One of Us is Lying: A Review by Jenny Nham

TW/ mention of drugs (only once)
 

     As I have said in my previous blog, I always loved mystery books. I typically like listening to a podcast while doing my chores or homework, so when the podcast host covered the book, One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus, I knew I had to immediately read it.

    The book takes place in a detention room with 5 students because they had their phones in class. They were vastly different. Bronwyn Rojas was your typical straight-A student with the hopes of following in her family's footsteps to attend Yale University. In contrast to Bronwyn, there was Nate McAuley, who was the school's "bad boy" that does drugs and sells them. Then, there was Cooper Clay, who is the jock and loved baseball, and his best friend's girlfriend, Addy Prentiss, who always ends up in second place in anything she does. Lastly, there was the outlier, Simon Kelleher, who terrorized the students at his school for exposing their secrets on his gossip app. In detention, Simon is found dead and all hell breaks loose in the students' lives. While police were investigating the case, they found 5 drafts that Simon wrote on his app that were talking about each of his classmates in detention with him. Was this plotted, or was it just a coincidence?

    I can't describe how much I loved this book. It was actually so interesting and similar to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, there were SO many plot twists. The way the author had the reader sympathizing with every character included had you on the tip of your toes. She would switch the point of view of each character smoothly. In my opinion, the ending of the book was something you could not have ever guessed. I also loved the book's side plots, where you find out about the past with Bronwyn and Nate, or Cooper and his father's strict rules. 

    Overall, I absolutely love this book, and it has become one of my favorites of all time. However, I have not watched the show (nor am I planning to), so based on the book only, I would give it a 10/10.

Comments

  1. KrishnaFebruary 13, 2024 at 8:06 PM

    Hey Jenny! One of Us is Lying seems like a very interesting book. I personally think it's super interesting that the 5 students in the detention room are all so different but get tangled into Simon's death. I will for sure have to check it out. Great blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Abigail BelloFebruary 16, 2024 at 3:05 PM

    Hi Jenny! I've heard a lot about this book and reading this blog has made me want to read it even more since I am into mysteries and the book A Good Girls Guide to Murder. I guess its a sign. Wonderful blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. RuijingMarch 4, 2024 at 2:39 PM

    Hello Jenny! I've seen recommendation videos of this book all over social media but I've never looked into it. This is a nice little intro to the book :DDD. I would definitely check it out someday

    ReplyDelete
  4. RobenasMarch 8, 2024 at 9:51 AM

    Hi Jenny. I also recently got into listening to podcasts while I am doing my homework or chores! This book seem interesting especially because some people say that A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is a little overrated! I will read it someday after I get through the other books on my reading list! A 10/10 rating is pretty persuasive.

    ReplyDelete

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