From the blurb:
Stevie Bell solved the case of Truly Devious, and now she’s taking her detecting skills abroad when she becomes embroiled in a mystery from 1990s England. Another pulse-pounding and laugh-out-loud stand-alone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.
Senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie Bell isn’t going well. Her boyfriend, David, is studying in London. Her friends are obsessed with college applications. With the cold case of the century solved, Stevie is adrift. There is nothing to distract her from the questions pinging around her brain—questions about college, love, and life in general.
Relief comes when David invites Stevie and her friends to join him for study abroad, and his new friend Izzy introduces her to a double-murder cold case. In 1995, nine friends from Cambridge University went to a country house and played a drunken game of hide-and-seek. Two were found in the woodshed the next day, murdered with an ax.
The case was assumed to be a burglary gone wrong, but one of the remaining seven saw something she can’t explain. This was no break-in. Someone’s lying about what happened in the woodshed.
Seven suspects. Two murders. One killer still playing a deadly game.
Controversial opinion alert! – I didn’t really like the Truly Devious series. I loved the concept, but thought that the Ellingham mystery could have been solved in book one. I’m not a fan of the Stevie-David love story, and frankly think that Stevie is one of the worst characters in YA.
So why did I read Nine Liars? I LOVED the standalone book Box in the Woods. It had an eighties slasher inspired murder, left out all the Stevie/David drama and solved the mystery in one book. It was fast paced and interesting, and quite a fun read.
I had high hopes for Nine Liars – it’s set in the UK, it appears to be another standalone and is set in the nineties – I was a (young) teen in the nineties, so I thought this would be a lovely little nostalgic read.
The best bits of the book were the flashbacks to the nineties in my opinion, I loved the references to Britpop and pop culture from the time, and it did make me feel nostalgic (and old! 😂). The mystery was interesting, and the group of friends – the nine- were very interesting. They were close friends, but there were rivalries, they dated amongst each other and broke up, and reformulated in different couples, but claimed not to get jealous. There were obviously some resentments and issues within the group and it was fascinating trying to work out who did the murders and why…
I didn’t like the modern sections. Stevie is insufferable. I’m sorry, but she is. I almost felt sorry for her, feeling a bit rudderless and unsure about the future, wondering what to do with herself, but she doesn’t help herself at all. I feel like in that situation most people would share with their friends or family that they don’t know what to do with their lives. Or at least discuss it with the many teachers and guidance counsellors at Ellingham. Stevie has been admitted to an extremely prestigious school – who better to give advice?
I also empathise with the struggle Stevie has with focusing on things when she isn’t interested in the subject – it is an absolute bore, but sometimes you have to suck it up, buttercup. Or again, tell your teachers that your struggling. See if they can provide the information in a different medium, make it more interesting? I also have anxiety, and probably had it as a teen, so I get her struggles with that.
I tried to not hate her, I really did, but she spent so much of the book being concerned with what David was up to, worrying he was cheating on her, not communicating with her friends, LYING to her teacher and friends, and jeopardising their education. At one point David says “it’s not all about you” and honestly I was cheering for him.
Overall I gave this book 3/5 stars, because the mystery and nineties bits of the book were really good. I just can’t stand the main character.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments – I’ve tried to keep this review spoiler free.
Stephani Xx
Stephani Michelle 