Review: One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cooper, Bronwyn, Nate, Addy and Simon have nothing in common. Except that they all had detention together one afternoon after school for the same exact reason: there was a cellphone in their bag that wasn't their's, and their teacher, Mr. Avery, has a zero tolerance for cell phones in his class.

So they all showed up, and were finding out that they were all played by someone. And then Simon collapsed, choking and not being able to breathe.

Turns out that Simon was poisoned and killed by someone. And that someone was in the room during the murder. All four teens have a secret to hide, and Simon was known for his app About That, where all of the students secrets at school were revealed, but they hadn't been featured on his app yet.

Now Cooper, Bronwyn, Nate and Addy are the prime subjects in this murder. They are being bombarded by the news, by classmates, and by their family as to what happened. When all of their secrets come out on the internet, the four of them are even bigger suspects in Simon's murder. Because each of their secrets are a major incentive on why they would want to kill Simon.

Pretty soon, it's just the four of them backing each other up, because they all know that no one in that room could have killed Simon. But trying to prove it before they are pinned by "new, anonymous" tips that keep showing up at the police's steps. No one seems to be able to help them, so now it's up to them to prove their innocence before it's too late.

This was great! I loved it! There was a bit of everything in this book - great romance, an amazing mystery, and a real-life story that anyone could relate to on some level.

Seriously, there was the murder aspect, then when all of the secrets came out, there was cheating on a class to pass, being secretly gay, being controlled in a relationship, feeling lost, insecure in life, and having to live in a household with no one to take care of you and love you. This book covered so many different, hard, real topics that I think any reader can find something to relate to and see how each of these characters came to overcome their problems.

And I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't completely guess who the culprit was until it was revealed to me. I had my suspicions, but I wasn't able to get all of the details down before the big reveal.

I'm so glad that I got around to reading this book finally and I think it will be a great book to discuss at my book clubs :)

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