I LOVE the cover. I LOVED the mystery. The nine were messy and loyal. I had no idea who the murderer was until the end. The relationship between Stevie and David and Stevie lying to her friends brought the rating down for me. Everything was great. I had fun. I was present throughout the entire read. I read 25%-100% straight through. I enjoyed being with Stevie and her friends. I love her friendship with Nate. I enjoyed even more reading about the nine and all their drama. I look forward to the next one. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley to the opportunity to read this in exchange for a review.

3.25 stars

TW: toxic friendships, murder, panic attacks, infidelity, drugs and alcohol.

1995 - Nine Cambridge students go to Merriweather, a huge rich manor in the British countryside to spend a week there as their last hurrah before they go their separate ways in life. The brewing then turned violent storm does not deter the youth from playing a game of hide and seek on the countryhouse grounds, only giving up around 2 am when 2 of them were still missing. They go back inside, drink a rare and expensive bottle of whiskey and pass out. The next morning, the 2 missing students are found... dead.

Present - Stevie is still at Ellingham Academy, where she keeps on finding ways to distract herself from focusing on college applications. Her main distraction is her boyfriend David, who is currently attending college in London. In fact, he calls her (kinda) drunk and tells her to go join him for a week with Nate, Janelle and Vi: they'll make an educational school trip out of it. Somehow, the headmaster Dr Quinn agrees to this [very realistic indeed] and they set off to England.
However, once they reach their destination, Stevie and David's time together is unwittingly boicotted by David's friend, Izzy, whose aunt might know something about a murder that happened when she was young, a murder that was never sold and - therfore - immediately catches Stevie's undivided attention.


This 5th installment in the Truly Devious series was... heartbreakingly disappointing for me.
We know Maureen Johnson can write a mystery book, the murders were indeed intriguing and she can hands down totally pull off the double story line structure. All the rest was an absolute MESS.

First of all, it almost felt more like a romance book with a murdery twist instead of a msytery book with a romantic component running its course in the background.
For the way we have gotten to know Stevie in the past books, solving a murder should have been her main priority; and yet she spends so much time thinking about David and what he thinks and what if he gets tempted by a girl in England and is there something going on between him and Izzy or are they just friends? The time spent on the actual investigation was so little and rushed I felt like the author had completely forgotten all about it, if it weren't for the storyline in the past that kept our focus on the mystery at hand.
Hence, the pacing felt much slower than it should have been for a ya mystery book - and for a Truly Devious book.

Second of all - and this really pissed me off - there was no character development at all.
Actually, there was a lot of character... undevelopment? A regression. A fall from maturity. The lie Stevie tells her best friend a lie that was unacceptable and, even worse, a useless attempt at creating drama - and I say useless because when Janelle found out the truth, Stevie was forgiven pretty much immediately and there was no consequence or fall back whatsoever; which, again, was totally unbelievable because for how we've gotten to know Janelle, she would have not reacted well to such a lie that compromised her academic future. Her utter selfishness caught me off guard and what's worse is tht nobody, not even Janelle, really calls her out on it and this is a very blatant case of toxic friendship; Janelle and her other friends will go along with whatever she wants or does, even though there wasn't any inkling that Stevie would do the same, that she cares for their wellbeings and futures and so on. So yes, very toxic.

Third of all, I had a few issues with queer representation. After 4 books, a character comes out as ace. Normally I'd be so happy and be all like "yes to being yourself and coming out for who you truly are, go you!" and I'd throw confetti and give them a hug. But we didn't see that process of figuring out who you are, we didn't see any clue from that character that they might have been ace, nothing that led to such revelation and, even worse, nothing else followed that coming out. It was an isolated parenthesis that was disconnected from everything else that was happening and had no other references to anything else in the whole book. It irked me because it truly felt like Maureen Johnson was riding a trend: "People now are asking for more asexual representation? Uh, I haven't said anything romantic about that character in the previous books, let's make them ace!" and... that's just wrong. And it's not the point of having queer rep just to have it.

Also, the author fed Janelle a line that might have given us a clue as to Vi's biological sex? And Vi identifies as nonbinary. I don't identify as nonbinary (they/them), so I'll pass my judgement to the enby community for this specific issue but... to me, it felt a bit wrong.


If I hadn't been listening to the audiobook, finishing it would have been much more of a struggle; I still had to suffer through what I mentioned above, but this way it was much more manageble
Also, that ending? What was the reason to leave us with that ending? It felt sudden in very negative way, out of the blue and rushed, serving no purpose other than having the readers ask for another book in the series just to have that ending undone.
I was expecting to love Nine Liars like the rest of the books in the series and that did not happen, so I am very disappointed. And, unfortunately, hesitant to pick up the next one - because that ending was only a marketing plug for the next one, which pisses me off even more.

