hate or like her?”The strongest thing about the book: The mystery behind Alice’s kidnapping and how it reflects the future of Ellingham Academy and the weird murder cases. ( yes, there are three murders now) At the second book Stevie solved the mystery and she thought she found whodunit but guess what: there are so many secret layers and missing pieces of the puzzle. As we resume our reading the results were so surprising and unforeseen! So now there is snow storm, the school is closed, everybody will be sent to their homes. Of course Stevie doesn’t want to go because leaving Ellingham Academy means she will return back her miserable life and her terrible anxiety attacks. Then a miracle happens, asshole David comes back with stolen tablets from his father’s office to find some dirt against his campaign and he needs help of his friends (let’s say classmates because I’m not sure this cocky boy carries any kind of friendly genes.) and he presents it like a weekend mountain hideout! Vi: Janelle’s girlfriend intrigued because Vi doesn’t want douchebag David’s evil douchebag father to become their president. Best friend Nate stays because of Stevie. Hunter has nowhere to go and Janelle reluctantly stays because of girlfriend. So yes, they hid in the school to solve the mystery. They cannot go anywhere and there is a murderer still out there. Oh actually, he or she is actually in the academy with them and guess what….Nooooo, you’re gonna read and learn what happens next.I had entertaining time. This book was real unputdownable, mysterious, captivating and the better ending of the trilogy. And you know what: I think I’d love to read more adventures of Stevie! Finally I learned to love her and her quirky lovely friends. I gave first book : 3 starsSecond book was much better: 4 starsThird book: 4.25 (yes asshole David ate 0.75 points! And poor Stevie has real crush on him!)Overall: Two mysteries from past and present intertwined impeccably. Fast pacing, enjoyable, Hercule Poirot-ish, riveting YA adult mystery. I highly recommend it to genre fans.bloginstagramfacebooktwitter

Yet another accident happens in Ellingham Academy. A massive storm is also heading towards Vermont. So they decide to evacuate the school. But Stevie chose to stay on the mountain to face the storm to solve the case. Will she able to solve this flummoxing case amid the downright macabre of the past and the present? This book will give you the answer. What I learned from this book 1) The money-empathy gap Money is indispensable in everyone's life. It provides food, dress, shelter for the poor, medicines for the sick, and peace of mind for those living paycheck to paycheck. But money also has a negative side to it. Wealth can make some people selfish and stingy. However, the trend is slowly changing nowadays. The wealthy people like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are participating in the Giving pledge campaign to change the overall outlook of philanthropy. Stevie, in some way, is an embodiment of the perspective of the newer generation towards money. “It wasn’t about the money.” 2) Embracing information sharing in the 21st century. In the 21st century, many people are ready to share anything for gaining attention unabashedly. Privacy has become a blague both online and offline. We can see Maureen Johnson explaining about privacy through one of her characters "I would rather eat bees than share her tender inner being with anyone else—she didn't even want to share it with herself." 3) A terrible illusion that will make you a puppet. Anxiety is a terrible illusion that has the propensity to shatter your life. The author mentions anxiety in multiple parts with so much alacrity so that the mental acumen of the readers will be altered positively. The best part of it is that she never sounds sanctimonious at any part of this novel. "Anxiety, her therapist had told her many times, never killed anyone. It felt like death, but it was an illusion. A terrible illusion that inhabited your body and tried to make it its puppet. It told you nothing mattered because everything was made of fear. Anxiety does not ask your permission. Anxiety does not come when expected. It's very rude. It barges in at the strangest moments, stopping all activity, focusing everything on itself. It sucks the air out of your lungs and scrambles the world." My favourite three lines from this book “Every contact leaves a trace.” “The wonderful thing about reality is that it is highly flexible. One minute, all is doom; the next, everything is abloom with possibility.” “Are you trying to make me have an emotion?...Because I've spent my whole life learning how to repress and deflect, and you're kind of ruining my thing" What could have been better? The irony of this series is that some of the readers loved the story happening in the present while some liked the one which occurred in the past. But not everyone loved both the stories concurrently. There is a probability that the astute critics will point out the defects in the anachronistic way the author vacillates between two time periods while the supporters will say that both are intertwined in a convincing manner. The ending of this book is good but could have been way much better, and some readers will be disappointed by it. Rating 4/5 There is a chance that you will love this series even if you are someone who abhors YA fiction and scathingly attacks it regularly. It is because of the amazing experience it will give you while you read it. After a promising start and world-building, the author faltered slightly in the second and third books. Still, I will recommend these three books to everyone who loves to read a good mystery.

