 | Box in the woods (Truly Devious Series) Author: Johnson, Maureen | |
| Price: $9.83 | ||
Summary:
Stevie Bell just managed to solve the mystery at Ellingham Academy. Then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines-- formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls, the site of the infamous Box in the Woods murders. The new camp owner wants Stevie to help him work on a true-crime podcast about the unsolved case. Going undercover as a camp counselor, Stevie learns that something evil still lurks at the camp-- and The Box in the Woods is willing to make room for more victims.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: UG Reading Level: 5.00 Points: 13.0 Quiz: 512742 |
Reviews:
Booklist (05/01/23)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 05/01/2021 *Starred Review* Stevie Bell did the impossible when she solved the decades-old Ellingham mystery at her boarding school last year. Now home for the summer, Stevie finds herself adrift after having accomplished her lifelong goal. But the Ellingham murders aren't the only cold case out there. When Stevie is contacted by the owner of a summer camp that was the site of a gruesome—and unsolved—quadruple murder of four teenagers in the seventies, she jumps at the chance to get back in the game. With her friends in tow, Stevie arrives at Camp Sunny Pines to help investigate the murders, of which there is little evidence due to notorious police mishandling, and help an overeager camp director craft a podcast. But though Stevie remains as savvy as ever, there are many complications in her path: unlike the Ellingham murders, this case is recent enough that family members of the victims remain, and Stevie, always more comfortable with data than with people, is faced for the first time with the more complex truths of her work. While fans of Johnson's Truly Devious trilogy (and there are many) will undoubtedly be eager for this spinoff, Stevie's summertime exploit both stands alone and adds compelling layers to the established characters—an impressive feat.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Johnson builds on the success of her NYT-bestselling Truly Devious series with this standalone spinoff that blends mystery and horror conventions in a summer-camp setting—perfectly timed for summertime campfires. - Copyright 2021 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 06/01/2021 Gr 9 Up—After solving the Ellingham mystery, Stevie Bell is looking at a long summer at home with her parents, working at the local grocery store. But then she gets an interesting invitation from Carson Buchwald, the new owner of Camp Wonder Falls. The camp was the site of a notorious unsolved mass murder in 1978: Four teenage counselors were killed in the woods, and three of their bodies were found in a box with "Surprise" written inside the lid. Carson is making a podcast about the deaths and wants Stevie to help him solve the case. It beats slicing cheese at the deli counter, and she can bring her friends Janelle and Nate along, so she jumps at the chance. But she's only just begun looking around when the word "Surprise" appears on the wall above her bed while she and Janelle are sleeping. Someone wants to scare her off, but who? There are still plenty of people in town who were there in 1978, but Stevie can't shake the feeling that there's something off about Carson. Stevie and Nate are white, and Janelle is Black. VERDICT It's always a pleasure to watch smart, resourceful Stevie piece together a puzzle. Mystery fans will relish this standalone novel in the "Truly Devious" universe.—Stephanie Klose, Library Journal - Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
