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.

2.25, and only because I thought this *slightly* better than The Hand on the Wall. Ugh, what a let down. I genuinely had high hopes for this because, like, look at the premise. Yet Johnson somehow turned this into a boring story with no atmosphere??

The biggest issue was the pacing. There was no thorough investigation of the murders as there was really only one track that Stevie investigated, making the plot THIN. Why weren't there proper red herrings??? And then ALL of a sudden, Stevie has solved the mystery. I'm not even kidding, it just happens out the blue when I thought there would be at least a chapter or more till the big reveal.

And to me, she didn't really solve anything, she just found a diary, and Sabrina did the rest.

In terms of the actual resolution, it was okay, though to me didn't quite fit.

It also felt kind of gross in that it felt like Johnson was capitalising on the concept of undercover Nazis without really addressing the horrors of Nazis and WWII.

The second worst thing was that I don't think Johnson did her research, which made it feel like a cash grab (this was not helped by the fact that the writing was a little sloppy and repetitive, which led me to think it had been rushed through the writing and editing process). Any person interested in true crime worth their salt KNOWS the significance of stabbing as a murder method, especially how many times a person is stabbed, and also knows that spree killers exist. These two things are incredibly relevant to the crime that took place, given four people were stabbed to death (a different number of times) in one night. Yet they are NEVER DISCUSSED. 

Finally, the characters. Nate was a true saving grace in this. I loved him, and I loved his character development (even if THAT felt a little rushed and behind the scenes). I also liked that Johnson set it up in the beginning that the story would only feature Stevie, Nate and Janelle, as I really like this trio and their dynamic. But then DAVID comes on the scene. His presence was simply unnecessary, and he was only included to offer some relationship drama, which wasn't needed as it took space away from the already thin plot.

The drama didn't even go anywhere, as Stevie didn't apologise for being rude and David is still going to England when they didn't even have a discussion about it. Also, the fact that David turned down the money reeks to me of more privilege than if he had accepted it?? Like, that random guy was only going to offer it to him??

Janelle was turned into an ornament which infuriated me. And Stevie herself felt flat and annoying (she is at her most irritating when with David), and the whole imposter-syndrome thing could have been played up so much more to give her some depth. 

So, yeah. I did not like this. I really hope Johnson doesn't release any more books in this series because I will feel obligated to read them as I am a completionist, but I have lost all faith that I might enjoy them. 

There are several things I loved about this book. For one, i just love summer camp horror. I love that even if you didn’t read the previous trilogy, there’s still enough background information that you could read it as a stand alone. the bringing back of characters made my heart happy. the development of friendship as a side plot made me so giddy. stevie is smart and has gotten less annoying with each book. this book was so interesting from start to finish. it started strong and it never stopped. there was nary a dull moment. the reveal was a wild twist but it made so much sense. i would absolutely recommend this book even if you haven’t read truly devious. also maureen johnson, if you’re reading this, please please write more about stevie and her friends. and if anyone else is reading this, like hbo or hulu or netflix, please consider a limited series of this book. it would work so well as a tv series. gosh i loved this book. please read it and please read truly devious. it’s light enough that it could satisfy people who love thrillers but don’t like the horror feeling but not too light that well seasoned suspense/thriller/mystery lovers would hate it. it’s a great middle ground for everyone. there’s so much more i could say about this book but i’m going to leave it at this. 

Another amazing mystery with Stevie Bell! I've never thought of myself as a mystery fan by any means, but between the Truly Devious series and this new book, I'm wondering if I need to rethink that stance. This book just flies by in the best way. Everything about it is good, from the pacing to the characters to the conclusion. As long as Maureen Johnson writes books like these, I'll keep reading them.