Book review of Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson

Teen sleuth Stevie Bell is again! It’s the autumn of her senior yr at Ellingham Academy, and she or he and her buddies Nate, Janelle and Vi have been invited by Stevie’s boyfriend, David, to affix him in London to unravel one other chilly case. One rain-soaked evening 1995, 9 inseparable buddies performed a recreation of hide-and-seek on the nation property of Merryweather. The subsequent morning revealed the brutally murdered our bodies of two of the 9 companions. A housebreaking gone awry was the official clarification, however Izzy, the teenage niece of one of the unique 9, just lately discovered that her aunt noticed one thing uncommon that evening however by no means reported it to the police. That info factors to a long-hidden secret: One of the 9 could also be a assassin.

As Stevie and her buddies pursue leads and try and persuade the top of Ellingham that they are surely in England to check, in addition they undertake a whirlwind tour of London’s most well-known points of interest, study some ugly Tudor historical past and navigate interpersonal dramas galore. College utility season is upon them, and whereas her buddies are every dealing with the stress in their very own methods, Stevie is certainly not ready. She additionally tries to create space for intimate moments with David however faces new worries that his consideration is being drawn away by Izzy’s infectious allure. 

In Nine Liars, bestselling creator Maureen Johnson employs the hallmarks of classical Agatha Christie-style mysteries, equivalent to frontispiece maps and a (metaphorical) locked room, whereas cleverly subverting others. Stevie nonetheless gathers the suspects collectively to disclose the answer, however she does so in a contemporary and sudden manner, and Johnson replaces Christie’s inventory characters with Stevie’s various and emotionally nuanced buddies. 

Flashbacks to 1995, together with typically conflicting witness statements, alternate with Johnson’s present-day narration, enabling readers to kind after which query their very own theories of the case. This construction permits parallel fashions of friendship and romance, belief and lies, to kind between the 2 time durations. Readers who flip steadily between previous and current as they learn can be richly rewarded, since Johnson’s fair-play thriller offers sufficient clues for particularly observant readers to unravel the case earlier than its decision. 

Like Johnson’s earlier Stevie Bell thriller, The Box within the Woods, Nine Liars may be loved as a standalone, however readers who know and love Stevie and her classmates will really feel like they’re returning to a satisfying jaunt with beloved buddies.