I was warned The Vanishing Stair ended on a cliffhanger. Did it stop me from finishing it in a few days? NO AND I REGRET NOTHING AND REGRET EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME!!!! FFFFFFFUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Update 1/21/20Rating 5 StarsGot to have this for the holiday weekend and wow...what a fucking ride. I didn't want a second of it to end. More review to come I think I just need to go sob in the corner for a while...

Here's my 5 🌟 parts of the trilogy:✨The 2nd half of the 1st book✨The whole of the 2nd book (minus David, of course)✨The first half of the 3rd bookWell, it's worth binge reading! And it's so interesting and fast paced that you won't take much time reading each book (don't get fooled by the number of pages!).Why the last one is not a perfect 5 🌟 read for me:I still couldn't stand David and Stevie together. The romance was so out of place. And I simply couldn't understand why the author tried to force some 5 or 6 chapters in the later half unnecessarily dragging the plot. The mystery is not much of a brainer. It feels like it's been there all along. It failed to blow my mind and hair away. But somehow it's okay. It's not a big issue when the characters are this lively, the plot is built thick with details and the ending always satisfying with a sense of closure. Basically, I would have loved it more if the romance was between Nate and...(ok, I won't talk about this. Better write a fanfic or something 🙄)I just couldn't get enough of Albert Ellington of the 1930s and Nate of the 2010s. One made me lose my mind and the other made me pee laugh.I wish there were more parts of Nate. In the dragging chapters and the few important chapters where almost every other character was there, Nate was forgotten. It was just not fair. (My review writing skills have gone nil I can sense it☝️ but a reader has to say what she has to say as she got unnecessarily attached to a few characters)Stevie, the main character; the true crime fanatic; the compulsive reader; the one with anxiety; the one who made the trilogy possible: I liked her for her undying commitment till the end. Somehow I don't feel anything for her.(Am I a robot?)No. It's just that I liked the 4-5 villains in the story much more. They appeared more real and human to me. The side characters were amazing. It's just that the two main characters lacked the X factor for me. I liked the dirty secrets of the high society of the past as well as the present happening in the books much more than the actual murder mysteries. Overall, it's a very well developed plot.The humour parts are well done. Every scene with Nate is worth it!Another most favourite character has been Janelle. She's smart, realistic, geeky, outspoken and openly in a GL relationship with Vi. She is just dynamic.I appreciate the moments of our two main characters making stupid decisions together in the last book. I feel like Stevie loses her sense of intuition/decision making whenever she is with David. (I even thought of rating this book a three star because of a few chapters having them which seemed quite forced and unnecessary.)But the villains saved the day!Omg!What a ride! For me, the second book's still the BEST✨

