This is the kind of book you’d binge watch. I mean seriously, it’s like everything you spend your hangover watching on a Sunday. If its not adapted then I’ll be the most surprised ever and I never say this because THE BOOK IS BETTER but this is crying out to be dramatized and that, it’s a compliment, it really is. I’ve seen it likened to The Breakfast Club and Pretty Little Liars and Riverdale and YES. Also Gossip Girl and maybe a little bit Nancy Drew and Poirot – that’s just me though. Also, considering the The Breakfast Club is well, The Breakfast Club and PLL and Riverdale are both Netflix shows that I binge watched like a pro, it was probably a given that this book was going to tick all the boxes for me.

It did.


I loved it.

I also don’t think I’m going to be the only one. This book, I think, is going to go places. It’s going to be one of the hits of the year and if it isn’t – well, then you may colour me confused because it totally should because it’s not often that a book breaks out of the mould in the way this one does and delivers something that you just want to get your teeth into and sure, I am all about a good murder mystery but this was more than that.



I mean, it was that, and as a whodunit, it was very well done with twists and turns and red herrings aplenty, but it was also a really good character study and a pretty good portrayal of Life As A Teenager and it was cleverly and interestingly written and I liked it a whole bunch. I love how it takes the fact that it’s totally a stereotypical portrayal of all the things, tells you in the blurb that that is what it is so you can’t turn around later and say ‘oh look at the main characters, this book is like, sooo sterotypical’ because HELLO, it says that on the cover, and then sort of builds on those tropes. It knows what it is, and it just gets on with it; it makes being a stereotypical high school tale the foundations for a pretty clever WHO KILLED THAT BOY IN DETENTION.
Besides which give me a geek/bad boy side story any day. I’m totally here for that. Mostly because teenage me would’ve loved a hot bad boy to throw stones at my (attic, shut up, we are not discussing practicalities right now) window so that I would sneak out and snog him.




So these kids – brain, princess, jock, bad boy – are all framed for murder, they’re all in detention together, the four of them and another boy, and the other boy dies and they all say they’re being framed and it is delicious. They want to prove they’re not guilty, obvs, so they set up a murder club (they actually called it that also, amazing) to try and find out who actually did do the murdering, and it’s multiple POV which I adore if it’s done well - lots of times it is not done well and my heart gets sad -and here it is done well. V well. Also, they’re not really friends at the start, which I know, holy stating the obvious batman: jock, princess, brain, bad boy, of course they’re not besties, and that is what I loved about this – the way they’re so different and they’re thrown together by this fucked up series of events and I don’t know, just the way they grow, together and as a gang. I loved the character development.
It's also really…real, and by that I mean that nothing is perfect or happens as it should and these kids are flawed and messed up and kind of scrambling their way through life, there’s no hearts and flowers happy ending and everything isn’t tied up prettily with a little bow in the end, which well, ain’t that just true to real life.




There were flaws. This book, whilst it’s premise and execution for the most part pleased me greatly, was not without flaws: mostly I think the depiction of mental illness – it was a little bit iffy and HASHTAG UNPOPULAR OPINION I do think that sometimes we read too much into things and sometimes a story is just a story and we don’t have to analyse the hell out of it, but I also know that mental illness and the portrayal of it in the media is something that is problematic and I noticed some things here, I noticed some things and they niggled and they did impact on my enjoyment of the thing as a whole and it would be remiss of me I think to not say ‘oh hang on, that’s perhaps not the greatest’ and now I’m going to be the most annoying ever and not expand because expanding would give away VERY IMPORTANT PLOT POINTS and when you are reading a whodunit it’s important to not know these plot points and so sadly, and annoyingly I can’t tell you what my issue was, but I did have an issue, enough for me to still be thinking about it now and that’s a shame. It’s a minor niggle though because overall I would recommend this book to the whole world and really badly want it to go places. It’s got a hot bad boy who you also just want to love forever and good strong female characters; it’s got good story arcs and convincing growth and a narrative voice you can totally get behind; the writing is addictive and it’s pretty diverse and it will give you feels. So many of them. & it will more than likely keep you guessing and page turning like a good crime story should and I WISH I HAD READ THIS WHEN I WAS 17.

This book, mostly, was just so much fun.

