Isabella's Reading Corner: One of Us Is Lying

One of Us Is Lying

Author: Karen M. McManus

Publication Date: May 30th 2017

Publisher: Delacorte Press

One of Us is Lying begins with five Bayview high school students entering detention together, because of breaking a no cellphone rule. All five claim the confiscated phones aren’t theirs. After an hour one of the students is dead.  Simon, the victim, writes and runs a school gossip app, so he had many enemies. Did one of the students in detention kill him, did all four together or was it someone else entirely? Who had such a terrible secret it was worth killing to keep Simon silent?

The Bayview Four (as they are dubbed in the press) are initially introduced as stereotypes - the Jock, the Brainiac, the Princess and the Bad Boy. As the story progresses it's revealed there is so much more to each of them than that and they all have something they'd desperately like to hide. I loved getting to know each of the suspects, finding out the secrets they want to keep hidden and how they individually deal with the accusations by the police and grow from their experiences as a result. 

The story is told through multiple viewpoints and it's a testament to the author's writing ability that I was easily able to distinguish the different characters from chapter to chapter. I found the four main characters well-developed and very likeable, so I anxiously looked forward to the conclusion to find out who the killer was and why Simon was killed. This was a fun YA mystery, with an uncomplicated style I really enjoyed. Highly recommended.

From the publisher:
“Pretty Little Liars meets The Breakfast Club” (EW.com) in this “flat-out addictive” (RT Book Reviews) story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. 

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.


You can read my original Isabella's Reading Corner post on One of Us Is Lying here.