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

Crushed on by Kelli Spear, on March 10, 2017, in Future releases, Reviews / 1 Comment

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

Check out my 5-star review of One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus! I would like to thank Delecorte Press for the advance review copy from Netgalley. I loved this contemporary mystery & I hope you check it out too!

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Category: Young Adult, Mystery
Publication: May 30th, 2017; Delacorte Press
Purchase: Amazon

One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.

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.

Review:

[book rating=5/5]  
Wow!

So, I have to admit that I made a tentative—and correct—guess about the “whodunnit” at about the 15% mark. That’s mainly because I’m suspicious by nature, but also I somehow had already fallen in love with the other four possible guilty parties. And, therefore, I just couldn’t believe they’d done it. I couldn’t figure out their motive, even as their secrets were being revealed. Things never added up.

But this was such an engrossing read! From the second Simon died to the very end, I was trying to work out if my guess of the culprit was wrong. Maybe somewhere amongst everything being thrown at me, the truth was there. And it was. It was intricately plotted, and while I did guess one piece of the mystery, there were so many other small details I couldn’t have. Ever.

Also, I loved how the group’s true personalities were exposed. They weren’t who or what they had been presumed to be. All of them were misunderstood in ways. I think Bronwyn was my favorite, but Addy definitely came in a close second as she grew into herself. I found both to be strong female characters. I also loved the romances that played out (and how they came to light).

But this isn’t just a thriller/mystery. One of Us Is Lying also deals with the high school experience in general. Cliques, popularity, friendships, grades, etc. and how it can all affect students. And, how each handles it all.

One of Us Is Lying is an absolute masterpiece of a debut! It’s like Clue set in high school and I loved every single page.

 

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