One of us is lying is a murder mystery/thriller about four high school students who have been accused of the murder of their fellow classmate Simon in detention.

It is simple the question is whodunnit?

I couldn't put this down that's how good it was. The writing and plot was suspense ridden and it sustained me all night.

Now this concept has been done before several times in movie mysteries but this was pulled off really well.

The ending which was not a huge shock to me but I found it verily nicely wrapped up and it wasn't just a happy ever after it was a good conclusion that gave closure to me as a reader. I went through a wide range of emotions with the four main characters. I because invested in the four main characters and their lives and I start to really care about even though I knew that one of them could potentially be the culprit. Especially two of the characters whom I wished all the best with my heart.

There was one problem a bit before we found out I knew how he died.

As many books these days this I found some parallels to this modern world. And I'm hoping this book will encourage the discussion of this issue we find in this present world.

Overall I'm very pleased and impressed with this and I thank netgalley for providing me a copy in exchange of an honest review.

I read so many great reviews about this book, so it was a no-brainer for me, whether to read it or not, and I was really enjoying this book all the way through.
This book follows lives of four seventeen-year-old students, who are accused of murdering their schoolmate during detention. McManus chose the characters for this book very cleverly, covering the main groups of students, which you find in most of the US schools. (using my movie experience) Because of this great selection of characters, it is easy to relate to them and it makes them all very believable. My personal favourite was Bronwyn, I liked her story in this book and the way she was fighting all odds in her school and personal life. I really enjoyed that author was bringing up really serious topics through these characters and their stories, that created more depth and meaning in this book. Another thing which was a real pleasure was multiple perspectives, through which characters could open up to the reader and let their personalities shine.
The plot of this book was very well thought through and creatively designed, drop feeding the important information and creating impatience with every character’s story. There are plenty of turns and twists, so this book was a real page-turner for me. I was reading most of this book while I was travelling, so sometimes it was hard to follow who was who, as the characters change and mix in every chapter, but later in the book, I got a hold of it.
I really enjoyed the writing style of this book with easy language and short chapters. I think that author ended this novel very nicely, giving well-deserved conclusion and hope for all the romantics out there. So, to conclude, it is a great book with very strong and diverse characters, interesting plot, and it discusses very important topics that's why I think it is a must read and I strongly recommend it to everyone.

Thoroughly enjoyed this - the package, the story, everything about this was great! Highly recommend.

Five students end up in detention- then one of them dies. Tragic accident or deliberate? Whatever happened, the other four become murder suspects and their lives change dramatically.

To make it worse, the boy who died, Simon, was going to post incriminating gossip about all four of them on his app, gossip that could effect their personal lives. It gives them motive, so- did one of them actually do it or is it all a misunderstanding of an accident?

The author is really good at building suspense from the moment Bronwyn, Addy, Nate and Cooper become persons of interest in Simon’s death. Obviously, they all had secrets they wanted to hide, and Simon knew about them. It would make a lot of sense that one of them could have done it.

However, the more I read, the more I found it difficult to pin it onto one of them, even if Nate did have a criminal record. It would point towards one of them, and then the plot would change direction and I’d be unsure again!

There are lots of twists in the story, especially the reveal that one of the characters is gay- but it’s used negatively, seen as something scandalous and used against him. I like that the author decided to include LGBTQ+ representation, but she could have done it a little better I feel. There is also representation of depression that could be seen as negative representation so take this book with a pinch of salt if you decide to read it.

The representation of depression is very important to the story however.

When it came to the outcome of the story, even though the author did use it as Simon’s way to entertain people after he’d gone, the idea of his depression didn’t make a whole lot of sense. However, I admit that I didn’t see the ending coming.

At first it didn’t make any sense, but when I thought about it, it was actually really obvious.

It was a good book, and I did enjoy it, despite the slightly controversial and problematic scenes.

3/5 stars.

'One of Us Is Lying' is a fairly standard whodunnit of its genre; five classmates gather in detention at Bayview High School; one of them, Simon, doesn't leave alive. Police have reason to believe he was murdered, and the four remaining students become prime suspects in the investigation. Addy, Bronwyn, Nate and Cooper all have reputations to uphold - and BIG secrets to hide; secrets that should they become known would ruin them. The thing is, their secrets were known; their secrets were already uploaded and ready to publish on Simon's online gossip site, About That, giving each of them a reasonable motive to kill!
If you like all-American high school drama, then you will love this book; baseball, homecoming, Yale, jocks, sports scholarships - it's all there, told first person, in turn, by each of the four main characters. It took me a little while to get my head around the character perspectives, but 'One of Us Is Lying' is a well-told and readable story. I give it 3 stars.

