Latest Read: One of You is Lying
[image error] Happy New Year! I hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday season. I was lucky enough to spend it relaxing with family and friends, reading, and painting (not the fun kind but that also was satisfying). I received One of You is Lying by Karen M. McManus as an Xmas gift from my daughter on recommendation from one of her friends.
It is definitely a YA/high school read but as an adult I loved the suspense and intrigue of the plot. I'm a YA reader at heart, but sometimes the high school teen scene can be too much. In this case it was not. The characters are multi-layered and interesting, and the story line held my attention.
Here's my official reivew: 4/5*
The premise: 5 students, a jock, nerd, cheerleader, druggie, and social scene blogger end up in detention together. The blogger dies of anaphylactic shock and the police determine someone put peanut oil in the cup he drank from. The thing is everyone hated this dude, Simon, because he blogged about everyone’s secrets. His final post gets released post-mortem and each of the others from detention are exposed for supposed scandalous behavior.
The book is told through the voices of the four characters that were in the room with Simon when he died and the reader is challenged to figure out who is lying, who is telling the truth, and who killed Simon.
It bothered me that this story was about a teen’s death and that the characters’ reputations were plunged into turmoil. I wanted it to be a dystopian book, but I can guess that similar situations happen in high schools all the time. Obviously, this is fiction, fictional characters with magnified traits to portray each type of social sect.
I tend to get very involved in my characters and sat on the edge of my seat wondering which teen killed Simon, or if they worked together. The ending was both surprising and original and I won’t say more about that so as not that so as not to spoil it. There are many players to doubt and to question and I couldn’t have guessed the ending. Pay attention and you may be able to though.
It is definitely a YA/high school read but as an adult I loved the suspense and intrigue of the plot. I'm a YA reader at heart, but sometimes the high school teen scene can be too much. In this case it was not. The characters are multi-layered and interesting, and the story line held my attention.
Here's my official reivew: 4/5*
The premise: 5 students, a jock, nerd, cheerleader, druggie, and social scene blogger end up in detention together. The blogger dies of anaphylactic shock and the police determine someone put peanut oil in the cup he drank from. The thing is everyone hated this dude, Simon, because he blogged about everyone’s secrets. His final post gets released post-mortem and each of the others from detention are exposed for supposed scandalous behavior.
The book is told through the voices of the four characters that were in the room with Simon when he died and the reader is challenged to figure out who is lying, who is telling the truth, and who killed Simon.
It bothered me that this story was about a teen’s death and that the characters’ reputations were plunged into turmoil. I wanted it to be a dystopian book, but I can guess that similar situations happen in high schools all the time. Obviously, this is fiction, fictional characters with magnified traits to portray each type of social sect.
I tend to get very involved in my characters and sat on the edge of my seat wondering which teen killed Simon, or if they worked together. The ending was both surprising and original and I won’t say more about that so as not that so as not to spoil it. There are many players to doubt and to question and I couldn’t have guessed the ending. Pay attention and you may be able to though.
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