ARC, 358 pagesRelease Date: May 30, 2017Published by: Delacorte Press
Read from: May 27-May 28, 2017Stand-aloneSource: TxLAThis includes: Contemporary, Romance, Mystery, Debut Authors, Multiple POVs, Realistic Fiction, Mental Illness or Disabilities, Stand-alone, YA
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.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This wasn't even on my radar at first. I'm not sure why it wasn't since contemporary mysteries are my favorite books! But when I did find out about it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I really wanted to get my hands on it. I was so happy when I did.
On a normal day, there's many different kids who have detention, but this particular day, most of them don't belong there. They include a criminal, a beauty queen, a smarty pants, an athlete, and an outcast. Unfortunately, not all of them make it out of the room. What happened in that short time, that caused Simon to die? Did it have anything to do with the fact that he planned to uunearth their darkest secrets the next day?!
I loved the writing style in this one. It was all over the place with the multiple POVs and it felt a bit clunky and disjointed. In a mystery, that makes the reader confused and causes them to miss out on guessing who the real person is. I also really enjoyed all the POVs she had. They were all different, but were all developed so they all had their own voice. As a character driven reader, I was impressed on all the ways she was able to tie things together.
But even with the great writing style, I wasn't really a fan of the plot. I called most of the plot twists throughout the story, which didn't make it really a "thriller" for me like I see some people shelving under. I was also able to call some of the "BIG" reveal at the end. Since I only got part of it right I won't take anything away from it, but still some parts of it were a bit obvious.
As for the characters, I didn't really connect to any of them. And that was extremely unfortunate because there were so many of them. But to be honest, I didn't really care for anyone in that book. Not the main characters ot any supporting ones. Maybe that's the way the author wanted the reader to feel, but as a character driven reader, I was not a fan. I got the point of why it was written that way, but it still wasn't my favorite. (If that makes sense.)
It was overall an addictive, murdery twist on The Breakfast Club and I really did like it. I can't wait to see what else McManus has in store!
Overall, I give this
Real rating 3.5 but I rounded up!
There will be no quotes in this review to avoid spoilers.