The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

Summary from Goodreads:

All Stevie Bell wanted was to find the key to the Ellingham mystery, but instead she found her classmate dead. And while she solved that murder, the crimes of the past are still waiting in the dark. Just as Stevie feels she’s on the cusp of putting it together, her parents pull her out of Ellingham academy.

For her own safety they say. She must move past this obsession with crime. Now that Stevie’s away from the school of topiaries and secret tunnels, and her strange and endearing friends, she begins to feel disconnected from the rest of the world. At least she won’t have to see David anymore. David, who she kissed. David, who lied to her about his identity—son of despised politician Edward King. Then King himself arrives at her house to offer a deal: He will bring Stevie back to Ellingham immediately. In return, she must play nice with David. King is in the midst of a campaign and can’t afford his son stirring up trouble. If Stevie’s at school, David will stay put.

The tantalizing riddles behind the Ellingham murders are still waiting to be unraveled, and Stevie knows she’s so close. But the path to the truth has more twists and turns than she can imagine—and moving forward involves hurting someone she cares for. In New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson’s second novel of the Truly Devious series, nothing is free, and someone will pay for the truth with their life.

Review:

Ahhh. This book was everything. As I mentioned on Goodreads, “There is just something so magically wonderful about these books, and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Just know this one did not disappoint. The stakes are higher, the mystery darker, and the connecting plot lines insane! I want more, please and thank you.”

This was a book that has me going over every detail in my head, days after finishing it. I can’t get it out of my head –particularly the words of one character right before a deadly fire. So much happens in this book. So much of the mystery is solved. Weirdly, so much of the big/over-arcing mystery is made clear, where the smaller, closer to home/current day murder mystery has a giant flaming question mark by it. This was unexpected.

Stevie is a force. She is so clever and brilliant while never fully understanding her brilliance. It’s like if Sherlock Holmes did not have a giant ego, but instead a somewhat crippling anxiety disorder. I love her so much. And the weirdest thing of all is that by the end of the book, I was thinking like her. I was putting all the pieces together and going over every detail like I was a detective too. And I guess the best characters of all are the ones who do this –the ones that bend reality to them and have you thinking differently.

Then of course there are the other characters. The other characters gave this little world of Ellingham Academy life. They made the whole book read like another version of the excellent movie, Clue. Each character brings another element to the story. And while they definitely bring Clue-like humor to it all (with dragons, library invading squirrels, amazing Halloween costumes, etc), there’s also this crazy, inherent darkness. Two teenagers are dead. A mother and child (in 1936) were kidnapped and never found.  And while it’s easy to get lost in the silly things like the squirrels, you can’t ever forget the reason for why Stevie is even there in the first place.

The romance drama with David King wasn’t my favorite. Part of the problem is there are possibly two other characters to ship Stevie with. But, also, David’s character doesn’t hold the fascination for me that he might have for teenage me. That being said, I did feel so bad for him and in a weird way, I goaded on his rebellion and weirdness.  I loved the friendships and the bonds Stevie has with everyone she meets –including the faculty/security of the school.

So much is revealed about the bigger picture mystery, and I wish I could comment on a few things, but I won’t because that would be major spoiler territory. But, there’s still much Stevie has to figure out. And it looks like her time will be short. One major reveal, hinting at something insane happened at the very end, and I just can’t stop thinking about it and I’m going to go crazy waiting for the last book in the series, just crazy.

All in all, I give this a 10/10. It will definitely be one of my favorite books of the year (again). I can’t get it out of my head. I can’t get the amazing characters, ridiculous setting, fun mysteries, interesting history, and final moments out of my brain. I feel bad for whatever book I read next. There is no way it will compare.