Member Reviews

Detention, five attend. The brain, the beauty, the athlete, the criminal and the outcast. But only four leave alive. The outcast Simon....who just happened to be about to release four life changing secrets about the very same four who were with him when he died. The remaining four are now under investigation and are brought together by their joint need to discover how he really died....or are they all as they seem? And how far would one of them be willing to go to protect their secret?

The author has hit on a genius idea. She's written a book with tones of Pretty Little Liars so she's got the young adult crowd. But then she's took the plot of The Breakfast Club and turned it on its head. And so she's grabbed the attention of there over 40's as well. And I fall squarely into that bracket. I can't really speak for the young 'uns but both I and a few of my ahem older friends loved this. It was impossible to put down. From the first to last page I was enthralled. I quite like a bit of YA and love mystery thrillers so I was interested to see how they blend. Very well is the answer to that. There's a certain innocence to this that appealed to me. So called grown up mysteries sometimes seem intent on shocking you, but this book just told the story without sinking into shock tactics. I'll remember this book for a long time.

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC for an honest review.

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One of Us Is Lying is an interesting twist on the Breakfast Club and high profile murders in a modern setting. It’s tense and keeps you questioning exactly who is responsible. No one and everyone seems like they could be, and I highly recommend going into this story as blind as you can to fully appreciate the twists and turns.

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DNF @ 30%

OK, so I almost hate myself for putting this one down, but apparently I just can't deal with books that are even slightly YA. There is something about the writing and the characters that I really can't get on with.

Now, don't get me wrong, this is clearly well written and the characters, from what I read, are well developed but I just couldn't get past the teen-ness of this. I like books that are gritty and use words that I sometimes have to stop and Google, that's just my preference... so that's why I couldn't get on with this. Completely down to the fact that it's just not my style of book.

When I got to 23% a small thought planted itself in my head and because I wasn't thoroughly enjoying reading it, I decided to skip to the end to see if my thoughts were correct, and I was halfway there. That's not the say this book doesn't have a good twist, because from reading lots of reviews, it does come as quite a shock to most people.

Never again am I going to request and download a book that's a mystery & thriller but also teen & YA. At least I've learnt a lesson.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK Children's for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review... I promise I won't request from you again so you don't waste an ARC on me!

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I received a copy from Netgalley

This is a brilliant mystery that keeps the reader guessing right until the end. I had my suspects, and still turned out to be wrong. I watch a lot of crime drama so I’m usually quite good and guessing the killer, but I didn’t see the twist in this one coming at all. (Admittedly by the time I got to 80% and all my guesses were still wrong I did skim to the last few chapters to find out who it was, then went back and read it properly). Still managed to really surprise me.

It’s not the fluffy “Breakfast Club” retelling with a mystery aspect I was expecting. It’s a gritty novel full of secrets. While it’s filled with your typical mix of high school clichés – the jock, the brain, the dangerous but hot dude, the nerd, the princess – each character has their own secrets and well fleshed out personalities behind the cliché façade.

All of these characters, who don’t really know each other, they may have one or two classes together but have different friends, and they don’t hang out really. They wind up in detention because a teacher catches them with cell phones in a class where cell phones are not allowed. The phones are not theirs. Of course the teacher won’t listen. By the end of detention, the nerd, Simon, is dead.

Simon was notorious for running the school’s unofficial gossip app, posting students secrets. As the police investigation deepens, posts are revealed that contain damning secrets about each of the students that could ruin their reputations and possibly chances of their futures for certain characters.

Each one reacts differently. There’s a great sense of diversity among the characters, and I love how they all dealt with things and showed immense emotional growth over the course and came together to defend each other and solve the mystery. Nothing is as it initially seems and truths slowly start to come out creating big changes for different characters. No one is really who they are first seen to be.

The twists are really good. I’m being vague, I know, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

It’s a really good read and I definitely look forward to more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK Children’s for approving my request to view the title.

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I went into this book not really knowing what to expect but I did know that the Breakfast Club parallels were not something I was looking forward to. Yes, please don't hate me but I hate the alleged classic that is The Breakfast Club. Instead I found this really wonderful book. I always say YA is for more than young adults and 90% of the books I read in that genre prove me right. YA authors don't take the time to dumb down their books, they have rich stories and even deeper meaning than some "adult" books I've read, even from noted authors.

