One of Us Is Lying


Daisy Terry, Writer

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus is Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars. It is a murder mystery set in high school, with suspicious circumstances and plot twists galore. This book is unlike others in the YA world.

Five students go to detention and only four come out: the brain Bronwyn, the beauty Addy, the criminal Nate, and the athlete Cooper. The victim Simon was planning on revealing the fours secrets on his gossip app, but he never got the opportunity. Due to an allergic reaction that led to his death, and the suspicious absence of an EpiPen, the police were sure that there was foul play.

The remaining four all have motive and opportunity, but which one is the murderer? Not even you, the reader, can trust the characters. The four investigate to clear their names. Everyone suspects each other, but along the way, they discover that their previous notions of each other are wrong. Basically, they don’t fit into the stereotypes that have been assigned to them. Secrets are revealed, friendships are built and broken, and discoveries are made.  

The ending is a surprise twist that no one was expecting, and you are kept in suspense the whole book. The more you read, the more you discover about the characters and the true cause of Simon’s death.