Review: One of Us Is Lying

Title: One of Us is Lying
Author: Karen M. McManus
Series: N/A
Length: 368 pages
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication date: May 30, 2017
Diversity: out of four main characters, one is biracial (half Colombian, half white) and one is gay; gay supporting character, multiple Latinx supporting characters
Rating: ★★★★
Source: eARC via NetGalley

This book is pretty different from the kind of books that I normally read - novel-length mysteries don't usually hold my attention - but it looked so intriguing that I knew I wanted to pick it up!

I think the biggest praise I can give this book is that it kept me so interested that I stayed up late to finish it. Not too late - it was probably only eleven by the time I finished - but I wanted to find out so desperately that I would have stayed up much later. The pieces just weren't fitting together in my head (and there was a spoilery reason for that) and I had to find out why.

Each of the four main characters was interesting for different reasons - not necessarily likable all the time, but definitely interesting. They each got their own bit of pretty independent plot, which was impressive in a relatively short book. I could usually tell when the point of view had switched just from the writing, even when I was reading too quickly to miss the helpful headings that actually told me.

Aside from the mystery, I really liked the relationship between Bronwyn and Nate. I wasn't really expecting much romance in a book like this, and normally finding it would have annoyed me, but I thought it was done so well that I actually found myself wanting to get back to their sections to know how things would work out with them! That was a really nice surprise.

I did have some serious mixed feelings about a certain part of the book. That, plus the lack of anything particularly extraordinary, is what kept the rating at 4 stars instead of 5. The part I'm talking about, however, is a major spoiler, so I won't talk about it here. If anyone's curious, I'm definitely open to discussing it, but I try to keep reviews and comments spoiler-free, so message me on Twitter or Instagram.

Final verdict: a pretty good mystery, any flaws of which didn't interfere with how much I wanted to keep reading.

Goodreads summary:

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.