One of Us is Lying is a fast paced thriller that is perfect for your holiday reading! It completely hooked me, and I read it in two sittings (I was forced to take a break, meh) because I just couldn't wait to find out what had happened to Simon. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending as well, which always makes for a good thriller.
The book is told from the points of view of the characters who were in detention when Simon, the creator of the school's gossip site, died. They're all suspects, as it seems as though someone laced Simon's cup with something to kill him. Normally I struggle with books that have so many different points of view, but in this case it really worked. We got to read about all of the different characters from each point of view, and it was really interesting to see what others thought of them, as well as getting a glimpse into their heads and finding out the truth.
There were a lot of secrets to be uncovered here, and I really enjoyed the whole web of lies thing that McManus had going on. Every time I thought I had solved something, something else cropped up and I was forced to re-evaluate. Basically, never take anything at face value. You don't know what people are actually like.

Like I said, I was shocked by the reveal at the end. I think I clocked on about two pages before the characters did, so that wasn't my proudest moment. Normally I'm quite good at figuring out plot reveals and mysteries, probably because I spend so much time reading them and watching television, but in this case I couldn't figure it out until almost the last minute.
Pick up this debut if you're looking for a fast paced thriller that will keep you guessing!

I's easy to see why this is the YA thriller of the summer. The tension increases as each student is pulled into the frame, the need to know growing ever more frustrating however where it succeeds in story it fails in its characters, most of the accused being bland or flat despite what is happening to them.

Over the last few years, I've tended to avoid YA books as much as possible, mostly because I don't enjoy the writing style like I used to and it seems silly to rate a book down just because I no longer feel like I fit the target audience. However, I kept seeing so many great reviews about One of Us is Lying, so I decided to give it a chance - and I'm so glad I did. The plot was interesting and kept me hooked throughout, and at no point did I know what the ending would be, which I think is really impressive. It's a great story and an easy read.

One of Us Is Lying is an addictive who dunnit? ya novel which I could hardly put down. It did remind me of the formula that made the Pretty Little Liar series such a guilty pleasure: Five teenagers end up in detention together, one of them dies under suspicious circumstances - and the rumor mill starts. The police and all the adults are useless and with each chapter a different one of the four teens is the readers eyes and ears. Sadly a lot of the mysteries are easy to guess beforehand as is the ending... it felt like with all the drama beforehand, it should have ended a bit more dramatic as well. I also would have loved to read from a few adults perspectives, especially the teachers!

“I don't know why it's so hard for people to admit that sometimes they're just assholes who screw up because they don't expect to get caught.”

I really enjoyed this one. The cover and blurb intrigued me. 5 students go into detention and only 4 come out alive. I can't imagine going through something like that. Surely something like that would scar you for life.

I really liked the characters and how they had some complexity to them. I liked how Bronwyn wasn't just a goody goody, that she had some spark to her. Although her secret didn't really surprise me. I'll be honest though, Addy's secret did and I didn't like how Jake was treating her so I was kind of happy at the same time. Coopers was the most shocking secret by far. I didn't see his coming at all. Nate, closely followed by Bronwyn, was my favourite character. I loved how he handled things and how he seemed to lose himself at some points and then regain his composure later.

I realise I'm not giving much away but that's because the less you know about this book going in the better. The twists are a hell of a lot better if you experience them for the first time by reading the book. The final twist was by far the most shocking. But don't forget.. one of them is lying..

"Everyone has secrets, right?
What really matters is how far you would go to protect them."

https://thebookishmind.wordpress.com/2017/09/24/review-one-of-us-is-lying-by-karen-mcmanus/#more-7000

This is a book about bullying, recognize your true friendship and finding yourself.
I ship BRONWYN AND NATE so much. They are definitely my favorite characters.
And Cooper is such a puppy. OHMYGOD. I totally whip everything when I read the cafeteria scene.
MY HEART WAS SO BROKEN. Still can't believe that thing like this actually happened in 2017.

