Nine Liars, by Maureen Johnson, is the fifth book in the Truly Devious series. In this installment, Stevie Bell and the usual crew go to England on a weeklong study abroad trip (with the added benefit of seeing David, Stevie’s long-distance boyfriend). There, one of David’s friends, Izzy, brings a decades-old case her aunt had been involved in to Stevie’s attention, in which nine recent Cambridge graduates played a drunken game of hide-and-seek and only seven of them survived. Seizing the case as a distraction from college applications and her insecurity over her relationship with David, Stevie must hurry to solve it before their trip is over.

I love Truly Devious more than just about anything, so I was absolutely thrilled to get this eARC. The first three books are absolute perfection, and, though I didn’t like the vibes of The Box in the Woods that much, it was still an easy five-star read, so I was expecting this book to be one as well.

The best part about this book is the actual case. The English countryside manor and the academic origin of the friend group at the heart of the case gave it such a dark academia atmosphere. I loved reading about the chaotic friend group and how they’ve stayed together in the wake of the tragedy. The mystery itself was so interesting as well, and, though not quite measuring up to the levels of perfection that the original Truly Devious mystery attained, was definitely something I enjoyed worlds more than the slasher-film-esque mystery of The Box in the Woods. Overall, the mystery aspect of the book was excellent enough that I was almost able to overlook my other issues with it.

Stevie continues to be an extremely relatable and wonderful protagonist. She’s extremely worried about the future as all of her friends are deep in college applications (something which she hasn’t even started to think about yet). She’s very happy in her relationship with David, but, when they arrive in England, begins to become overwhelmed with anxiety over sex and jealousy over his friendship with Izzy.

I think that the latter two insecurities are my primary issues with the book. While the college anxiety felt relatable and definitely setting the right tone for the book, the worrying about sex took up such a large portion of the first half of the book that it was almost absurd. Though an okay thing to include, the amount of page time that was dedicated purely to Stevie worrying about sex felt extremely out of place and mostly just annoying. The jealousy angle was more forgivable, but I think that it should have definitely been fleshed out and addressed a little more. It felt realistic to include, but could have been handled better.

Janelle, Nate, and Vi continue to be the same amazing group that they always are, though I wish they had gotten a little more of a presence. Janelle and Vi hardly have any part to play in the story, and Nate only really does in the last quarter of the book. These characters all add a lot to the series, so I wish that they had been there a little more. Additionally, Izzy, the new side character for this book, is okay, but I wish that she had had a little more of a personality or backstory, since she is there for a significant portion of the story but I can’t really recall a single interesting thing about her. Maureen Johnson usually does a great job with the side characters in this series, so I wish they had gotten a little more love in this book.

Overall, I did really enjoy this book. Though not the 5-star read that I was expecting, it’s still an easy 4/5 stars. The mystery was amazing, but the overwhelming amount of page time taken up by Stevie’s irritating personal drama took away from all of the other great aspects of the book enough that I had to take off a star. I’d still highly recommend this book, however, and I’m definitely looking forward to whatever adventures Stevie Bell encounters next!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review!