e-Audio, 09:12:51
Narrated by: Kate Rudd
Release Date: June 15, 2021
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
Read from: July 23-26, 2021
Truly Devious, #4
Source: Overdrive Audio
TW: Death, Violence
For Readers Interested In: Mystery, Contemporary, YAThe Truly Devious series continues as Stevie Bell investigates her first mystery outside of Ellingham Academy in this spine-chilling and hilarious stand-alone mystery.
Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal (that means boring) summer.
But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the notorious unsolved case, the Box in the Woods Murders. Back in 1978, four camp counselors were killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in a gruesome display. The new owner offers Stevie an invitation: Come to the camp and help him work on a true crime podcast about the case.
Stevie agrees, as long as she can bring along her friends from Ellingham Academy. Nothing sounds better than a summer spent together, investigating old murders.
But something evil still lurks in Barlow Corners. When Stevie opens the lid on this long-dormant case, she gets much more than she bargained for. The Box in the Woods will make room for more victims. This time, Stevie may not make it out alive.
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I first saw there was another book in this series I was mad. Like what else is there to talk about? Stevie has solved the case and is now moving on. But man listen, I was not expecting to still love this series the way I did.
Stevie has already solved the Ellingham Academy case and isn’t working on anything at the moment. But then she gets an email from someone who is familiar with the Camp Wonder Falls case, an unsolved murder that’s happened at a summer camp back in 1978. Some camp counselors were found murdered and they were left in a gruesome display. The new owner of the camp has invited Stevie there to see if she can solve the murder when no one else could.
I was worried that this was going to have a whole new cast of characters, so I was very happy when I saw that she brought her friends from Ellingham. (I don’t read synopsis of mysteries/thrillers. They always give too much away so I didn’t see it mentioned in the book jacket.) That was one of the main reasons I was hesitant. I didn’t want to get to know a whole new cast for one book. But now with having them there, I was very happy. I was even happy David was there? And y’all know I never cared for him lol It was just nice being back with them again. But now this has spoiled me and I really want there to be more books lol
As for the mystery itself, I really liked it. In true Stevie fashion there was weird and creepy things happening while she was trying to solve this case. But being truthful, I think it was the setting. Like someone else in the story I’m a fan of the summer camp crazy, like Jason Vorhooes from the Friday the 13th series. But whatever the case may be, I liked it.
What I didn’t care for was the ending. It was like an info dump at the very end and it seemed hella rushed. Like ok now that it’s time for the ending, here’s what happened and now I’m gone. I just didn’t care for it. But I will say that it re-closed everything and doesn’t leave any room to know whether or not there will be another one. So, who knows if Johnson will surprise us with another one again. If it’s another one like this one a new case and not at Ellingham but with the same crowd, I’ll take it.
This was a bit of a surprise as I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I liked the others. I can see that I’m just supposed to like Stevie and co. I hope that their journey doesn’t stop there! I was prepared for an ending to this series at the end of The Clock on the Wall, but then this one came and I don’t want it to stop.
Overall, I give this
