Title: One Of Us Is Lying
Author: Karen M. McManus
Published: 2017
Genre: Young Adult/Thriller
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.
Source: Goodreads
I went into this book with low expectations, considering that the reviews aren’t the best. The book started off fairly slow, but from there, it got right into the main plot. Unlike others, I was a fan of the writing style. The characters were the typical ‘Breakfast Club’ stereotypes. However, you could see growth and development throughout the story. The author took a lot of time on their personalities and lives. They all had secrets of their own, which I will admit were pretty mediocre. Although, I was spoiled for one of the secrets, but I probably would have figured it out before it’s reveal.
Now, if you’re looking for a shocking mystery thriller, then this book probably isn’t for you. It seemed like a Lifetime original movie that was trying to be “Pretty Little Liars”. Personally, I enjoy Lifetime movies. But I can see readers being split on how the book handles certain topics, especially mental health. I struggle with mental illness myself and thought the representation was a little far fetched. Still it was an interesting take on the topic.
Most people probably won’t find the twist at the end particularly surprising. Some might even call it predictable. Maybe I am just clueless, because I thought the ending was pretty clever on the author’s part. I haven’t read too many mystery thrillers at this point in my life, so I’m judging this from a newbies perspective. I would be interested to see how I feel about the book in a few years, when I have more mystery thriller reads under my belt.
After reading the book I am excited to read Karen M. McManus other works. She could become a new favorite author of mine. This was a shorter review, but sometimes I don’t have much to say about the book. One last point, try going into it the story with an open mind. Don’t let reviews, good or bad, sway you one way or another. There are trigger warnings for this book, but unfortunately knowing them will spoil the book. If that doesn’t bother you visit Book Trigger Warning to view them all.
If you have read the book, leave me your thoughts in the comments. Please don’t leave any spoiler for the for others that haven’t read it yet. Don’t forget to like and share this post. Also, go ahead and subscribe to the blog to get notifications about new content.
Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny