Guess what? It rained all day today! It was lovely, I took the day off from work and used the time for some self-care. I played Animal Crossing, watched an animated Halloween movie, and took a nap. There was no better way for me to spend the day. I also spent part of today finishing up One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus, and I have to say, it was a wild ride.
I have been on a huge mystery kick lately. I have just been in the mood for murder and intrigue. So when One of Us is Lying became available at my local library I jumped at the chance. You can click here to check out some of my other mystery novel recommendations!
I have heard a lot about this book because it was recently adapted into a series by Peacock, and I am always excited to hear about a new book-to-screen adaptation. I also love when I can immediately start watching an adaptation after I finish a book. The story is fresh in my mind and I can see how similar or different the adaptation is.
I am not one who hates when a book-to-screen adaptation makes changes from the original text, I actually prefer it. I think it’s fun to see where two creative ideas come together, the author and the adaptation, to create something new. Sometimes, it’s even better!
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The Basics
Title: One of Us is Lying
Author: Karen M. McManus
Genre: YA mystery
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: May 30, 2017
The Review
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Content Warnings: police, drugs, death, suicide, physical violence
I’ll start this review off by urging anyone who wishes to read this book to check out the trigger warnings. You can find extensive lists by searching on google, I only include some of the major content that I remember.
One of us is Lying by Karen M. McManus is a fast-paced young adult mystery, with interesting characters and heart-pounding drama. This story follows four students who have been thrown into the middle of a police investigation after a fellow student, Simon, dies during detention. Throughout the investigations, Tumblr posts are released, which makes it sound like one of the members of the group is guilty.
Starting off, I want to talk about the best feature of this book, the characters. McManus has written some of the most well-developed characters I have read in a long time. This story is written in multiple POVs, and each voice is so distinct, even when I wasn’t paying attention to the POV shifts, I knew exactly who was talking.
The characters were also just interesting. I definitely didn’t experience drama like this when I was in high school, and I am thankful for that, but it was still so fun to read all the relationship, schooling, and friendship drama that these characters went through. With the gossip site that was at the center of the story, so many secrets and rumors spread around the school like wildfire. These four students formed a messed-up breakfast club that I actually cared about.
This story never slowed down. No matter what genre, I always feel like there is a slow section in stories. Pieces of the world that were unnecessary, and that halted the flow of the story. One of Us is Lying did not have that at all. I never wanted to put this book down because every time I thought I could take a breath, something else would happen.
Finally, this book made me actually feel. With all the horrible things going on to these students, I felt sad when they hurt and happy when they succeeded. I haven’t felt that way in a long time about a book.
This book ended up being a four-star read for me, instead of five stars, purely because of the ending. I was a little disappointed by the reveal, there were so many better endings to this story that wouldn’t have trivialized mental illness and depression. But I enjoyed the process of reading the book so much, it didn’t impact my rating too harshly.
I have already borrowed the sequel, One of Us is Next, and The Cousins by Karen McManus because I loved this book so much. What can I say, once I find something I enjoy, I stick with it. Except for hobbies of course…
I just think Autumn is the perfect time to read mysteries. They make me feel all cozy inside, and I have a lot of fun trying to decipher the clue and figure out who did it.
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