Read The Vanishing Stair Truly Devious Series Book 2 Audible Audio Edition Maureen Johnson Kate Rudd HarperAudio Books
Download As PDF : The Vanishing Stair Truly Devious Series Book 2 Audible Audio Edition Maureen Johnson Kate Rudd HarperAudio Books
In New York Times best-selling author Maureen Johnson's second novel in the Truly Devious series, there are more twists and turns than Stevie Bell can imagine. No answer is given freely, and someone will pay for the truth with his or her life.
The Truly Devious case - an unsolved kidnapping and triple murder that rocked Ellingham Academy in 1936 - has consumed Stevie for years. It's the very reason she came to the academy. But then her classmate was murdered, and her parents quickly pull her out of school. For her safety, they say. She must move past this obsession with crime.
Stevie's willing to do anything to get back to Ellingham, be back with her friends, and solve the Truly Devious case. Even if it means making a deal with the despicable Senator Edward King. When Stevie finally returns, she also returns to David the guy she kissed and the guy who lied about his identity - Edward King's son.
But larger issues are at play. Where did the murderer hide? What's the meaning of the riddle Albert Ellingham left behind? And what, exactly, is at stake in the Truly Devious affair? The Ellingham case isn't just a piece of history - it's a live wire into the present.Â
Read The Vanishing Stair Truly Devious Series Book 2 Audible Audio Edition Maureen Johnson Kate Rudd HarperAudio Books
"This is the middle part of the Truly Devious trilogy. It answers some questions and raises quite a few more.
When the story begins Stevie is back home in Pittsburgh and willing to do anything to get back to Ellingham. She misses her freedom and her friends and, most of all, the chance to solve the Truly Devious case. But being willing to do anything means that she will have to take a favor from Senator Edward King, a man she despises and a man who is her new friend David's father.
She agrees to keep an eye on David who is an accident ready to happen and to not tell him that her return had anything to do with his father. She comes back to a campus dealing with the loss of one student and the disappearance of another. Both of them were also residents of Minerva along with Stevie, David, Nate who gained fame for writing a book as a teenager and who is struggling with writing a second book, and Janelle who is a mechanical genius.
Things seem to be working in Stevie's favor when she is hired as a research assistant to Dr. Fenton who is working on a new book about the Ellingham kidnapping case. But Fenton, as she prefers to be called, is a confusing character - alcoholic and paranoid - who claims to have new information that will help solve the case.
The story also has flashbacks to 1936 when the kidnapping happened which introduce us to Francis Josephine Crane and Edward Pierce Davenport. Frankie and Eddie want to be like Bonnie and Clyde. Frankie has a fascination with explosives and crime and Eddie is a bad poet. We learn their role in the kidnapping.
We also see in flashbacks more about Mr. Ellingham and a codicil to his will that was hidden by his secretary after his death. Fenton seems to have found about about the codicil and that information aids Stevie's investigation.
This was a wonderfully plotted and twisty story with a mystery in the past and mysteries in the present too. I loved Stevie who deals with anxiety and has a dogged determination to solve the Ellingham case. I can't wait for the next book. I have so many questions!"
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The Vanishing Stair Truly Devious Series Book 2 Audible Audio Edition Maureen Johnson Kate Rudd HarperAudio Books Reviews :
The Vanishing Stair Truly Devious Series Book 2 Audible Audio Edition Maureen Johnson Kate Rudd HarperAudio Books Reviews
- So the second I finished Truly, Devious in November, I 1) Preordered this book 2) Re-read it to be sure I was sure of all the clues about who the kidnapper was and so I knew and could satisfy myself as I waited to learn the answer to that all consuming riddle. (P.s. magnificent author lady, if you are reading this, I asked everyone I knew to come up with answers, and we all had so many. And of course I thought about it every single day when I woke up, and yet didn't come up with the answer and it's literally so simple I was so mad at myself!) So last night I was thinking about how I would get to read this today, I'd literally marked my Calendar, when it was delivered to my kindle at 11 pm central time! HUZZAH FOR ME, but alas not for my sleep schedule. I started reading it right away because I had to know the answer to the riddle, and I was about 76% of the way through when I realized, Holy Shark, I have read 76% of this book. Then I was so sad that it was going to be over soon, that I thought about putting it down. It was 130 am after all. But I couldn't. So onwards I went. And now I'm going to have to wait a whole year just to read the next one, which has me in the pit of despair. If you haven't read the first book in this series, please read it, and then come talk to me about it. I need to converse about this. I've read A LOT A LOT of books in my lifetime, and I rarely write reviews, but this series has stuck with me, and inspired me in my own writing, and I just want to share it with everyone. Maureen Johnson is so talented, my creative writing major self is made extremely insecure by her immense talent. This is me, bowing down to the new queen of mystery. That is all. (Off to re-read and try and solve the modern day stuff because I am thoroughly vexed by this wait time)
- "In life, the murderer is anyone. The reasons, the methods, the circumstances - the paths to becoming a murderer are as numerous as the stars."