I enjoyed this new installment in the Truly Devious series! Stevie is back and still on her game, this time in London!

I enjoyed both timelines of this, but I do wish we had a *little* more in 1995. I loved the angle the book took/how Stevie solved the crime, this was a cool method!

I can’t say more without giving away important pieces, but if you enjoyed the other TD, especially A Box in the Woods, you’ll like this too!

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Stevie Bell & Company con their way into a school-sanctioned trip to England where they become embroiled in an unsolved murder case from the mid-90s. As always, following Stevie's thought process as she absorbs details to find clues is satisfying, and she kept me guessing until the end. While enjoyable, the 5th volume of Truly, Devious feels overstuffed compared to the first four. The b0ok begins with a long introduction to the eponymous nine players in a university sketch comedy group. The personalities and group dynamics are gradually revealed, but it took a while to differentiate each of these new characters. {Note: I had an easier time listening to this in audio where the narrator's voices made each character more distinct. A friend who read an ebook copy she didn't really get a grasp on some of The Nine.] Also, a weeklong trip was too short a period for all the mystery-solving, teen romantic drama, sightseeing, and fretting over college applications. All that being said, I will be making grabby hands for book 6.

While this book felt a little more like collegiate drama rather than a mystery sometimes, after five books we are invested in these characters and it didn't matter one bit. Love Stevie so much--she has had a wonderful arc. The cliffhanger crushed my soul however, can't wait for book 6!

Let’s start this by prefacing that I absolutely LOVE this series. Maureen Johnson has created such a fun and brilliant world for Stevie and the gang. However, I feel like this was my least favorite book. Not to say I didn’t like it, but compared to the others she has written, I feel this doesn’t quite live up to it. For the most part, I really enjoyed the book. I liked the storyline quite a bit, but I felt like there were too many new characters, and sometimes I couldn’t keep them straight. I felt like there wasn’t quite enough build up to the ending of the case on what exactly happened. Also, I was not a fan of the ending.. seemed random and out of character to who we’ve been seeing all book long. Overall, it was a solid book, just not my favorite of hers.

3.75 stars rounded up to 4 because I still love Stevie!

We are back at Ellingham Academy once again with Stevie, Nate, Janelle, and Vi. Sort of. David is abroad and finds a way for Stevie and the crew to join him for a week. Little do they know that there is an unsolved double murder awaiting them. Stevie does her thing. There are great twists that I attempted to predict but fell short.
I really enjoyed revisiting this world and these characters once again. It definitely is a little different than the previous books and seems to give more time to the non-mystery aspects. Does that make them any less interesting? Not in my opinion. Also, the relationship of 'The Nine' was great to read alongside the Ellingham crew's. If you have enjoyed the other books, definitely pick this one up. Be warned though, the ending was mildly infuriating. Looking forward to book 6 (I'm assuming/hoping there will be one based on the ending).

Maureen Johnson does it again! Another fun book in the Truly Devious series. There was a slower start to this one, in my opinion, but I enjoyed the mystery, the story line, and the cliffhanger. Looking forward to the next!

Nine Liars was missing the magic of the rest of the series. There were some good parts that made it worth reading, but I found a lot frustrating. The buildup is so slow and the emotional pay off of the mystery felt rushed and minimal. The core mystery was interesting and would have liked a few more twists and turns along the way. The "study abroad" stuff was a bit of a snooze for me and so was a lot of the college application stuff.

One thing that I took a whole star off for was the terrible ace rep. I love ace rep but this book missed so bad. Since I won't spoil anything I won't say who, but when they come out they talk about how romance isn't for them and I thought "awesome an aromantic character!" and then they say "I'm asexual". Like what? Asexuality and aromanticism aren't the same thing and assuming they are is just lazy. There are aroace people in the world and they're awesome. However, if a character is aroace it's a disservice to only identify them as ace.

Okay, rant over.

I'm going to be generous and give this 3 stars. The ending did bother me though so a big old warning for cliffhangers

Stevie is back to solve another cold case! This time in London, where she and her friends are confronted with seven old friends, who once we're nine, and all were.... or are... liars. Riveting as the others with a great mystery at it's core.

Keeping this brief because I am still in support of the Harper Collins workers' union. I love Maureen Johnson and the Truly Devious series and this was a really fun addition.

