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.
- Title: Nine Liars
- Author: Maureen Johnson
- Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
- Publication Date: December 27th, 2022
- Genre: Mystery/Thriller
- Targeted Age Range: YA
- Content Warnings: death (drowning, ax), murder (described in detail, not gruesome), mentions of racism, underage drinking, cheating (not main characters), blood, discovery of a dead body, police, mentions of beheading, grief & trauma, anxiety attack (chapter 11), mentions of homophobia (chapter 19), mentions of drug use, mentions of an accidental overdose (chapter 19)
- Rating: ★★★★.5
I have the absolute BEST time reading the Truly Devious series, and Nine Liars was no different. Nine Liars included so many things that I love in a mystery novel — a group of tight knit friends with almost obsessive and unhealthy relationship dynamics, theatre kids, unreliable characters, a locked room mystery, references to the six wives of Henry VIII (most specifically Anne Boleyn) honestly, what more could I ask for?
Since we’re now on the fifth Truly Devious story, reading about Stevie, Janelle, Nate, and David feels like coming home. I really do love these characters and their relationships with one another. I like that Maureen Johnson writes messy friendships — the relationships between these characters feel real and authentic. They make mistakes, they mess up, say and do stupid things and that’s why I love them. I appreciate that they continue to learn and grow together, and I appreciate that Stevie and Janelle especially, will actually talk through situations and choices that upset one another. I think one of the strengths of this series really is the strong friendship that Stevie has with Janelle and Nate, and I love how their friendship continues to develop.
One of my favorite things about reading a mystery novel is when I get really confident about the truth/who the murder is, and then the author humbles me by telling me that I’m wrong. What I loved about the reveal in Nine Liars specifically is that I had all the correct details of the murders and the general reasoning behind it. I was positive that I was right, I was so sure of myself and then Johnson said, yeah you’ve got the correct details but you’re wrong about who did it. I thought it was really well done because the real murderer completely flew under the radar for me, but then when it was revealed it felt so obvious. I understood why the story went in that direction. It not only was a good twist, it most importantly was one that made sense.
I loved our nine liars — they’re theatre kids so of course I was drawn to them. While the similarities aren’t huge, there were times when the nine liars gave me If We Were Villains vibes. Mostly because the nine of them were a very tight knit group, almost isolated from the rest of the world in how close they all were, there were relationships within the group, and some obvious animosity between characters. I saw similar character traits as well, especially in descriptions of certain characters, so I was drawn to them right away. I definitely would read an entire book about those characters.
I have always wanted to visit the UK, so I loved that Nine Liars was set in London. Something that I particularly loved about the previous book in the series, The Box in the Woods (you can read my review here), was that it took Stevie and her friends away from Ellingham and to a new place. I felt that the new location added to the stakes, especially toward the end of the book because Stevie isn’t completely familiar with where she is. I liked reading about some of these iconic locations that I’ve always wanted to visit, and through the writing I felt transported there.
With the ending of this book I need the sixth book, whatever that may be, to pick up right where this one left off because I have questions. Really, I just had a great time reading this one and will continue to read however many more stories Maureen Johnson wants to write in this series.
Link for Nine Liars: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop
Maureen Johnson is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of several YA novels, including 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Suite Scarlett, The Name of the Star, and Truly Devious. She has also done collaborative works, such as Let It Snow with John Green and Lauren Myracle (now on Netflix), and several works in the Shadowhunter universe with Cassandra Clare. Her work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Buzzfeed, and The Guardian, and she has also served as a scriptwriter for EA Games. She has an MFA in Writing from Columbia University and lives in New York City.