One of Us is lying follows four students following the death of one of their classmates in detention. Simon runs a gossip blog and basically is a bit of a jerk and I can't say I was entirely sorry to see him go. Don't worry, if outcast potential psychopaths are your thing, he pops back up from time to time.

With our remaining detention kids we have Bronwyn, Addy, Nate and Cooper who amongst them provide a pretty varied range of characters. So many authors hide behind "I'm scared to not tell stories accurately" and thus don't even try, whilst I can't say for certain that Karen put a lot of research into any diverse characters in her story, I can definitively say she never made the characters come across as significantly "other" and that makes all the difference. I wish the rest of the literary world would catch up, there's few things sadder than loving books and never seeing yourself more literally involved in them.

I loved both the mystery and character led portions of this book. The mystery was so well thought out, I guessed it prior to the reveal then said "nah" but not only was I right but it was played out in such a way that it really highlighted the earlier moments in the book that spoke to the truth. Additionally there were some great curve balls that I honestly did not see coming and were perfect for the story. In terms of the character led storytelling, I loved how realistic and ultimately revealing it was. It can take some of us a really long time to find out who our friends are but once you do, you're golden. I loved how this story approached this aspect of life/high school and how much it can really take to realise this and even more importantly, learn to not repeat the same actions. Leading on from this [redacted] is such a dick and I'm glad that this book highlights that this behaviour also happens in teen relationships, in fact it's probably worse as girls are continually conditioned to believe that their boyfriends being jealous is a good thing. There comes a time when jealous is not cute, it's extremely disturbing.Also, there's something that we find out towards the end and the length of time [redacted] lied makes them an actual sociopath though 👀

This book truly took me on a rollercoaster of emotions, I laughed, I screamed and I cried, and this is why I love YA. If anything, YA demands more of authors as teenagers are more prone to strong dislike or intense love of items.

Rating: 5 stars

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A thriller with many twists and turns. Four students who see another student die, are all looked at in turn for his murder.

As people's loyalties and friendships change will the truth come out?

A well written book, that compels you to read it as fast as possible to find all the answers.

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The Breakfast Club with a murder. What's not to like? 4/5.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an e-copy of this book. One Of Us Is Lying is published tomorrow, June 1st.

I can imagine the pitch for this book: "The Breakfast Club set in 2016, but the nerd dies and the other 4 are suspects". As high-concept pitches go, that's a cracker.

The execution isn't quite as brilliant as the idea, but it's very entertaining. The 4 main characters are all believable, rounded teenagers. They leap off the page and are a laudably diverse group with depth and a mix of motivations. I have to admit that, because of The Breakfast Club thing, I could only picture them as 1985 Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy and Molly Ringwald... even though it's clear that the characters in this book look nothing like them! Anyway, it did nothing to dent my enjoyment of the story.

I'm a fan of multiple-viewpoint stories and, as the four main characters tell their part of the story, the switching between voices is handled extremely well and helps to keep us in the dark. The POV switching also helped to make the growing friendship between the four entirely believable, as we see how their priorities and outlooks shift with Simon's death and the events of the aftermath.

I did have a few niggles, although I doubt the biggest thing that irritated me would even be noticed by the core target audience for this book. More than once I huffed and rolled my eyes at the unbelieveable level of incompetence demonstrated by the police. Their entire investigative approach seemed to boil down to assuming one of the four main characters is guilty (even though everyone in the school seemed to hate the murder victim and would have had opportunity too) and then putting pressure on them to confess or rat on each other. And this when the suspects are all technically children.

Of course, as in many books, police incompetence is essential if our heroes are to play a crucial role in uncovering the truth, but I still find it annoying.

The final reveal contains one element which is a little disappointing (although it is the only solution which makes any sense at all), but is balanced nicely by a far more shocking revelation which is a calalyst for a high drama climax.

Overall: a story for fans of YA looking for a dose of high-school drama, secrets and lies.

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I really enjoyed this, one of the most compelling things I've read recently. I had a theory on who did it from about halfway and needed to know if I was right.
Nicely written with the four different suspects giving first person accounts of events.
Plenty of food for thought too, lots of depth and interesting ideas.

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I'm really not into 1st person narrators, even more so when there are several of them with such short chapters. I couldn't remember any of the characters' names and was getting confused over who was who, so I just stopped reading after a while.

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I have read a lot of YA books but this one is one of the best. I watched The Breakfast Club years ago, and knowing this was based on the same idea intrigued me. I assumed as I read I would see the characters from the film as those on the page, but that didn't happen. The characters in this book quickly became their own people, and that is a good thing.

