{ about the book }
Standalone Novel
Published May 30, 2017 by Delacorte Press
e-ARC provided by Netgalley
e-ARC provided by Netgalley
One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.
Pay close attention and you might solve this. On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.
Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.
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{ my review }
♫ ♫ ♫ ♪
Ah. So. I do have thoughts with this one and, frankly, they’re confusing. Before I continue: content warning: straight up do not pick this up if you have depression. The way it is dealt with/depicted is not good.
Also: spoiler warning!
For the most part, I did like this novel. I went into it knowing what happened, but I suspected that I wouldn’t have figured it out until about halfway through the novel? I’m not the best at guessing whodunit type of things.
This is a strong debut. The plot was well thought out, the characters, while all stereotypical lmao, were pretty fun and made a good cast. Well, most of them. One of them was really boring and that would be the baseball guy. I didn’t really care for him.
Anyway, though. The one who shone was definitely Addie. I loved her development and her arc. She went from this quiet, unassuming girl who relied on her boyfriend for everything to someone who finally found herself and grew into herself. It was refreshing reading that. After her, was Nate, who I definitely liked, though didn’t quite understand at times. Bronwyn had a fun point of view too, but if I’m honest, I only really liked the latter two because of their relationship.
It was an addicting read, if I’m honest. Once I picked it up, I just wanted to keep reading. McManus is good at keeping the reader engaged. Just when you think it’ll be okay, there’s something else that’s uncovered, something else that screws over one of the characters, and you just have to find out what happens next.
Okay, now for the thing that made me upset, so this is where the spoiler warning and content warning come into play.
I hated Simon. We only meet him for a chapter and even that early on, he’s just not a good person. As the novel progresses, I just hated him more. He’s not a good person; he was never shown to be a good person. He took it upon himself to find out everyone’s secrets and post them where everyone could read them. Even worse, he took delight in it, relished in it. He thought he was better than everyone else, deserved better than everyone else, and it made me so angry. I hated him.
When it’s revealed that he’d orchestrated everything, well, I mean. I already knew because I searched up spoilers. But at that point, I wouldn’t have been surprised. What did surprise me, though, was his “reasoning” behind it, and it makes my skin itch.
Simon was depressed. And, as I understand it, he killed himself because he… what? Wanted to matter? Wanted to prove that, even in death, he was better than everyone else? And if he’s gone, he sure as hell was going to take the people who fucked him over? Not in something as permanent as death, but something the four of them could never come back from, at least. I won’t even pretend to understand that kind of mentality. I don’t want to. What bugged me was that it made it seem like the guy with a severe case of depression was the one that was out to harm everyone. It… it just isn’t good, it’s dangerous. It’s insensitive. I hated that this was how McManus wrote a character with depression; I hate what others suffering from it must think.
Putting this into words it’s difficult for me. I just hope it makes some sort of sense.
Another thing that bugged me was the fact that one of the character’s sexuality was used against him. As a plot point. As a shock factor or something? It made me angry that this whole ordeal forced the character to out himself before he was ready.
Overall, 3.5 stars. This novel did have some good selling points, but there were important, crucial parts that were just overlooked and could hurt many readers. While I did like it, overall, those things still make me extremely uncomfortable, and I feel it’s important that if you’re keen on reading this book, you know the content warning.
As a kid I used to write books when I was supposed to be playing outside, and not much has changed. I'm a marketing and communications professional who also writes Young Adult contemporary and fantasy fiction in Cambridge, MA.
When not writing or working I love to travel, and along with my nine-year old son I've ridden horses in Colombia and bicycles through Paris. A member of SCBWI, I hold a bachelor’s degree in English from the College of the Holy Cross and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northeastern University. Which I have never, ever used professionally.
Also: spoiler warning!
For the most part, I did like this novel. I went into it knowing what happened, but I suspected that I wouldn’t have figured it out until about halfway through the novel? I’m not the best at guessing whodunit type of things.
This is a strong debut. The plot was well thought out, the characters, while all stereotypical lmao, were pretty fun and made a good cast. Well, most of them. One of them was really boring and that would be the baseball guy. I didn’t really care for him.
Anyway, though. The one who shone was definitely Addie. I loved her development and her arc. She went from this quiet, unassuming girl who relied on her boyfriend for everything to someone who finally found herself and grew into herself. It was refreshing reading that. After her, was Nate, who I definitely liked, though didn’t quite understand at times. Bronwyn had a fun point of view too, but if I’m honest, I only really liked the latter two because of their relationship.
It was an addicting read, if I’m honest. Once I picked it up, I just wanted to keep reading. McManus is good at keeping the reader engaged. Just when you think it’ll be okay, there’s something else that’s uncovered, something else that screws over one of the characters, and you just have to find out what happens next.
Okay, now for the thing that made me upset, so this is where the spoiler warning and content warning come into play.
I hated Simon. We only meet him for a chapter and even that early on, he’s just not a good person. As the novel progresses, I just hated him more. He’s not a good person; he was never shown to be a good person. He took it upon himself to find out everyone’s secrets and post them where everyone could read them. Even worse, he took delight in it, relished in it. He thought he was better than everyone else, deserved better than everyone else, and it made me so angry. I hated him.
When it’s revealed that he’d orchestrated everything, well, I mean. I already knew because I searched up spoilers. But at that point, I wouldn’t have been surprised. What did surprise me, though, was his “reasoning” behind it, and it makes my skin itch.
Simon was depressed. And, as I understand it, he killed himself because he… what? Wanted to matter? Wanted to prove that, even in death, he was better than everyone else? And if he’s gone, he sure as hell was going to take the people who fucked him over? Not in something as permanent as death, but something the four of them could never come back from, at least. I won’t even pretend to understand that kind of mentality. I don’t want to. What bugged me was that it made it seem like the guy with a severe case of depression was the one that was out to harm everyone. It… it just isn’t good, it’s dangerous. It’s insensitive. I hated that this was how McManus wrote a character with depression; I hate what others suffering from it must think.
Putting this into words it’s difficult for me. I just hope it makes some sort of sense.
Another thing that bugged me was the fact that one of the character’s sexuality was used against him. As a plot point. As a shock factor or something? It made me angry that this whole ordeal forced the character to out himself before he was ready.
Overall, 3.5 stars. This novel did have some good selling points, but there were important, crucial parts that were just overlooked and could hurt many readers. While I did like it, overall, those things still make me extremely uncomfortable, and I feel it’s important that if you’re keen on reading this book, you know the content warning.
•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•
{ buy the book }
~
{ about the author }
As a kid I used to write books when I was supposed to be playing outside, and not much has changed. I'm a marketing and communications professional who also writes Young Adult contemporary and fantasy fiction in Cambridge, MA.When not writing or working I love to travel, and along with my nine-year old son I've ridden horses in Colombia and bicycles through Paris. A member of SCBWI, I hold a bachelor’s degree in English from the College of the Holy Cross and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northeastern University. Which I have never, ever used professionally.
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