The Cleaners: Faraway collection

Cleaners is a short story about people that clean. This cleaning is a little more specialized than standard cleaning. The cleaner not oly wipes the exterior, but also removes all memories. The story centers around a high quality cleaner who can't feel the memories himself. Meanwhile, his sister is very sensitive to memories. (She can even feel the pain of the low-wage workers that made cheap goods.). It has some itneresting ideas about memories and their attachment to physical objects.

Wonder

August underwent a number of surgeries as a young child. His head has a number of deformities, especially with his ears and jaw. He has struggled to do things that others find normal. Because of this (and his numerous hospital visits), he has been homeschooled through fourth grade. In fifth grade, however, he starts attending school. He struggles with it at first. The principal does attempt to help by encouraging a few kids to help guide him around. However, they are also struggling with popularity. He does have one girl that really does want to be his friend. (Though he sometimes questions whether they are really friends.) He has a falling out with the other kids and finds himself in a position of ridicule. One friend punches another kid who is mean to August and ends up becoming the only remaining "friend". However, at a camp, his classmates rally to his defenses as August is attacked by a bully from another school. After this, the student body moves clearly to his side.

There are also side stories of others. They seem to be doing well, but have less stable home environments. Auggie's older sister has been a great help in his life. Having a deformed brother had been both a challenge and blessing for her.  Her friend had moved on to "popular" circles. However, after seeing Auggie in the audience, she gives up her starring role in the school play after seeing. (Her family is going through a messy situation, and she just remembers the great joy of the boy.

The book makes it clear that everyone will judge people by their outward appearance. It is impossible not to notice somebody with significant deformity. However, you can still get to know them for the the human they have inside.

The Hand on the Wall: Truly Devious, Book 3

The third book in the Truly Devious series finally wraps everything up. The author continues to unfold in between the quest to solve the "new murders." While it sometimes feels you are getting the "answers" too soon, it actually just whets your appetite. You know things that went on in the past before the current characters figure them out. However, there are other parts of the current case that are not tied together yet. This works really well. And of course, being a teen novel, there is plenty of conflicting romance that always seems to get in the way. The ending is both surprising and unexpected, yet very satisfying. The primary characters are complex. Alas, the secondary characters can be flat stereotypes (especially the "evil politician" and "artist"). There are also a few events that just happen to occur at the proper time. Sure it is a mystery, but having luck not play such a role would be nice. Do people really have to show up at just the right time over and over again? Luckily, these are minor faults that don't distract too much from the book.

The Vanishing Stair

I've read a few of "boarding school" books close together and it is hard to keep them straight. They all involve "gifted" children who are plucked away from their home and do amazing things. In the Truly Devious series, the things involve solving mysteries. This novel eventually picks up where the other one left off. Our heroine is bored silly at home in Pittsburgh. Luckily, the right wing senator (and her parent's employer) comes to encourage her to go back to school. Her parents comply. Back there she gets to spend more time investigating the school deaths past and present. (The novel includes regular interludes of the 1930s to give us details of the past murder.) She gets to meet a professor who wrote "the" book on the murders and is working on new research. Alas, we do not get good vibes from her. Her security guard "friend" warns her not to go exploring. Alas, she does, and ends up finding the dead body of a missing classmate. The security guard eventually leaves. However, she contacts him after she "solves" the original murders. (As readers, we get the "full story" of the original murders as part of an interlude in the story.) Alas, the book seems to end right before the action wraps up. These books were written in cliffhanger fashion and do not stand alone well. A lot of loose threads from the previous book are wrapped up. However, there are many more things opened that we want resolved at the end. And, being a teen book, we also get some interesting interpersonal relationships going that are left in quite a messy state. Oh well. I guess that leaves us eagerly anticipating the next book in the Truly Devious series.

Truly Devious: A Mystery

Truly Devious takes place at a boarding school because boarding schools always make good places for books. This rural Vermont school takes the "best", but has no strict admission standards. You just ask to get in, and they decide if you should get in. Attending are a budding novelist, an actor, an engineer and an artist. The protagonist feels a little out of place. Her skill is "solving mysteries". And she is drawn to the school for the unsolved kidnappings and murders from the 1930s. (And it also gets her away from her parents who are employed by a right-wing senator)
The budding actor recruits her and the writer to help write a script for him about the murders. He knows that one of the long-closed tunnels from the incident is now opened. They go down there to film. However, things turn tragic as he dies. Now there is a new murder to solve. She finds a real mystery different, but still uses her skills. In the process she also finds a boy and is really caught with emotions there. (However, her sleuthing ends up causing problems.) She gradually comes of age as she solves the mystery. In the end, the book gives some potential answers, but lives more things untied. This is the first book in a series, rather than a fully standalone book.