I liked the fact that we get to read chapters from different perspectives. Each of the characters get their own voice throughout, meaning we get a deeper insight into what is going on with them, and what happened in their past to bring them into the thick of things.

Each of the characters has something to hide, that is why they find themselves drawn into the aftermath of a tragic death. But is the death as tragic as first assumed? As the story picks up pace we quickly realise all is not as it seems. But the author still manages to keep us guessing right to the end.

This is a well written story, with twists throughout. It will keep you gripped throughout. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy.

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This book feels like a modern day Agatha Christie take on the Breakfast Club, a closed room murder mystery with a pool of teenage suspects including a "brain", a "jock" a "princess" and of course the "rebel". The author is very tongue in cheek about this inspiration, alluding to it in the early part of the book.
With a cast of teenage characters, this book falls squarely in YA territory, but the characters are well rounded enough, and the story so well told that readers of all ages should enjoy it. Particularly well crafted characters are Bronwyn, the "brain" and Cooper , the "athlete" who are both struggling under the expectations of their parents.
The central premise is that following the death of a student who runs a gossip app, and who knows a secret about each of the main characters, they all become suspects in the investigation of his murder, but whose secret is so dark that killing someone is the only way to keep it?
While I did enjoy the book, I was a little disappointed to figure out the mystery before the story revealed it, however I blame that on years of reading books in the mystery genre rather than any particular fault in the story telling here. I would consider this a very solid 3.5 almost 4 star read.

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I was IMMENSELY excited for this book, and McManus delivered in a lot of ways - but in some, there was room for improvement.

The plot, intriguing and dark, was a beauty in this book - as you can tell by simply reading the blurb. Widely untouched in YA, it novelises themes in trending teenage programmes - Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, Scream Queens among others. The setting of the high school was accurate, and it was very wise of her to include characters from so many "cliques," it brought a new aspect to each chapter.

Although the characters were shells themselves (more on that later), they are not without their secrets... oh my. So. Many. Secrets. Need a page-turner in your life? This should do it. Each chapter was told by one of the four characters, and the last line of each chapter ALWAYS made me pull this face 👀 for real.

Maybe it's because of the way you couldn't trust any of them but in the end, I couldn't make myself like the characters. Perhaps it's one of those novels to revisit after I've finished high school, or maybe it's because I'm not American, but I didn't feel like I could really relate to any of them. Even after the secrets were unravelled, I wasn't particularly rooting for any characters or pairings, and I wasn't really invested in the characters, only the plot - but maybe that was the point.

Overall this is still a good read, but if you read for the characters and like to get invested, just prepare yourself - you might have a completely different experience to me, anyways!

// Thank you go NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for an honest review //

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I was expecting this to be a bit of a bog standard thriller but I found the characters to be much more keenly drawn than that. They kept me reading to the end!

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One of Us is Lying is a hard book to put down, in fact, I read the entire book in less than 5 hours.

McManus takes us on one hell of a ride when Simon, the school's main source of gossip, dies during a detention which leaves four different students in the frame. There's Addy, the devoted girlfriend to athlete Jake who is more than a little controlling, Bronwyn - the Yale bound, straight A student, Cooper, the school's beloved jock whose father is singing from Jake's hymn sheet, and finally Nate - the "screw up" who has a hard home life. All of them have secrets that would destroy their lives, would they take Simon's to protect their own life?

This book hands you all four perspectives and it's left to you, along with the accused to work out who killed the gossip to keep him quiet. They keep professing their innocence as each person's secret is unravelled and it causes chaos. I reckon this is the first book I've read for a while that I haven't predicted the end - it's an original plot and the characters are far from perfect yet you can't help but hope your favourite wasn't the killer.

I strongly recommend this book for a summer read that you'll be drawn into until the very end. Is it bad I'm hoping for a sequel to see how Bronwyn's romance plays out?