The Vanishing Stair was one of my most anticipated sequels for 2019 after falling absolutely in love with Truly Devious last fall. I was really excited to see what happened after that incredibly rude cliffhanger, and hoped to get more answers in this installment. ðŸ•µï¸ I am pleased to say that we got some much-needed answers (& some new questions!), as well as more actual investigating, but overall this one fell into the middle book syndrome for me. It was an enjoyable and I will finish the series, but if I am being honest I could have done without the first 40% of this book.
The book opens up with Stevie back home in Pittsburgh, her parents having removed her from Ellingham Academy after news got out about what happened - and Stevie's involvement - in the end of the previous book. She's trying to readjust to life back home while still obsessing over the Truly Devious case, but we as readers feel the same disconnect she does once she leaves the Academy. Lucky for everyone she gets back into Ellingham, but not without strings. And the longer she keeps that truth hidden, the worse it is going to be for her.
"Murderers aren't a type. They're anyone."
I got 40% into the book before any real investigating started to take place, which was a lot more of a disappointing pace than in the first book. I feel like there was a lot of repetition and reiteration in the narrative of The Vanishing Stair, and in my opinion there is little of value that was added in the first half of the book to where the mysteries uncovered here could have been part of book 1 and it may have been stronger for it.
I was rather disappointed with the "secrets for getting back into Ellingham and the subsequent fallout" plotline. The conflict made little sense to me and I was left wondering why she even kept it a secret to begin with. (For conflict, that's why.)
I will say that this series has some amazing anxiety representation in it, and I really appreciate how Stevie's anxiety is almost a character itself in this book. As a person who suffers from chronic and crippling anxiety, it means a lot to me to see it depicted with care on the page and have it normalized.
Despite my not really enjoying myself for almost half of the book, once the investigation and clues begin to fall into place I was absolutely hooked! I really enjoyed how everything was unraveled slowly, and you can tell than Johnson has plotted the main points of the overall mystery with care. I'll admit that I guessed the big twist, but that isn't uncommon for me to do so it never really lessens my reading experience. I felt like the ending made sense and I am excited to see how things wrap up!
Overall, while this wasn't a perfect read for me it was definitely an enjoyable addition to the Truly Devious trilogy! You'll learn the solution to Ellingham's final riddle in this one, but there's still more of this mystery to uncover. Looking forward to seeing how this one ends! - This is the middle part of the Truly Devious trilogy. It answers some questions and raises quite a few more.
When the story begins Stevie is back home in Pittsburgh and willing to do anything to get back to Ellingham. She misses her freedom and her friends and, most of all, the chance to solve the Truly Devious case. But being willing to do anything means that she will have to take a favor from Senator Edward King, a man she despises and a man who is her new friend David's father.
She agrees to keep an eye on David who is an accident ready to happen and to not tell him that her return had anything to do with his father. She comes back to a campus dealing with the loss of one student and the disappearance of another. Both of them were also residents of Minerva along with Stevie, David, Nate who gained fame for writing a book as a teenager and who is struggling with writing a second book, and Janelle who is a mechanical genius.
Things seem to be working in Stevie's favor when she is hired as a research assistant to Dr. Fenton who is working on a new book about the Ellingham kidnapping case. But Fenton, as she prefers to be called, is a confusing character - alcoholic and paranoid - who claims to have new information that will help solve the case.
The story also has flashbacks to 1936 when the kidnapping happened which introduce us to Francis Josephine Crane and Edward Pierce Davenport. Frankie and Eddie want to be like Bonnie and Clyde. Frankie has a fascination with explosives and crime and Eddie is a bad poet. We learn their role in the kidnapping.
We also see in flashbacks more about Mr. Ellingham and a codicil to his will that was hidden by his secretary after his death. Fenton seems to have found about about the codicil and that information aids Stevie's investigation.
This was a wonderfully plotted and twisty story with a mystery in the past and mysteries in the present too. I loved Stevie who deals with anxiety and has a dogged determination to solve the Ellingham case. I can't wait for the next book. I have so many questions!
