Book Review: Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson
Stevie Bell is back with another mystery, and I’m so excited to review Nine Liars for you guys. Maureen Johnson has given us another thrilling and entertaining mystery to wrap up 2022.
Book Information
Stevie is starting to feel panicked. She hasn’t thought about college yet even though it’s her senior year. David is in London. She doesn’t have a case. That leaves her with nothing. That is, until David invites her and their friends to London for a week studying abroad. Stevie is ecstatic to be able to spend time with David until she meets David’s closest friend, Izzy.
Izzy intimidates Stevie. David seems to get too close to her and Stevie can’t help but to be jealous. Izzy, though, thinks Stevie can help solve a murder that’s been plaguing her aunt for years. As Stevie gets deeper into this case, it threatens not only her relationship with her friends, but her relationship with David as well. And things might never be the same again.
Review | Heidi Dischler
I’ve got a lot to say about this book. First, it was way better than The Box in the Woods, in my opinion. I will have to get into spoilers for Nine Liars because I can’t help myself, but first I’ll talk about all the good things without spoiling the book.
So, the writing, as always, is superb. The mystery was woven together so well that I’m pretty sure Maureen Johnson was born to write about murders. The only real problem I had with it was it was such a slow start. I didn’t feel super invested in the mystery until more than halfway through the book. Once I got invested, though, I was hooked until the end. I also didn’t guess who the murderer was, which was pretty nice.
Obviously we’re back with the same fun characters as before. I love David but I especially love all things Stevie. Yes, sometimes she’s toxic and makes monumentally bad decisions, but she is unapologetically herself and is a BADASS. I love her for it.
Like I said earlier, my only huge qualm with this novel is how slow the mystery started and was paced. Everything interesting happened in the last part of the book. But, now, we have to talk about the spoilers!!
Spoilers ahead.
Okay. Please tell me I am not the only one who sat here this whole time reading Nine Liars and thinking it was Sebastian. I don’t know what it was about him, but I was legit suspicious of him the whole entire time. Not once did Peter cross my mind as the killer.
Also, to keep this review within a reasonable length, I have one more thing to say. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH MAUREEN JOHNSON? Seriously?? That ending??? I can’t just sit here for another year not knowing how things go with Stevie and David. I’m just so… unreasonably angry. All I’m saying is that the next book better come out sooner rather than later.
Overall, this book was the perfect cozy mystery for Christmas break and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even though it took me a little longer to get through this than I’d hoped (anyone else still wrapped up in Christmas get-togethers??), it was still a really great read and won’t disappoint those who loved Truly Devious and the rest of the series.
Source: Personal Copy
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