Today we’re back with another Buddy Review. This time we both read One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus.

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.

Cover

Candyce: This isn’t the prettiest cover I have seen, but I think it fits this book well. The hidden faces show we don’t know who is lying and what has happened.

Isabelle: I agree with Candyce, it’s not the sort of cover I would fall for but at the same time there isn’t anything super wrong with it. I like that you don’t see their faces (since I don’t like actual faces/people on covers) and it also fits the story. I guess I would say it’s an okay cover.

“I don’t know why it’s so hard for people to admit that sometimes they’re just assholes who screw up because they don’t expect to get caught.”

Plot

Candyce: I think to start with that this book portrays high school pretty well. All of the different groups, the gossip (only made worse in this book, because of Simon’s app) and that just because someone is popular it doesn’t mean that they don’t have any problems. I loved that this book was told through all point of views. This made it a bit more mysterious and harder to say who was lying. While reading the book I honestly couldn’t figure out who did it. I’m not going to lie, I was a little disappointed in how it ended. I can’t say too much without spoiling it for the people who haven’t read it yet, but it was rather typical thing in society these days. To a certain point I think the author took an easy way out. Other than that I really did like the concept of this story and how it was told. I also didn’t like that only Bronwyn had an epilogue and the others were only spoken of.

Isabelle: I really liked the character development in this story and I think that was actually the strongest thing in this book. As Candyce said, you get all points of view during the story and that really keeps you guessing about what went on. However that also made me that much more dissapointed about the ending. I really think the author took the easy way out. I guess storywise it was an okay ending but I was expecting so much more from this. I’ve read a couple of these kind of stories and there are so much more shocking endings to think of. Especially with a title like One of Us is Lying.

“I guess we’re almost friends now, or as friendly as you can get when you’re not one hundred percent sure the other person isn’t framing you for murder.”

Characters

Candyce: During this book all of the characters kind of grow on you. Because we are able to read all of their thoughts and feelings, because we have different point of views. Bronwyn is basically the good one. She gets good grades and doesn’t do anything wrong, but you come to find out this isn’t the case. It isn’t always easy for her, because her parents do have high expectations and this does stress her out. Addy seems like that pretty girl who has it all, including the boyfriend all the girls at school want, but looks can be deceiving. Her mother isn’t going to win mother of the year. Nate, who everyone only sees as a criminal has way more going on. With a mother who disappeared and an alcoholic father all he is trying to do is get by. He only needs someone to actually give him a chance, even though he has a hard time trusting others. But who can blame him? Cooper who is the jock everyone wants to be with secrets of his own. I think out of all the characters his secret was the hardest one out of all of them. His is more lifechanging. That being said I think the development the characters have in this book was beautifully written.

Isabelle: The character development was so well done in this one, that’s definitely what saved the book for me with that dissapointing ending. It was super interesting to read about this four very different characters who all had their own problems. You think you know someone, but most of the time you really don’t, you have no clue what’s going on in someones life and that was very clear is this story. I don’t want to say too much, but like I said multiple times, the character development is amazing haha. For that reason alone you should go ahead and read this book!

“I know what it’s like to tell yourself a lie so often that it becomes the truth.”

While this book wasn’t the best, it was an enjoyable read. A good book for around Halloween. Have any of you read this book? What did you think?