Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson

55 reviews

audreylj's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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itsheyfay's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

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paronomaniac's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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baksaydora's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I liked this one too. It was a little slow for me, and I still think the romance is unnecessary. 
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simply_fran's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Didn't feel like it was playing fair...
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m4rtt4's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

this was... okay, but a huge disappointment after the Truly Devious Trilogy.
Johnson made Stevie dream of being like Hercule Poirot, but the foreshadowing fell flat with the 'grand reveal'. The point of Agatha Christie's mysteries is that all of the information is available to the reader before Poirot reveals his solution, but since the solution depended on Sabrina's diary which was only revealed in the 'grand reveal' itself, there was no way the reader could have tried solving the mystery themselves and that automatically takes off half of the fun in reading murder mysteries. Also making the killer a literal Nazi is sooo unoriginal and overused — I am no Nazi sympathizer (!!) but I've seen this so many times in all types of American media that you just can't surprise me with that anymore.


I was mostly annoyed with how the mystery was executed, but as a cherry on top I couldn't care less about Stevie and David's relationship either — I don't see what they are supposed to see in each other, and in my opinion Stevie is perfectly capable of being a strong female YA protagonist without having a love interest.
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captainoliimar's review

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I picked this book up a while ago and didn't realise it was part of a series until after I had finished it. That didn't stop me from enjoying the book, though, I feel like it stands up pretty well as a standalone book, though I am very excited to get to go back and read the rest of the series. I thought the mystery was very intrigueing and the twists were so cool and unexpected. The characters were fun to learn about and I enjoyed the way it switched between the present and the past when the crime happened!

Characters: 9/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
Plot: 9/10
Intrigue: 9/10
Logic: 9/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
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puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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lily1304's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

There's some key information missing until the very end, so you can't really solve it yourself, but I do love Stevie as a character
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riverlasol's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

5.0

Oh my goodness was this a delight. I had forgotten how much I loved truly devious and stevie bell (and her wonderful friends as well). This mystery was full of wit, charm, and quite a bit if hilarity, but also asked serious questions about what detectives have the right to do/power dynamics and dealt carefully with experiences of trauma. The mystery itself was eery the whole time (when will I learn not to read about murder late at night??) and although I did have some suspicions (hello pattern recognition) nothing was ever concrete and the end was absolutely thrilling. I can’t recommend this enough. I’m not as interested in thrillers these days (mostly because of my own anxiety) and maybe it’s the highly relatable anxiety the main character herself struggles with but truly devious is one of a kind and will always hold a special place on my heart.
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