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ishouldreadthat 's review for:
One of Us is Lying
by Karen M. McManus
Originally posted to I Should Read That
I hadn’t read much YA crime, however Truly Devious got me interested in the genre and I devoured a ton of it in October. One of the books I read during this binge was One of Us is Lying, one of the most popular books in this genre. Having heard so many mixed opinions on it, I was super curious to see what the story was. One of Us is Lying is a delightfully twisted tale that reads like The Breakfast Club, but with more murder.
One of Us is Lying is split into four perspectives -- our four suspects -- and each character has their own unique voice. I really enjoyed the switching between voices -- it was very smooth and didn’t feel jarring like it can in other multiple POV books. McManus does a good job of holding back certain facts and feeding the reader a trickle of information. Because of this, the book is very well-paced and tense. Although I preferred the setting of Truly Devious, which takes place at a remote Vermont boarding school, I thought the standard high school setting worked really well for this plot. I’m not usually a fan of contemporary YA books, however the crime elements were strong enough for me to really enjoy this story.
The four POV characters -- Bronwyn, Addy, Cooper, and Nate -- all fit into high school stereotypes, but McManus turns what could have been flat characters into vivid and well-fleshed out people. Each person’s character arc is incredibly vital to the story and unraveling of the mystery, so I don’t feel like I can say much about them without spoilers. However, I will say that there was one person I thought was a little weaker and more dull than the others, and I was very surprised by who my favourite character was.
My only real complaints about the book are that I wish it was a little darker and, while I enjoyed the resolution of the mystery, I thought there could have been a little more oomph to it. These things could have elevated a good, fun mystery book into a sensational crime thriller. However, I ended up really enjoying this book and would highly recommend picking up the audiobook -- all four narrators are fantastic and you wont be able to stop listening!
CW: homophobia
I hadn’t read much YA crime, however Truly Devious got me interested in the genre and I devoured a ton of it in October. One of the books I read during this binge was One of Us is Lying, one of the most popular books in this genre. Having heard so many mixed opinions on it, I was super curious to see what the story was. One of Us is Lying is a delightfully twisted tale that reads like The Breakfast Club, but with more murder.
One of Us is Lying is split into four perspectives -- our four suspects -- and each character has their own unique voice. I really enjoyed the switching between voices -- it was very smooth and didn’t feel jarring like it can in other multiple POV books. McManus does a good job of holding back certain facts and feeding the reader a trickle of information. Because of this, the book is very well-paced and tense. Although I preferred the setting of Truly Devious, which takes place at a remote Vermont boarding school, I thought the standard high school setting worked really well for this plot. I’m not usually a fan of contemporary YA books, however the crime elements were strong enough for me to really enjoy this story.
The four POV characters -- Bronwyn, Addy, Cooper, and Nate -- all fit into high school stereotypes, but McManus turns what could have been flat characters into vivid and well-fleshed out people. Each person’s character arc is incredibly vital to the story and unraveling of the mystery, so I don’t feel like I can say much about them without spoilers. However, I will say that there was one person I thought was a little weaker and more dull than the others, and I was very surprised by who my favourite character was.
My only real complaints about the book are that I wish it was a little darker and, while I enjoyed the resolution of the mystery, I thought there could have been a little more oomph to it. These things could have elevated a good, fun mystery book into a sensational crime thriller. However, I ended up really enjoying this book and would highly recommend picking up the audiobook -- all four narrators are fantastic and you wont be able to stop listening!
CW: homophobia