Pages: 369
Genre: young adult mystery
My thoughts
Rating out of five: four stars
At the start of the book I really felt the heaviness of it being the third one, in that it felt both a bit much of the same setup, setting and storyline. But that quickly faded as the plot really picked up speed and Maureen Johnson impressed me by how she managed to tie up everything around the multiple and connected murder mysteries these three books has followed. It takes turns, it brings dramatic scenes while seamlessly switching between the past mysteries and the present ones. There is some less focus on the characters’ personalities than previously, but it feels natural because Stevie is so obsessed with finally figuring everything out and is isolating herself. It’s written in this perfect way of showing how everyone around her at the boarding school is working on their projects and overcoming their griefs, but we only see glimses of what’s around her because Stevie is most of the time too much in her own head to pay attention. Still, for those reasons, it doesn’t have the same bright moments in between the murders as the previous books had.
The lack of David (which is the main romantic lead) for most of the novel was also explained with great care when it all came down to it, which played well into the focus and creating different tensions in Stevie’s life. She and David has hurt each other with playing into the hands of outside forces like David’s far-right politician dad (who aspires to become president). It showed in how cruel they at points are to each other, without removing the chance of redemption, which is a well-balanced feat. Some people seem to hate this romance, but it does feel like their problems is caused by personal differences and past betrayals more so than “hating each other” or lacking chemistry. In general, the characters of these books have always been very good at their thing (which got them into this special boarding school), but not been the most all-round likeable characters, which I’m personally very fine with. When it comes down to it everything in this book has the backdop of power and money, which ties the nearly fantastical stories Stevie is uncovering to a familiar reality.
I realized the next book in the series is the some of the same cast, but a new story and setting, which is exciting!
aquapages 