Book for the: Thrill!

One Of Us Is Lying

By Karen M. McManus

Well, it took me long enough to read this book, but it was worth the wait!

One Of Us Is Lying is a YA murder mystery; which is literally everything I love rolled into one, so I have no idea why I didn’t pounce on this the moment it hit the shelves.

So, the story goes, five students end up in detention and only four leave. The murder victim, Simon, is the creator of Gossip app, which regularly outs the secrets of students at their school, Bayview High.

In detention with him are Bronwyn (The Geek), Cooper (The Jock), Addy (The Princess) and Nate (The criminal).

All have secrets that they are desperate to keep hidden, and so are all in the firing line when Simon’s death turns from accident to murder.

Well, firstly, I am impressed. As a lover of crime programmes, I usually have the murderer down to a tee pretty quickly, but this kept me guessing right until the last huge clue was dropped. After that, I had it, but I still wasn’t 100% sure my guess was right. I was kept second-guessing all the way through. Before that, I had a good few potentials lined up, and all the twists kept my head spinning and me cycling between them all – but no spoilers here!

The book switched between the points of view of the four main characters, Bronwyn, Cooper, Addy, and Nate. I am always wary of books that do this, as too many voices can get confusing and there is the possibility that you will hate one of them. But McManus has created four solid character voices, with their own views of the world, who were also good fun to read once we had dug a little deeper.

I wasn’t sure on Addy to start. I spent a good few of her chapters thinking really?REALLY?But in the end, I actually enjoyed her character growth most out of all the four.

As mentioned before, the twists kept coming, and so I found myself constantly catapulted between who could have done it. The brilliant thing about the character growth, however, was because we got to know that characters so well, that each time another one of their secrets came into the light, it then became highly possible that they were the murderer. The way the lies and deceit were intertwined in this book was awesome, they always dropped at just the right time.

I read this book slightly different from my usual way, which is get hooked and stay up all night reading. I did have to force myself to put it down, but I also didn’t want to read it all at once. I found myself slowing down, savouring the journey and thinking about the clues and possible murderers. I actually didn’t want it to end!

I ended up completely, emotionally invested in the characters without realising it, and the epilogue was a warm fuzzy cherry on top that I had no idea I was waiting for.

Also, the piano piece that Bronwyn plays a couple of times in the book, Variations on the Canon, is beautiful and you should totally check it out.

There is honestly no reason that you shouldn’t read this book; it has something for everyone and although it’s about murder, isn’t gory or scary. Just damn good.

I can’t remember the last time I read an investigation YA book that was also rooted in reality. Of course, we have the child brain boxes, heroes and investigators littered throughout YA. However, they are usually in worlds that include fantasy, magic or are just unrealistic – a brilliant read – but unrealistic. This wasn’t, and that made it all the better for me.

So, go and read it!