Review: "One of Us Is Lying" by Karen M. McManus

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's 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.

---

Finally! After reading a number of young adult thrillers, I finally found one that met my expectations. This book successfully combined my favourite aspects of a mystery novel: adventure, suspense, drama, (and romance which I don't usually like but this time it was well - written and developed).

I felt as if I had a front-row seat in a movie theatre due to the shifting narratives between each of the characters. Hence, I was able to understand each person's personal twists and turns as the storyline progressed. It was interesting to see how each character dealt with the coming out of their deepest secrets thanks to Simon's self-developed app. This book actually takes a page out of Pretty Little Liars as each person's secrets start to come out with Simon's notorious blog, About That.

The friend dynamics between Bronwyn, Cooper, Addy, and Nate are probably my favourite aspect of the book. While the author assigns each person a sort of stereotype, she deftly avoids limiting each character's actions and thoughts to that stereotype. Bronwyn is struck hard by the terror of a death since she's usually been in her own bubble - studying, chatting with her friends, volunteering, etc. However, after Simon dies, she is put under suspicion and she ends up finding comfort in her friendship with Nate. The simple friendship blossoms into a heartful romance which is more of a trustful friendship than something lovey-dovey. Consequently, Nate transitions from having an irate mindset to a more pervious and optimistic mindset. The story of his family is slowly revealed which gives insight into his behaviour. Addy realises that her once lovely and perfect life isn't as perfect as she thought and she comes out of the whole "popular-perfect" bubble to make her own opinions and be herself. Addy and Cooper grow to become better friends through the whole ordeal while giving support to one another.

The ending.... oh my god. It was mind-blowing! It is such a twisty revelation with so much thought behind it. It's an ending that no one would be able to guess.

Overall Rating: 4 stars