I enjoyed reading One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus, as did most of the other people who read it. It’s a little fluffy, but it’s meant to be: a fun, YA thriller that uses both tropes and cliches to go a little deeper, blending inspiration from The Breakfast Club with modern situations and sensibilities. There are some more serious themes here, including depression, suicide, and being outed for one’s sexuality, but ultimately it’s a thriller in the old whodunnit vein written clearly for teens. It’s good enough, though, for all sorts of people to enjoy it and McManus has launched a large career on the back of this bestselling, award-winning book which has been made into a TV series.

In a modern, crime-centered take on The Breakfast Club, five unlikely-together highschoolers end up in detention where one of them dies. Was it an accident? Was it murder? If it’s murder, then the four other kids in detention—the ones who Simon was about to post enormous, juicy secrets about the next day—are the major suspects. Each of their lives is turned upside down as they become strangers to their town and get to know each other better. Turns out, everyone has secrets; just who would go as far as murder to keep them?

I have been meaning to read this for a while. It is mentioned repeatedly in Save the Cat Writes a YA Novel and my daughter has had it on her shelf for a few years. She likes mysteries and thrillers and YA. I am writing YA and devour YA books when I have the chance. I joined a YA book club for this reason, and the read for June was One of Us Is Lying. Yay! I dove in happily, expecting an easy, addicting little whodunnit, wondering how dark it would get.

I don’t think we have to go super-deep for this read. It is genre fiction that takes tropes and embraces them, cliches and messes with them (at least a little bit) and has a fun time all the while. Most people will also have a fun time reading this book, “That is, unless you don’t like gossipy cat fights and brooding bad boys in love with nerdy girls” (review from Matthew on Goodreads). You will have to encounter death, obviously, as well as depression, suicide, infidelity, and a character being outed against their will. Still, none of this is super deep. It’s more of a wading through the realities on the way through a quick whodunnit.

There are some gimmicks, too. The book is written from five characters’ perspectives, each switch labelled with their name. It is also in present tense, a POV that is growing in popularity despite its awkwardness. I don’t like present tense unless there is a very specific reason. It is pulled off here, but I would rather have had McManus just use good ol’ past tense. Because why not? It reads easier. It’s okay, most readers will enjoy both these things, especially if they are actually teenagers. I love a cast of perspectives, but this one did come off a little hokey. Also note that we are really intimate with the characters, right inside their heads, which is a very-YA thing, as well. Some readers don’t prefer this claustrophobic perspective, but it is also growing as YA readers have been growing up used to it.

Speaking of which, we really drill into the stereotypes here as part of the kitsch, part of the referential nature of this book. Does McManus end up challenging or deepening the stereotypes/cliches enough by the end—because she does give some depth, back-story, and twists to each of the generic characters? That’s part of the point of the whole story—to begin with cookie-cutter characters (they are literally listed out on the back cover) and then slowly reveal that they each have motive, opportunity, a dark side that is just maybe dark enough to do something drastic… or in the case of one character, a light side that could convince us he didn’t do it. In other words, McManus is playing with cliches and stereotypes and that’s the point. Some readers walk away feeling like she really gave dimension to the characters. A few found the stereotypes never graduated (especially concerning one or two characters). Some people are also offended by this, that, or the other of the trope-y elements, but these elements exist as tropes because they work, because they resonate and often because they come from a (simplified) reality. So I dunno’: maybe don’t blame the author for using time-tested and interesting themes and plots and characters. It’s sure working for her. (This is her debut novel and she has moved on to other best-sellers since 2017).

As for the mystery, I’m not sure the real clues are there for you to solve it early on, but maybe that’s okay. Ultimately the clues are there and they eke forward amidst a jumble of red herrings. Like you might make a guess at the beginning, but your guesses will expand and other guesses will bubble up until you aren’t really sure which way is up. If you do think you have it down right at the beginning (this is, after all, trope-y), then plenty of other mysteries are built into the plot, including each of the characters’ secrets (which doesn’t mean just the ones that Simon was about to post). The (tropey bad boy-nerd girl) romance is also obvious from the start, but that doesn’t keep it from being readable and fun.

In the end, there are real consequences and fairly believable people in an almost-relatable situation all wrapped up in a purposely-referential package (the characters, the plot, the mystery, the romance, the setting, all of it). It is like an updated The Breakfast Club and people—especially YA people—have been eating it up since its publication in 2017. I would recommend it even though the writing is, um, light, as in passable. I think it does what it meant to do; it’s not the best book I’ve ever read or even great literature, but it’s fun and way better than most YA thrillers. So live a little. Let it be entertaining and both nostalgic and modern. Then maybe watch the show.

The One of Us Is Lying universe has expanded to include:

The later books are related to the first, so you want to read that first, but you don’t need to keep reading to get the whole story, if you know what I mean. They are a series which you could stop reading at any point (like traditional crime novels, actually).

Her other (standalone) books are

They appear to all be as similar as their covers: MaManus has found her niche—“twisty young adult thrillers”—and it’s a large one.

“The social media alone—it’s like you can’t make a mistake anymore, can you? It follows you everywhere” (p83).

“I don’t know why it’s hard for people to admit that sometimes they’re just assholes who screw up because they don’t expect to get caught. ‘You sound more worried about what people are gonna think,’ I say. / ‘There’s nothing wrong with worrying about what people think. It keeps you off probation’” (p121).

There is a TV series that premiered on Peacock in 2021 and ran for two seasons before it was cancelled. (I think it went off-script to make it a longer-running TV show?) There are a total of 16 episodes and I’ll watch it soon so I can get back to you about it. It appears it was under-watched but that critics really liked it.