"My moose," she said in a low voice. "I finally got it. The universe paid me in moose." omg what kind of ending was that loll I love that😂Yes, Stevie, you finally got to see a moving branch moose.I told myself going into this, that I would be paranoid of every single person in this book (minus the original crew). Yet even doing that, I still didn't expect a certain someone to be behind all of this from the beginning???I keep this saying, but I really do suck at detective work.Stevie is the real deal here. Imagine having the guts to confront someone who may be a murderer of countless victims.cant relateAnd I really don't like David. Like from the first book he annoyed me and now after reading this.....well, my opinion hasn't changed.💀Je n'aime pas David.Honestly though, this 3-book case was really amazing. Who knew that such tiny events could lead up to something so huge???That being said, to be honest, I was more interested in the past events then the present. Towards the end is when all the big reveals happened which is when I got really hooked, but the mystery surrounding Alice and the kidnappers of her and her mom got me super absorbed with how things would unfold. Oh and Nate forever remains my one and only favourite character in this series. Stevie, Janelle, ad Vi were really likable too, but nobody, and I mean nobody can top Nate🥺I did not and will never like the romantic relationship between David and Stevie. To be honest, I don't even think this series needed any romance or anything. David could've stayed as the annoying and jerkish friend he was, although he did redeem himself a little at the end...but I still don't like him.My favourite parts of course included Nate, although he didn't appear that much throughout the novel *sobbing* omg but I loved this scene: “Fun fact," Stevie said, trying to lighten the mood in the vast, gloomy space. "This fireplace? Henry the Eighth had one just like it, in Hampton Court. Albert Ellingham had an exact copy made.""Fun fact," Nate replied, "Henry the Eighth killed two of his wives. Who wants a murderer's fireplace?""I'm not sure, but that's the name of my new game show.” Another thing I loved was the way Maureen Johnson put in anxiety. Stevie had anxiety that would come out randomly, but she still didn't let that stop her from solving a murder case or define who she was. The anxiety rep was done so well this whole series. I love Stevie so much.😌 🛑WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW🛑 .....First thing that shocked me was that Alice's father was GEORGE MARSH. The guy who set up this whole case!!!! The guy who caused so much suffering!!! That's such a cruel twist of fate. I did not feel bad for him AT ALL when he found out that he'd gotten his own daughter (along with Iris) kidnapped just for money.Poor Alice for having such a terrible biological father :' (Oh and ALICE BEING FOUND DEAD??!!! omgg just wow😭 All my theories were totally off since they all involved her being secretly alive all this time, but just really old. I even at one point thought that maybe she's the one behind all the present day murders to get revenge or something.🤷‍♀️ loll I was so wrong.It was so sad though omg. Alice was only a kid and she had to go through all of that kidnapping and in the end....she dies from Measles in an isolated area with a family she's never known :(George Marsh, you are a cruel, cruel man. Albert Ellingham should've given you a more painful death than the one you got.And again, I love how I was literally suspicious of ALMOST EVERYONE (especially the nice ones), yet I completely ignored Call Me Charles thinking he was too nice to have anything to do with these murders. Turns out that he IS the culprit in the end.Charles was the behind the scenes guy killing Hayes, Ellie, and Fenton in a way that made it look like an accident but was really him making these 'accidents'. I really didn't think of him as being an evil mastermind, even though by now I should know otherwise. It's always the nice-looking ones.👀..... 🛑SPOILERS END HERE🛑 One more thing before I finish. I absolutely LOVED it when Trump Replica's Edward King's running for president was completely blown apart when David (hey, and he actually did something really useful👍) destroyed all the blackmailing files Edward had over some of the people who supported him. Once that was gone, King was ruined and had to pull out of his campaigning for president. Thank youuu David

To quote the best character in this series:“ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME HAVE AN EMOTION???”If you are like me and while you enjoyed the first two books in the series, you were kind of bored through most of it: I urge you to pick this up!First, you get the satisfaction of finishing a series, seeing it through to the end. Second - this one actually had me on the edge of my seat for more than just the cliffhanger!Stayed up until 2:30AM to see it through and am now sitting at my work desk at 7:25AM, clutching a cup of coffee for dear life, but not regretting my life choices.

Wish this series would continue on, but still love how it ended overall.

Somewhat sad that Stevie has finally solved the case of the century, I really enjoyed the Truly Devious trilogy. The Hand on the Wall wraps things up...not "nicely" but pretty much what a Maureen Johnson fan expects: no disappointments.

