Friday, June 5, 2020

Review: The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

The Vanishing Stair
By Maureen Johnson
4.5 out of 5 stars

Stevie is back at Ellingham with her housemates and friends while also navigating some new roles. Edward King wants her stay close to his son David. David wants Stevie to figure out what happened to Ellie. “Call Me Charles” wants her to make up missing work and to start an internship of sorts with a professor in a nearby town focusing on the Truly Devious kidnapping and murder.

I once again was sucked into this story without much troubles. I really like the characters—I am invested in them and want to see them succeed. I really liked the twists and turns this one took and I am anxious to continue onward with the series. The pacing seemed on point, without too much lagging details or chapters causing you to want to put it down. I still like the alternating time periods, with the flashes back to the appropriate time period and then forward to Stevie working through details. It is interesting to compare her conclusions to what the flashbacks let us in on. I look forward to the last book as there are still several unanswered questions. 

Sometimes a second book in a trilogy can be lackluster for me, but this one is one of the excellent sophomore additions. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I am glad that I continued on with the series as sometimes I am bad about moving on in a series because I do not want to be disappointed and the potential fear of it detracting from the prior one. I will continue recommending this series to my students including those that would classify themselves as reluctant readers. 



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