Back to the story: "One of us is lying" is also about LIES.
Every single character has his/her secrets. Some are darker than others.

THIS BOOK IS SO RELATABLE ON SO MANY LEVELS.
The main characters might represent four clichès at the beginning but they are more than what they seem. I actually loved all the characters reveals.

If you loved Breakfast Club and a bit of mistery you cannot not love "One of us is lying".

I wasn't entirely sure about One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus before I read it. I thought it sounded interesting, but murder, and these four students lying... I was worried I wouldn't like it, wouldn't like cold-hearted teens lying about someone's death - because they would all be lying, right? Even if they didn't do it, they would have witnessed it, and for there to be a story, they would ll have to be lying, or three of them just would have said who did it from the very beginning. But One of Us is Lying is not the story I was expecting. In actual fact, it was amazing!

Addy, Bronwyn, Cooper, Nate and Simon are all in detention because mobile phones were found in their bags by a teacher who won't have phones in his classroom. When Simon has a drink of water and collapses, the four other students do what they can to save him. He's had an allergic reaction and needs his Epipen. But his Epipen isn't on him, nor are there any in the nurse's office. Sadly, Simon dies, and a police investigation is started to find out what happened. Turns out, Simon was going to share secrets of each of the four other teens on his gossip app, About That, the very next day, and now all four of them are suspects in his murder. What secrets was Simon about to reveal? And who would kill to keep their secret safe?

One of Us is Lying is told from the perspective of all four of the suspects; Bronwyn, a straight A student who is bound for Yale; Addy, popular, pretty Homecoming Princess; Cooper, the school's star baseball jock; and Nate, who is on probation for drug dealing. What I loved about this book is, when you read about the type of people they are like that, as I've listed them, you're already making certain assumptions about who they are. Yes, Bronwyn is highly intelligent, but she's also under a lot of pressure to be the daughter her parents expect her to be - and to keep clear of the stereotypes of latinx people her father hates. Yes, Addy is pretty and popular, but she is plagued by insecurities and self-doubt. Yes, Cooper is a star athlete, but he's not stupid, and he's struggling to be who he really is. Yes, Nate was a drug dealer, but with an alcoholic father and a dead mother, he has to make a lot of money quickly in order to keep his debilitated roof over his and his father's heads. None of their lives are easy, and all of their lives as they know them would be ruined if Simon revealed their secrets. Which of them is desperate enough to kill Simon to stop their world crumbling around them?

I actually genuinely liked all of them. They were such great characters, and all so individual. I really think it can be difficult, when you have multiple narrators, to keep each character's voice separate, to keep their personalities intact and stop them all blending into one. McManus manages this perfectly, and never once did I confuse who's section I was reading. I loved the mystery aspect of the story, trying to work out who killed Simon and why, but at the same time, liking all the characters, I was really worried about the big reveal. I didn't want any of them to have been the one to have killed Simon, it would have meant i trusted the wrong person, that I fell for their lies. So while, individually, I thought that each of them was innocent, I was also wondering, "are they?" I did have a theory, or rather., half a theory, involving more the what than the who (I know that may not make much sense, but I can't explain without spoiling the story), and I was right, which I was so happy about. I had this half of a theory in my head by the end of chapter three, but I was never really positive about it. With a mystery like this, it really messes with your emotions, because while I was thinking, "I'm sure XYZ is going to be the case... but will it?" I was constantly questioning myself, questioning the characters, and feeling guilty for doing so. I trusted them all, and yet I didn't trust any of them. I never stopped liking them, but I did wonder if perhaps one of them was a very good liar, and I had been duped.

As well as a mystery, One of Us is Lying is also about each of the suspects individual stories. They were such great characters and I worried for and cared about all of them in regards to their own problems. But, of course, it's their own stories that add to the mystery, because they do all have their own things going on, and would they think those things are enough to kill for? What I loved is that there is a bond that is formed between all four of them; only they understand what the rest are going through - how they are treated by others, the media focus, etc - and it's the most unlikely of friendships, but I loved seeing them together, seeing them suffer together, and support each other, and then try to work things out for themselves, because the police are determined to pin it on one of them if not all of them.

