Hobby or Obsession

Spoiler Warning! Right now, I am reading this book called The Hand on The Wall by Maureen Johnson. This is the third book in the Truly Devious series, I read anything by this author, she is my favorite. As I was reading the novel, and throughout the series in general, the main character Stevie is accepted into this private school for gifted children called Ellingham Academy because her hobby is solving crimes. She just so happens to be obsessed with the Ellingham Murder Case, as you read further into her story, you see how increasingly consumed she is by these murders, and the deaths happening around her as well. There are riddles and mysteries galore, and Stevie somewhat dissociates from her friends to try and solve these cases. 
In this book, Stevie has solved the Ellingham case. Now she is trying to solve the case of her friends Ellie and Hayes. Hayes suffered from CO2 poisoning by dry ice, Ellie was suffocated in the walls of the Ellingham estate, and Stevie's mentor Dr. Fenton died in a house fire. It seems that the people around Stevie are being targeted, not only that but one night while she was asleep, she drowsily awoke to there being writing on her wall, a riddle in what looked like blood. She wrote it off as a dream, but later on, she finds out it was very much a real occurrence. She is so in her head about trying to make sense of the riddle that during her friend Janelle's showcase where she tells everyone about her new machine, Stevie is oblivious until the device backfires and breaks someone's arm. She knows that Janelle had test runs many a time, so it must've been tampered with. It seems as though Stevie is never truly in the moment, not without a mystery shrouding it. 
The story is interesting, and you want to find out what really happened. But you are also worried about what finding out the truth will cost Stevie. Will she be so deep into always being in an enigma that she is never happy without one, or can she overcome the need to solve crimes. At the moment, the ladder isn't very plausible. It makes you think if you could understand that a hobby is becoming an obsession before it is too late. For me, I think that sometimes reading can become an obsession of mine. When I read, I shut out everyone and immerse myself in the story. Is it the same, could it become the same? I don't know, but hopefully, it doesn't affect my relationships in the same way it affects Stevie. Obsession causes distance, and that is something I want to avoid at all costs. 
I'll keep you updated.
-Michelle

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