One of Us is Lying | Karen M. McManus | Review
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. - Goodreads
Earlier in the year, Sophie and I were given a Penguin Turning Pages box, which had a bunch of bookish goodies in it, a book (Invisibly Breathing, by Eileen Merriman) and the 2019 Penguin Teen Superproof. The Superproof had the first few chapters of 10 upcoming Penguin titles hitting the shelves this year, and one of them was Two Can Keep a Secret, by Karen M. McManus. The first few chapters intrigued me, so I added it to the TBR list and then discovered that she had written One of Us is Lying. While they're not connected stories, as we wondered they were, I still wanted to read One of Us is Lying before reading Two Can Keep a Secret, just in case. You know how it is.
I really enjoyed this book! Goodreads says it's a combination of Pretty Little Liars and the Breakfast Club, and I couldn't agree more. The whole story alternates between the four main characters' perspectives (obviously not Simon, because he dies in the first chapter), as they try and unravel what might have happened to Simon. Everyone is a suspect, everyone has secrets, and no one knows what's really going on.
It's a murder mystery, come teen drama, and I read it in about two sittings. I would have given it higher star rating (I went with 3.5/4 ish stars), but I called 'who done it' long before the characters figured it out, so it was less shocking when I got to the reveal. However! Still really enjoyable, and I can now read Two Can Keep a Secret knowing that if they were at all connected (still don't think they are), then it's all good and safe to read.
Rumour has it there actually will be a One of Us is Lying sequel, called One of Us is Next and it's due for publication in 2020.
Have you read One of Us is Lying? What did you think?
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