Review: One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Title: One of Us is Lying

Series: One of Us is Lying #1

Author: Karen M. McManus

Genre: YA, mystery thriller

Publication date: May 2017

Published by: Delacorte Press

Source: Borrowed from library

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it: Amazon | Thrift Books | Book Outlet | B&N

Synopsis: 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.

My rating: ★★★★★

I loved this book so much! The premise alone had me hooked! All you need to know is that 5 kids walked into detention one afternoon, and only 4 walked out alive.

The mystery in this book was insane! I was not expecting the killer to be who it was—the person who orchestrated this and the reason why, it was SO messed up. It surprised me for sure, but I like being surprised and I really enjoyed watching this mystery unravel.

I also really liked all of the complex characters that were unfortunately drawn into this murder mystery. They all had their possible reasons for wanting Simon dead, although to be fair, so did the rest of the school. Simon was just a really unlikable guy. He knew everybody’s secrets and he posted about them for everyone to see. This led to some classmates doing some really drastic things that I won't go into, but it was messed up. Now, I’m not saying he deserved what happened to him, but I’m also not not saying he deserved it 👀

But anyway, the characters. I liked them and the fact that they weren’t perfect and made mistakes. I also liked seeing their character growth—Addy in particular was my favorite. I loved seeing her go from being in a toxic relationship to being an independent woman and just standing up for herself. It made me so happy! The way I was rooting for her though. Lol.

I also liked the dynamics between the characters. It was particularly intriguing because none of these guys ran in the same circles, so it was very interesting to see how they interacted with one another after being forced together by Simon’s death. Bronwyn and Nate for example, was one relationship I really liked! I just thought they were so cute!

And the relationship between Bronwyn and her younger sister Maeve was another one I really enjoyed seeing. Their banter was really fun and I just loved how protective Bronwyn was of her sister. But I also loved how Maeve tried to help her sister in whatever way she could in this situation.

This was such a solid mystery thriller! The mystery was gripping and the story was filled with twists and complex characters. It was SO good! At this point, I have already read the sequel, and it was just as good! I cannot wait to read more books by this author!

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