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I have received the copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.
I was so excited for this book after reading the premise; five teenagers walk into detention, the brain, the beauty, the criminal, the athlete and the gossip, reminding me of one of my all-time favourite movie. However, here comes the twist: only four of them come out of detention alive. How thrilling this twist is?!
Oh where shall I even start with this review? There was so many great points to this book, and a few minor aspects I have not enjoyed that much, but overall I loved and devoured this book.
I loved the characters so much! They were diverse, they come from such different backgrounds, they each had their own crazy secrets and dealt with the upcoming events in their own separate way. I loved the representation of so many different personalities, it really made the storyline diverse with a great variety of views and lives. They all live such separate lives, yet they were all made relatable and well-thought out equally. I was quite concerned with so many POVs that someone’s story may not be that detailed or effortful as others, but I was such positively surprised that they were all equally given attention and detail. Also, they all may not seem as they are all portrayed at first. I loved this twist to the story. The characters really set this book aside for me, even with the interesting storyline premise.
Also, there was a gentle romance aspect to some of the characters, which I actually really enjoyed and was rooting for them all the way to the last page!
The book also covers some very important and relevant messages relating to our society and generation. The power of social media, our drive to succeed and fit in, but having the power to take our own lives into our own hands.
The storyline was pretty obvious to me early on, however, somethings happen and I go back doubting myself about what is the actual truth. This book definitely kept me on my toes, kept me guessing and doubting, even though I figured out the main plot early on.
I have received the copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.
I was so excited for this book after reading the premise; five teenagers walk into detention, the brain, the beauty, the criminal, the athlete and the gossip, reminding me of one of my all-time favourite movie. However, here comes the twist: only four of them come out of detention alive. How thrilling this twist is?!
Oh where shall I even start with this review? There was so many great points to this book, and a few minor aspects I have not enjoyed that much, but overall I loved and devoured this book.
I loved the characters so much! They were diverse, they come from such different backgrounds, they each had their own crazy secrets and dealt with the upcoming events in their own separate way. I loved the representation of so many different personalities, it really made the storyline diverse with a great variety of views and lives. They all live such separate lives, yet they were all made relatable and well-thought out equally. I was quite concerned with so many POVs that someone’s story may not be that detailed or effortful as others, but I was such positively surprised that they were all equally given attention and detail. Also, they all may not seem as they are all portrayed at first. I loved this twist to the story. The characters really set this book aside for me, even with the interesting storyline premise.
Also, there was a gentle romance aspect to some of the characters, which I actually really enjoyed and was rooting for them all the way to the last page!
The book also covers some very important and relevant messages relating to our society and generation. The power of social media, our drive to succeed and fit in, but having the power to take our own lives into our own hands.
The storyline was pretty obvious to me early on, however, somethings happen and I go back doubting myself about what is the actual truth. This book definitely kept me on my toes, kept me guessing and doubting, even though I figured out the main plot early on.
I loved this book, I was hooked on it from the first page to the last. It is such a quick, fun yet serious book tackling some modern day issues on the power of social media on our lives, which was cleverly constructed to create this thrilling YA mystery read! I would recommend it to everyone!

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One of Us is Lying is sure one of the most interesting YA Mystery out there. The title alone will catch your attention, not to mention that juicy blurb. With a premise like this one, I can’t help but expect it to be good. And this debut novel from Karen M. McManus didn’t disappoint. It is engaging and totally engrossing. There’s not a lot of YA mystery novels out there that can accomplish that. Everything started so good with Simon’s death immediately laid out for everyone to guess whodunnit. I have a hint of who’s the killer halfway of the story and it’s nice to know I get it right come revelation, considering all the red herrings the author throw out there. It is a solid read that will keep the reader’s attention from start to finish. It is not short of mystery and there’s few surprising twist and turns in store. It is quite an enjoyable read and YA fans especially those who love them some mystery will surely appreciate it. Awesome debut for Miss McManus.

