One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Genre: young-adult, mystery, contemporary, thriller

Published: May 30th 2017

Pages: 361

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Synopsis

The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars, One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.
Pay close attention and you might solve this.
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.
Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.” (source)

Thoughts

This book has received a ton of hype on the book-tube community and many reviewers have raved on about how much they love this book. They were all saying it was like The Breakfast Club, but with a criminal twist. And to be honest, I couldn’t agree with them more! This book was such an entertaining, addicting and thrilling read, and I feel like I have no words to truly explain how much I loved this book. I thought this would have taken me longer to finish this type of book, but instead I couldn’t put it down.

This was for sure a traditional whodunit book gone right!!! I had my doubts on who actually killed Simon and I was definitely not expecting to end the way it did. I at first thought it might have been Cooper (for like a split second), then I thought it was Nate, because he is the stereotypical criminal. But when I found out who it actually was, I was surprised at the result, but the more I think about it, the less shocked I am. That’s only because there were signs throughout the book that made me think “there not entirely the good guy here.” But I still loved how everything played out.

As for the characters, I loved how well-developed they all were and the execution of each character was well done. However, if I were to pick a least favourite, I would have to go with Addy. I felt that her character was very sheltered and slightly selfish. However, Addy was able to redeem herself in the end so I’m not at all upset over her characterization. But seriously, I loved all the characters equally as they were all fleshed out well. Even Nate was one character that I enjoyed reading about. I will say that Bronwyn annoyed me at times (but she was still a good character), and Copper was well-rounded. I definitely want more from these characters, especially what happens to them after the investigation, like do Bronwyn and Nate start dating? Does Cooper get a baseball scholarship? What’s Addy gonna do with her future? I just want another book that delves into all their lives! But I know that’s not going to be happening anytime soon.

As for Bronwyn and Nate’s romance, I know I said no spoilers (but at least I didn’t reveal who killed Simon) but I still wanted to talk about their romance. I actually loved the romance between Nate and Bronwyn because they were not total insta-lovey and they actually got to know each other (a little more) before pursuing anything. I just loved how realistic that was. But also touching on the romances between the rest of the characters, they were so adorable but I wanted more from them (again, I don’t want to say which characters because it is major spoilers for the book), but still I loved them and wanted more from their relationship.

Overall, this was such a great read and I would consider this book to be one of my favourite books of the year. I will most likely be reading more books from this author. I would highly recommend this book if you want something thrilling and addicting but with a contemporary feel.

Rate

5/5