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One of Us Is Lying (One of Us is Lying, #1)

Karen M. McManus

Start date: February 1, 2022

Finish date: February 28, 2022

Discussion: BOTMs

Discussion leader: Asia | Adventures with Asia Minor

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What Members Thought

Sep 19, 2021 H rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

omg omg omg THIS BOOK IS AMAZING OMG— I had a bunch of theories at first and one of them ended up being correct but damn- also kinda said that one of us is next won’t be the og four

5 likes · Like · see review

Jan 16, 2022 anika rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favs

Title: One of us is Lying
Author: Karen M McManus
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2017
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: E-book
Pages: 368

“Everybody’s got secrets, right?”
BR, AP, CC, NM and SK are in detention. SK doesn’t make it out of detention. Has someone gone murderous here? Is it criminal NM or jock CC? Or maybe in the plot twist of the century it’s geek BR and princess AP. Or did they plan this together? Or is the actual murderer none of them? The only thing Bronwyn, Addy, Cooper and Nate have in Title: One of us is Lying
Author: Karen M McManus
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2017
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: E-book
Pages: 368

“Everybody’s got secrets, right?”
BR, AP, CC, NM and SK are in detention. SK doesn’t make it out of detention. Has someone gone murderous here? Is it criminal NM or jock CC? Or maybe in the plot twist of the century it’s geek BR and princess AP. Or did they plan this together? Or is the actual murderer none of them? The only thing Bronwyn, Addy, Cooper and Nate have in common is a secret they don’t want revealed, but does this give any of them motive and means to kill Simon?

“Things’ll get worse before they get better”
Day in, day out, more evidence releases incriminating the four still living people, which causes their friends to turn against them, they’re secrets to be revealed and families to be disappointed in them for said secrets. However, there was a great balance between the time Bronwyn, Addy, Cooper, and Nate spend as criminals and the time they spend as normal high schoolers. This particularly stood out as it gave a glimpse of their regular life, highlighting that at the end of the day, they’re still kids. There are also parts that focus on relationships, which I found enjoyable, and the balance between being the prime suspects for murder and navigating normal teenage life. Neither side was in excess, which made the book a perfect YA read.

“For the first time in a long time, I feel free”
The characters were extremely well developed. Particularly notable was Addy’s growth from the first chapter to the last chapter. She was extremely dependant on her boyfriend (which initially made me dislike her a lot), and eventually became her own person. Bronwyn learns that there’s more to life than academics, which is something that resonates with me very strongly. Nate understands that sometimes it’s good to care about what others think and say and Cooper learns how to be himself. I loved this development in all of them, and they all learnt lessons which every teenager should learn, and most times learns, which made them relatable. The atmosphere sometimes gave me creeps, but I felt that it added to the aura of the novel and made the mystery aspect stand out more. I loved the writing of the story, and everything ended perfectly, there were barely any (if any) plot holes, which in a mystery novel is important to tie up all loose ends. I found that I was hooked from the first sentence to the last sentence, which is attributed to Karen’s writing style, the intrigue of the plot and the fact that every word on the paper was there for a reason. The only downfall of the book was that the entire situation seemed very unrealistic. When I say this, I mean that literally everything went according to the plan, which seems unrealistic. However, this was also realistic since it [the murder] was obviously well thought – out and everything that could go wrong had a backup plan.

Overall, I would give this book 5 stars and recommend it to everyone who’s a mystery fan. Even if you’re not, it’s worth reading, given that the story line is extremely interesting and truly one of a kind. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 11, 2021 sela rated it really liked it · review of another edition

my second mystery book. not bad. i will definitely look into more. this book was decent but towards the middle i got a little bored, otherwise reccomend!!

1 like · Like · see review