Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson is the fifth installment of "Truly Devious." Stevie and her friends at Ellingham Academy are in their senior year and applying to colleges, but Stevie's boyfriend, David, is in his first semester of college overseas in London. As you can imagine, long distance is hard and applying for colleges is hard, so once David tells Stevie to visit him in London, she and her friends come up with a plan to study abroad in London for a week. While she's there, one of David's classmates approaches Stevie with a cold case where two of her aunt's friends were murdered one night during their last week together after graduating college.
This YA mystery series has really found a warm, unexpected place in my heart. I didn't think I would really enjoy it this much. I love seeing how all of the pieces come together with the alternating history and facts of the case, sometimes through documentation like interviews with the police or in the events leading up to it, and the current day with Stevie trying to not only solve the murder but also navigate her own complicated life and its struggles. It reminds me that I can be good at what I do and also have things that are hard and don't make sense to me.
I liked how this book showed the incredibly real struggles of applying to colleges and intimate relationships/sexuality as well as the representation of mental health. For a YA novel, this is super comprehensive and introduces these topics to young readers in a way that's engaging and fun, but it also takes those conversations seriously with a lot of intention. I think I also would have enjoyed and appreciated a book like this when I was in the intended age group for this book just as much as I do now.
However, the cliff hanger at the end of this book is a little infuriating, but I'm keeping my hopes up that it means there will be another book soon! This one was released in late December 2022, so it will be a while. I will cherish the next installment when it publishes though!
Have you read the "Truly Devious" series? I'd love to know which one is your favorite!
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