2020...... i could be dead by then stevie will have to solve MY murder————-3/09/2020: 3.5 rounded to 4 (WHEN will goodreads let us have half stars??!!!!!!)a solid ending to this trilogy, even if i a) didn’t really remember anything from before and b) had it figured out about halfway through.

Now that is how you end a series. I mean honestly each book got better and the number of reveals in this last book still has me stunned. I wish this story didn’t have to end, I undeniably love Ellingham Academy and all of the characters. The mystery was spectacular and I had absolutely no idea whatsoever throughout the whole book who the culprit was. If I had to describe The Hand on the Wall I would use riveting, amazing, entertaining, a wild ride, and a masterpiece. At the end of The Vanishing Stair we are left with Stevie somewhat solving the Ellingham murder case. Wrong. The amount of detail and layers this mystery has is amazing, not to mention the 1936 murder and the murders that are happening present day intertwine is mind blowing. I can’t express to you how utterly shocked I am at how much was revealed and the fact that I had no idea about any of it. In the final installment we follow Stevie at Ellingham, but during a huge blizzard that has the school evacuated. Of course, Stevie stays with Nate, David, Vi, Janelle, and some of the school professors. It’s honestly a bit creepy knowing all of this is going on when the power is out, there is literally a blizzard dropping feet of snow, and a murderer could potentially be on the loose.One of the reasons I love this book so much is because of Stevie and her friends. Stevie is weird, but in a good way, quirky, and loves her crimes and mysteries. Even though everyone around her thinks she is a bit delusional for trying to solve this case, she never gives up. She is such a relatable character and I mean I love how peculiar and strange all the other characters are. “Stevie would rather eat bees than share her tender inner being with anyone else – she didn’t even want to share it with herself.” I mean that not only made me laugh, but I completely agree with Stevie and I just love her.The biggest part of this is obviously the mystery, and still I’m sitting here trying to process the ending. It was just such a mind shocker that I’m still processing everything. This series has one of the best who-dun-it aspects. Thank you, Maureen Johnson, for writing such a masterpiece.

4 starstrigger warnings:drugs, drinking, alcoholism, violence, death, anxiety, panic attacksthis was definitely the best one in the series!!! the characters were great, the mystery was captivating, and the reveal was shocking. i am still not a huge fan of the romance, but the rest of the book was amazing. i have a lot more to say, so i will write a real review eventually, but for now, enjoy these quotes by the love of my life and the best character in this book, nathanial fisher:"i am out of ideas and need to conserve my energy so i can freak out more effectively.""i got nowhere to be. might as well. whats a few years in federal prison?""im trying to figure out if this is the stupidest thing ive ever done... i dont think it is, and that worries me.""i hate this. im leaving.""this is like being on one of those trips to mount everest. you know, the ones with the ten percent death rate and half the landmarks are frozen bodies.""are you trying to make me have an emotion? because ive spent my whole life learning how to repress and deflect and youre kinda ruining my thing."nate is my spirt animal.also i lied im probably not going to write a real review to this because thats a lot of work. you can go read my reviews for the other two books in this trilogy here and here.happy holidays everyone!my reviews for:book one: truly deviousbook two: the vanishing stairbook three: the hand on the wall

I DEEPLY love this series. I feel like so many aspects of so many characters felt like home. Even the setting felt like home! I do not think it is a perfect mystery, and I don't think the characters have perfect relationships, but it's real in a messy life kinda way.

what a fantastic finale to the truly devious trilogy! i was definitely smiling at that last line. i’m so glad i read this in january because this was the perfect cozy winter mystery. as always, i loved the academic setting, the quirky cast of characters (nate was my favorite), and the mystery of the ellingham case. i can officially say that this is one of my comfort series! 🌨🍂🫶🏼

yep this is one of my fav series of all time. i need the next book to come out right now.“Let her have her moose.”stop😭