Truly Devious

While Stevie might be the main protagonist of Truly Devious, Albert Ellingham is the central figure of Ellingham Academy and the infamous murders 80 years prior. Albert Ellingham, “one of the richest men in the country” (76), opened Ellingham Academy in 1935 to celebrate learning, innovation, and above all, games. Ellingham famously states that “learning is a game, a wonderful game” (3), and he has a great zeal for riddles and puzzles. However, Ellingham’s exuberance came to a screeching halt on the night that his wife and daughter were kidnapped, and in a series of flashbacks, Johnson documents the transformation of a powerful tycoon into a desperate, heartbroken man whose hubris led to his downfall.

Ellingham’s power and influence are felt from the first moments he appears in the novel. Dottie knows who Mr. Ellingham is, and she believes that he is so rich and powerful that he can “dictate the meanings of words” (3). Robert Mackenzie, Albert’s faithful clerk, says that “everything [Ellingham] has—his newspapers and movie studio and the rest—he built from nothing” (302). Ellingham was poor as a child, and after years of hard work, he retreated to the “mountain kingdom” (33) he constructed in the wilderness of Vermont. Because of his success and wealth, “threats to Albert Ellingham and his family were not new,” and Ellingham “barely survived a car bombing several years before” (207). In 1936, the Great Depression still affected the American people, and anger toward industrialists such as Ellingham was at an all-time high.

Despite his wealth, Ellingham’s generosity is well-documented. He opens his school for free and believes “money should never stand in the way of learning” (4). Dottie refers to Mr. Ellingham as “a kind man and so full of fun” (7), and he would rather put off business ventures in favor of a rousing, stimulating game with his party guests or the Ellingham students. At his core, Ellingham was a loving father and husband, and history is filled with reminders of “what Albert Ellingham [is] willing to do to make his family happy” (213). He created a lake in the middle of nowhere for his wife, an avid swimmer, to enjoy, and when an anonymous tip suggests that “his wife and daughter or some evidence rested at the bottom” (213), Albert ordered the lake to be drained without hesitation. When Ellingham’s wife and child go missing and are held for ransom, he wastes no time and “race[s] around his office [...] pulling open drawers, looking for piles of cash” (49) to give to the kidnappers. Charles shows Stevie a detailed dollhouse that Albert Ellingham had made for his daughter after she disappeared, a testament to “a grieving man [who] made a perfect toy for his daughter that she would never see” (138-139). Despite having an enormous fortune and a beautiful home, Albert Ellingham dies alone and heartbroken, and in his final days, only his love of riddles and games serve as a comfort to him in a world without his wife and daughter.

David is a second-year student at Ellingham and Stevie’s primary love interest. Although Stevie dislikes David, she is drawn to him in a way she can’t understand. When Stevie first meets David, she “ha[s] the feeling she ha[s] met [him] before” (105), and when she can’t find any evidence of David’s existence on social media or the internet as a whole, Stevie becomes obsessed with figuring out the truth about who David Eastman really is.

When Stevie meets David at the first party of the year, she notices that his attire “lean[s] a little more toward shabby” (105) with old sneakers and clothes. However, he does wear one item that hints at wealth—“a beaten up but expensive-looking watch on his wrist [...] Rolex” (125). David comes from money and tries to hide it, and any time Stevie expresses an interest in learning more about David’s family, he becomes uptight and evasive. David seems uncomfortable with Stevie’s sleuthing skills because he knows she might uncover the truth about him and who his father is: Edward King, the politician for whom Stevie’s parents work and whom she hates. David wears shabby clothing to distance himself from his father’s money and esteem, but minor inconsistencies in his story make Stevie more suspicious until the truth finally comes out.

David is charming and playful, giving off an air of performance and self-deprecation. Stevie is attracted to David even though he annoys and perplexes her, and he believes that being annoying is the only way to get attention: After all, he says that “If [he] can’t get in through the door,” he will “throw a rock through the window” (317). As a child of a politician, David might be used to acting out to get attention, and he often lies to cover up the truth about who his father is. Because of his track record of lying, Stevie initially wonders if David could be the one who killed Hayes. Because David knows that Stevie’s parents work for Edward King, he knows how to play on their biases and persuade them to let her stay at Ellingham. Slippery and sly as David may be, he uses his penchant for lying to try to help Stevie, and at the end of the story, he finds himself forced to confess the truth about who his father is and where he comes from.