Karen M. McManus - One Of Us Is Lying

Synopsis

Welcome to Bayview High - a school where 4 high school kids who have nothing to do with each other end up having everything to do with each other as they become co-murder suspects. Each suspect seems to have been involved in nothing more than an unfortunate accident. That is, until the secrets they’ve been desperate to hide start to surface and they suddenly have every reason to want to permanently silence the gossip of Bayview High 

Likes

Although the story unravels from several different perspectives, McManus does a great job of getting into each character to the point where it was no longer necessary to read the person’s name before knowing whose point of view I was reading from. Despite the frequent change of narrator, we’re still able to get to know each student on a personal level and feel an affinity for them. Furthermore, the reader is still able to see the whole picture and remain in the loop of the story without feeling like we’ve missed something due to the different viewpoints 

As the story develops, the characters do too. I went from disliking Addy at the beginning of the book to her being one of my favourite characters towards the end. The reader doesn’t just look forward to finding out what happened to Simon, but we’re also able to see the personal growth of each character as their confidence and levels of maturity grow 

The pace at which the story develops is great! I was able to figure everything out along with the characters so that when they found out something new, I did too. As a result, nothing surprised me to the point that it seemed random, out of the blue or unusual because I remained informed from the outset and throughout. It allowed me to feel relieved when they did, shocked when they did, and share a sense of hope and justice along with them. Despite this, I still did not see the twist coming but when it did come, it made sense and I just found myself remembering all the clues that should have been obvious to me from the start! As a reader, I greatly appreciated being included in the fear, panic and discoveries throughout so that I could convince myself that I also had a hand in solving the mystery

Dislikes

When it comes to dislikes, there wasn’t really anything significant to note but I will say that I wish I had gotten to know Nate a bit more. I felt as though I got to see all the intimate and personal parts of the other 3 but not much of Nate. For example, I would have liked to know a bit more about his background and his relationship with his mum. Although his character did develop from being someone who was used to people leaving or abandoning him to accepting that there are people who do care for him and want to remain a constant figure in his life, I felt that he developed the least out of all the characters. He was always very aloof. I knew what he was thinking but I could never really understand how he was feeling to the same level as the other characters. The only feeling I was clear about was his lust for Bronwyn

General Thoughts 

This book seems very well planned out with a lot of thought going into it. Everything made sense and flowed well onto each other. There were no unexpected surprises that didn’t fit in, but it was all well written to the point that I actually enjoyed the change in perspectives throughout. Although I will say that Bronwyn talked A LOT compared to the other characters and I wouldn’t have minded hearing less from her

I could not stand Addy in the beginning. I thought that she was such a weak doormat who did whatever Jake wanted her to do. But as the story progressed, her character development was definitely the BEST. She turned into such a self-assured, strong and confident woman to the point that even Nate remembered her name, and that’s really saying something considering that Bayview High was almost a foreign place to him 

I was in utter disbelief when we finally found out who the culprit was! I felt that I should have known due to the previous clues but none of it connected until they were revealed. I had to put the book down and take a quick breather because it was so crazy. But once I had let it sink in, it all made sense and I was mad at myself for not figuring it out sooner!  

Rating 

This book received a lot of praise and I can definitely see why. I initially set out to pace myself by reading just 50 pages a day but that all went out the window as I found myself crawled up on the couch, tearing through the whole book. I like how McManus immediately gets into the story without rushing and I thoroughly enjoyed all the twists and turns throughout. I’m definitely looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy

Based on this, I would give this book a 3.8/5 

Would I recommend?  

I had seen people reading this book so often to the point that I sneakily read a little over someone’s shoulder on the train, but I wasn’t interested enough to purchase my own copy. However, once this book was gifted to me, I only wish that I had read it sooner! So yes, I would recommend this book, so much so that I bought someone their own copy so they could go through all the emotions that I went through in trying to figure out who the culprit is

Favourite Quotes 

‘I’d roll my eyes if I had the energy’

‘No matter how awful the rest of my life is, my hair still manages to look good’ 

‘I want to kiss her more than I want air’