Review: Truly Devious

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really more of a 3.5, but I'll round this one up to a 4 - and hope that my generosity helps speed things up on the still-upcoming fourth and final Shades of London novel. Or maybe not, because it looks like Johnson's gonna be prioritizing this series instead - and yes, it's planned as a trilogy, at the very least, which explains the massive cliffhangers right at the end, including one that had me laugh out loud from mingled surprise, amusement, and exasperation. And, to paraphrase Shaun David Hutchinson's review, those cliffhangers essentially ensure that this first book doesn't bring the central mystery to much, if any, closure - which is actually pretty irritating.

There's good to Truly Devious, though. It's got a slow start, and it's setting up a lot of characters we know are doomed, and some of them are downright unlikable. I'm looking at you, Hayes. Nate too, a little bit, because sometimes he draws on the worst aspects of Jonathan Byers and Jughead on Riverdale, looking like he's willfully isolating himself and cultivating an "insufferable weirdo" vibe, but of course there's more to him than being a tortured artist.

A lot of characters also bring some marginalized rep to the table. Some better than others - for instance, when Janelle starts going out with Vi, she at one point corrects Stevie for calling Vi "her," telling her Vi's pronouns are they/them. And yet this is pretty much the only time throughout the entire book we get any sign that Vi's an enby - all other times, the narrative either uses she/her or carefully avoids pronouns altogether, which leaves me seriously scratching my head. Could be that Vi would use she/they - I've seen a few bios on Twitter of people who indicate their pronouns thusly - but otherwise, I'm gonna chalk that up to a copyediting mistake and hope, for enby readers' sakes, that Johnson has it corrected in future printings. Janelle, though, gives us some good queer rep (her exact sexuality isn't specified, though I'm gonna guess she's pan and leaning towards the lesbian end of the Kinsey scale), and of course Stevie, our star of the show, has anxiety and panic disorders for which she's on medication.

The mystery elements of the story are, again, a little frustrating when they don't wrap up for the most part. Johnson clearly plans to spread these out over the rest of the series, connecting not only the historical crimes of the 30s to the murder that happens in the present day - and also implying some connection between the two with still-living people, including at least one who's hyped up as a major Politically Incorrect Villain and will likely be a Big Bad - if not the Big Bad - for the rest of the series.

That said, though, Truly Devious is a rewarding read because of how the pace builds up with a slow but exponential acceleration. And, just like fellow Maureen Johnson works, the Shades of London series, I'm already finding myself using it as a comp title when querying agents.

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