The book “One of Us is Lying,” written by Karen M. McManus is a mystery novel following the perspectives of four high school students who have witnessed a traumatic murder.
I have recently read this book, and let me tell you, it is amazing. I have only ever read a few books in my life where I really appreciate the writing and this is one of them. The book builds suspense and offloads it all at the end. I couldn’t stop reading; there were cliffhangers at the end of every chapter and every character had something that they were hiding. Each chapter focuses on a character’s point of view, so you can get everyone’s view of the story.
The story exemplifies classic stereotypes in high school:
Bronwyn – The brain of the school; goodie-two-shoes
Addy – Popular, pretty, mean girl
Cooper – The athlete, aiming for a full scholarship, baseball superstar
Nate – The criminal, your classic bad boy, always stirring up trouble
Simon – Social outcast, creator of the high school’s gossip page, also – good to note that he was the victim of the murder
These five characters share an interesting detention. One is killed and all are to blame. As these students try to figure out who murdered Simon, they find out more about themselves, and each other. Love blossoms, false arrests, it all comes at you at a hurling speed. This book is so engaging that soon, you too will be trying to solve the case, too. Join these students as they work out each detail and bring the killer to justice.
At the end of every mystery movie/book the detective always explains how they knew who did it. In this book the author did a great job of unraveling the case in such a way that impressed me. Each character tells how they knew and what gave it away, with a plot twist you would never have seen coming. After I finished reading this book, I didn’t want to start a new one. I needed a second to process what I had just read! This is definitely one of those books that only comes along every once in a while, one that blows the world away.