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The Thursday that Cooper, Addy, Nate, Bronwyn and Simon get detention at Bayview High School for having mobile phones in a science class is the day that changes their lives forever. Nothing will ever be the same again because that day one of them dies and the other four become the chief suspects in the murder, with their whole lives under police scrutiny.
During the investigation it emerges that the very next day, the Friday, secrets about the four murder suspects were due to go live online on the school gossip forum, exposing them for what they have done and who they really are. Only two people know these feared secrets which have been oh so carefully buried: the person who died and the person with their secret.
As the investigation escalates the story spreads across the country, championed by a TV investigative reporter and a human rights lawyer. Their story goes viral with frantic social media posts and trial by internet. The press bray for interviews; their lawyers advise silence. There is no escape for the Bayview Four and they are either vilified or social idols. Questions abound and evidence is collected. Piece by piece the truth of the matter is discovered. Then shockingly there is an announcement: an arrest has been authorised and served. One of the suspects is already held in a juvenile detention facility.
'One of us is Lying' is the intriguing debut novel of Karen McManus. It is compelling, tense and enthralling. The storytelling is fabulous both in pace and in plot development. The characters are diverse: a baseball wannabe star, a Prom Queen, a bad boy petty criminal and drug dealer, a brilliant and talented student and the creator of the Bayview High School gossip app. All of these characters have stories to tell, reasons for keeping their secrets. I loved them all in different ways and found their character development curiously captivating. I felt a mixture of emotions: sadness, empathy, compassion, disbelief and sympathy, but my abiding interest was always the question of just how far the murderer would go to ensure their secrets remained buried. I guessed one way, then another, then changed my mind and was certain who the murderer was. I was wrong; I’m very pleased to say. The truth was a total revelation to me but I really, really loved how the novel ended.
I would like to thank NetGalley and publisher Penguin for my copy of 'One of us is Lying', sent to me in return for an honest review. This is a very good read full of mystery, thrills and spills and shocking twists and turns. I loved the way their stories merged to reveal the truth of their detention day. There’s almost everything in this story: an unreliable narrator, romance, criminality, bribery, parental pressure, revenge, scenes with sexual content and even more. There are no spoilers in my review and plenty more action than I have written about. This new author has a huge talent for this genre and I’m really looking forward to following her career and reading more of her novels in the future. It’s a 4.5* review from me.

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I love YA and I love crime fiction so I went into One Of Us Is Lying with some high expectations. With a solid Goodreads rating of 4/5 (at the time of writing), it seemed that it was all everyone could talk about. And I could see why.

With the recent success of teen suicide TV show Thirteen Reasons Why (TRW), the popularity for high school dramas has risen again and book sales for Jay Asher's novel have boomed for the first time since 2007. The interesting thing is, both TRW and One Of Us Is Lying follow the same clear principle: a student dies and their peers fill in the backstory.

Simon, Bronywn, Nate, Cooper and Addy all find themselves in detention one afternoon. That in itself is very weird. They aren't exactly friends. Bronwyn is the ambitious, Yale-aspiring student, Nate is the one that's always in trouble, Cooper is the sports-freak and Addy is the resident princess. That leaves Simon, the "omniscient narrator" as he calls himself. It seemed at first that everyone was comfortable with themselves and their high school identity, but when one of the five dies in detention, everything starts falling apart.

There's an app called About That threatening to exploit their secrets and a police investigation going on that could see them arrested. Tensions rise and each of the characters are pushed to their limits. I particularly enjoyed seeing how Addy changed her perspective on a lot of things, mostly relationships, and how she re-evaluated her family life. That might be an unpopular opinion because there are parts of Addy that make her unlikable (cough cough, her self-pity). Yet, there are aspects of every character that make them imperfect and that's where the mystery lies. Which one of them could have killed another?

The driving force of One Of Us Is Lying is how you begin to suspect every character. I scrutinised every line of dialogue, every alliance, every action and still found myself coming up short. But the ending didn't let me down. While I would have loved some TRW-style flashbacks, I settled for the explosion that concluded the story. Or, I'm still trying to let my brain calm down from it, anyway.

The only thing that I didn't 100% love was the romance aspect of the story. It really didn't need or benefit from it and I found it hard to get on board with the pairing. I struggled to route for them or even see why they were interested in one another, probably because it was all put down to the 'they used to know each other' plot device that I find depressingly lazy. Instead, it would have been more interesting to see some of the remaining four turning on one another, conflicts raging, blaming one another, anything that would have added more fuel to the fire.

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What a fantastic debut book. Sometimes when I choose books I kind of dont pay much attention. Maybe I get a email advertising it or see something on Twitter.
I cant remember how I came across One Of Us Is lying but I am glad I did. It wasnt until after reading it and looking it up on Goodreads that I realised it was a Y/A book. Didnt feel like it as I read it. The story is told by the four main characters,Bronwyn, Addy, Nate and Cooper. It was a joy to read, the story telling flowed at a quick pace and was a joy to read.
There are a multitude of stories within the book, Love, Hate, Sexuality, Regret and Friendship and its all perfectly wrapped up in a mysterious death.

The story was engrossing and fast paced and most of all enjoyable. Although I did work out what was going on quite early in the book it didnt detract from the quality of the story.

Highly recommended for the adult market just as much as the YA.

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