“One of Us is Lying” by Karen M. McManus is a YA mystery novel that focuses around four different students—Bronwyn, Nate, Addy, Cooper—who somehow ended up in detention one evening for similar reasons. During detention, another student, Simon, mysteriously collapses and dies before help could come. After his cause of death was determined, suspicious events occurred, and posts, clues, and evidence were found that caused the four main characters to be questioned. Once many potential motives and past history with the Simon were found, the four of them were turned into potential suspects of Simon’s murder. Working together, the four of them work together to try and figure out what actually happened. There is a lot of doubt, confusion, anger, and many secrets are uncovered.
I don’t usually read mystery books, but I picked up “One of Us is Lying” because I saw that it was a very popular book that people were recommending on Tik Tok. After reading it with high expectations, I will say that I was left kind of disappointed. The fact that I don’t read that many mystery books may be a reason why I didn’t enjoy it as other people did. It could also be the fact that I kind of predicted who was responsible for Simon’s death right off the back, which made the rest of the book quite boring for me. There were some moments where I doubted my prediction, but then more hints would be thrown at me and so it started getting obvious. Although it wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read, I wouldn’t say that it was the worst! I was quite invested in some of the characters' relationships with each other. So for that, I’ll give this book a rating of 3/5 stars. :)
I don’t usually read mystery books, but I picked up “One of Us is Lying” because I saw that it was a very popular book that people were recommending on Tik Tok. After reading it with high expectations, I will say that I was left kind of disappointed. The fact that I don’t read that many mystery books may be a reason why I didn’t enjoy it as other people did. It could also be the fact that I kind of predicted who was responsible for Simon’s death right off the back, which made the rest of the book quite boring for me. There were some moments where I doubted my prediction, but then more hints would be thrown at me and so it started getting obvious. Although it wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read, I wouldn’t say that it was the worst! I was quite invested in some of the characters' relationships with each other. So for that, I’ll give this book a rating of 3/5 stars. :)