3.5 stars

I've loved the Stevie Bell series since it started with Truly Devious and was happy to see Johnson was continuing with standalone novels. This one had a great mystery at the center, but I think she devolved into Stevie's personal life a little too much, but also not enough? A lot of the focus was on Stevie and her romantic relationship with David. She's worried about them because they are long distance now, but in this book they get a week in England together. Her best friends are there as well, but we don't get much interaction between them other than Janelle getting annoyed and a nice scene when Nate confides in Stevie. Otherwise, they are peripheral. But David seems to take up a lot of the story and the murder mystery felt like a B plot. The balancing of Stevie's life felt a little off kilter in this installment. Still, Johnson excels at setting up unique mysteries and I will continue to read Stevie's adventures.

I have read all of the book in the Truly Devious series and this one was okay but not my favorite. So much of the story was focused on Stevie's relationship with David and less time was spent with her friends who just seemed along for the trip to London. The mystery was interesting but a bit confusing with 9 different characters to keep track of, especially when some were quite similar to others. I felt like I figured the mystery out fairly early in the story and it felt like the characters were missing an obvious clue. The wrap-up flashback chapter happened quickly at the end and felt a bit forced. in light of the evidence she had at that point.
The book had such an abrupt cliffhanger that I had to wonder if my book was missing a chapter. Due to sexual situations and alcohol consumption, this title would be better for high school libraries.

My thriller readers in the high school library will love this one. Maureen Johnson is going to be an automatic buy for my library, but I think my teen readers will love this one.

This is such a tough review. The Truly Devious series has been consistently on my “Best of the Year” lists, but this… was fine? I didn’t hate it at all, but it didn’t quite hit the spot that the others did. Maybe I just didn’t connect with the English country-side scenery, but I suspect more of it had to do with how preoccupied Stevie was with her relationship with David. Some will love it, I am just (eek!) almost 35 and can’t handle that level of teen relationship insecurity. Will I read Book 6? Yes, instantly, maybe it will be more like Box in the Woods with less David.

Maureen Johnson does it again! While my heart will always have a soft spot for the original Truly Devious trilogy, I've loved getting to come along on Stevie Bell's subsequent adventures. As a fan of Agatha Christie and British manor mysteries, I appreciated Johnson's nods to classics of the genre, while also putting a fresh spin on them. I think young adult readers will enjoy both the story and the relationships between charaters.

Maureen Johnson's Nine Liars is everything I wanted it to be and so much more. I cannot, despite how hard I may or may not try, break free of Johnson's writing. I will devour everything she has written, as it seems she can produce nothing but incredible content.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I was so excited to read the newest installment of the Stevie Bell series, and overall it did was a decent book, albeit not my favorite. I think the main issue for me was David- I don’t like his character, and I especially don’t like who Stevie is with him. She shrinks who she is to fit what he wants/needs, and she’s so much better that that (and him).

The mystery itself is interesting, but not as compelling as the others in the series. The book picked up in the last 10% or so, but it wasn’t enough to carry the book. That said, I still would recommend it to Stevie Bell fans, and I will continue reading the series.

When I saw there was a new Truly Devious book coming out, I was excited. When I read the description and realized it was set in England, I was ecstatic! I live in Cheltenham and while the area around the train station is not nearly as charming as it is in the book, I always love having my town mentioned in a book.

Nine Liars is another great addition to the Truly Devious series. It's billed as a standalone, but you really need to have read the rest of the series to understand the nuances of the characters. It's also very apparent from that ending that this story is setting up something major to happen in the next book (can't wait!).

I really liked the mystery aspect of the story. The classic "English manor house" murder theme was a nice change, but I do feel that Stevie's drama with David and her focus on having sex with him overshadowed the rest of the story a bit. Stevie's friends are always, for me, what round out the stories and I didn't feel like I got enough of the others. That being said, if you've enjoyed the rest of the Truly Devious series, then I think you'll like this one as well. It was another great "Stevie solves a murder" book. I cannot wait to see what happens next!

Okay, I'm gonna preface this by saying I absolutely adore the TRULY DEVIOUS series and was so excited when I heard there was going to be a book with my favorite characters that felt like friends. I wanted to like this book soooo bad. But I didn't. This book was so slow paced, and many times, just plain disappointing. The characters felt like flatter versions of themselves that lacked the character, energy, and depth they had in the previous books, The chemistry of the friend group and the relationships in it was lacking, Where is the tension?? Where was Stevie's crippling anxiety that so many readers like myself heavily related to?? It seemed like so much of the incredible writing in the TRULY DEVIOUS series failed to carry over to this book. At first, when I was starting the book, I was like oh maybe the beginning is just slow and it gets better. And then in the middle, I was like oh I'm sure the ending will be fantastic and redeem this book. And then I hated the end. Wanted to throw my Kobo across the book and not in a cute little screaming crying they're so cute kinda way.