God, I absolutely loved this book! And it's reminded me how much I love a mystery! Such a fantastic story full of intrigue, but also heart, and four suspects you can't help but love and feel for! A brilliant debut novel, and I'm so excited to read what McManus writes next!

Thank you to Penguin via NetGalley for the eProof.

One of us is Lying

The synopsis drew me in to this book and once I started, I was gripped from the very beginning. This is a fantastic YA thriller that will be one of 2017's most talked about novels.

Even as an adult, I love these kind of YA books; set in a high school, we find some stereotypical students coming together, who ordinarily wouldn't interact. Five of them walk into detention but only four come out alive. This book will totally grip you, a great storyline, amazing twists and you'll be guessing right until the end!!! Four stars from purplebookstand.

Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to have read this interesting read. I don't read a lot of Young Adult, but this was an entertaining mystery read, much in the fashion of Pretty Little Liars! Recommended!

A good teenage read focussing on different characters in the aftermath of a murder. I thought it was written well and I enjoyed at slow revelation of what actually happened. I will be recommending this one to my students.

I'd heard about this book on social media and thought that it sounded like a pretty cool premise. Not only was the initial set up reminiscent of The Breakfast Club (a nerd, a princess, a jock and a rebel all find themselves in detention together) but it was promised to be a big hit. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it as much as some others, but then I left school nearly 20 years ago (before the internet was really A Thing – can you imagine?) so I’m not really the target demographic. I thought some bits were good, other so-so.

Let me explain…

Bronwyn, Nate, Addy, Cooper and Simon all go to the same school. Bronwyn is a stereotypical high achiever, Nate a part time drug dealer barely attending school, Addy the beautiful blonde whose boyfriend is the most important thing in the world and Cooper, whose life revolves around baseball. Seemingly with nothing in common, they all find themselves in detention together for having a mobile phone with them in class. The problem is, none of them know where the phones came from – they appear to have been planted on them to purposefully get them into trouble. But why?

Then there’s the fifth member of the group, Simon. Universally loathed and revered in equal measure, Simon is the owner of the About That app, where school rumours end up…except somehow Simon always manages to make sure that they’re true before publishing them. An incident during detention leaves all of the characters under suspicion and as the story unfolds it seems that they all have something to hide – just not what you were expecting.

See, it sounds like a good premise, right? I was definitely intrigued. However, the way that the book was written kind of spoilt the story for me. For a start, the chapters are short and broken up by character, where each in turn is the narrator. I found this quite confusing, especially when the two girls are quite similar in character – Addy is fairly bland for the most part of the book so it was easy to forget where her storyline was going when you had immersed yourself in the world of Nate. I found it quite jarring sometimes when I had to swap between them all.

The other problem was that it was quite easy to work out what had happened. For me, it was very obvious that certain people had nothing to do with the incident, so by process of elimination I had worked out the culprit before half way through. There was also Cooper’s big secret that I worked out way before it came out. Because of this, I found that the book dragged a bit. It seemed quite long for a YA novel, especially when not much goes on for chunks of pages (I didn’t really care about Addy’s hair or what films Bronwyn and Nate were watching). If the main characters were a little more secretive or had more to loose then it would have given them better motives and cast more doubt about them, which would have added to the intrigue.

In saying that, there was some fast paced bits and it had enough going on to keep me interested. I did enjoy reading One of us is Lying but the story could have been so much better if it were just a little less bland. As I previously mentioned though, I’m not the target demographic for this book and so if you’re into YA fiction then you might get more out of it.

What an amazing story and could almost be a real life tale. Guilty by association and trial by media that almost destroyed the lives of four young people. It makes you fear for the future. Once I started reading I couldn't put it down.

five walk into detention, with secrets they want to hide. four walk out, still with secrets that will begin to unravl through the course of the story. one lies dead, the boy that knows everyone secrets, the boy that would expose and publish everyones secrets.
who did it?
well everyone is a suspect, everyone had a motive. cleverly wrote.
a mystery that will keep you guessing and gasping right to the end.

An interesting book. It did scare me a bit, how many problems are faced with the addition of media, how high school students can be so nasty - it's true! The book gave nothing away, even when everyone was thinking it was one person and then moving onto the next, but the ending and the answers were not expected. The epilogue was rather nice though, a nice end to an awful experience.