The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars**
Dear Maureen Johnson,
How dare you?
Truly devious of you to slay me with yet ANOTHER cliffhanger ending!
I had many thoughts whilst reading this, the second installment of the Truly Devious trilogy. There was this:
Followed by this:
Wrapped up like this:
Okay. I still love you but you hurt me.
Kindest Regards,
Meg
Okay, y’all, let’s try an actual review.
That ending!?!?
I really wasn’t expecting that, even though Ms. Johnson has played me like that before.
I was totally invested in this. I loved being back with Stevie and the rest of the cast at Ellingham Academy. We got to meet some new folks and have a few puzzle pieces filled in as far as the Ellingham cold case went.
I really enjoyed that aspect of the story again. Alternating timelines between past and present is an aspect I always seem to enjoy in a story. I feel like it keeps me more engaged than sometimes a single, linear storyline will.
If you enjoyed the first book, I think you will continue to do so with this. Honestly though, I did not love this quite as much as the first book.
I think part of my swooning over book 1 was being new to Ellingham Academy and learning about the place, the history and all of the people. We had less of that excitement in this one, at least for me.
Does this book suffer from the dreaded ‘middle book syndrome’?
Maybe a little.
Calm down.
Not much, just a teeny-tiny bit.
I can tell you that I am completely stoked for the conclusion to this trilogy and will definitely be ordering it to add it to my bookshelves!
Side Note: Really hoping the cover is a nice, deep green.
That would make my Slytherin heart so damn happy.
