The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson


 

I was a huge fan of Truly Devious which tells the story of a girl named Stevie who goes to the prestigious Ellingham Academy and ends up solving a decades old mystery. I was really excited to read this installment in the series and I actually told someone today that I was enjoying even more than Truly Devious.

Stevie has left Ellingham Academy for the summer to serve as a camp counselor- or at least that's what she gets her mom to believe. In reality, while she does go to camp in the role as counselor, the owner of the camp has brought her on in order to help solve a quadruple homicide that has gone unsolved for decades. In true horror movie style, as Stevie's friend Nate loves to remind her throughout the story, four camp counselors sneak out one night for some fun in the woods and are discovered the next day brutally murdered. With historical incompetence and people then in power in the small town possibly covering up the truth, perhaps Stevie can unravel what really happens. 

Anyone who enjoys a multi-layered mystery will really fly through this book. I certainly have my opinions on the ending of this, so I am eager to discuss it whenever my students finish this one!

-TK

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