One of Us is Lying Spoiler Free Book Review
One of Us is Lying Spoiler Free Book Review – [Updated for 2025]
Getting back into reading has been one of the best things to come out of lockdown.
Before I always made excuses that I was too busy, but with nothing but time on my hands at night now, reading has become a comfort, a way to escape.
Recently I have been reading One of us is Lying by Karen M. McManus and although I was a little slower in finishing this one, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Because I was picking up Good Girl, Bad Blood and was in the mood for mystery fiction I thought that this would be a solid choice as well. And I’m glad I went for it.
Before I bought it, I hadn’t looked into the plot or saw anyone posing about what to expect, so all I had to go on was the blurb.
Even better it was a deal of two books for £7!
This review is spoiler free.
One of Us is Lying Spoiler Free Review
One of Us is Lying, is about 5 teens who enter detention and only 4 leave. It’s a fiction mystery book full of secrets and lies as we follow the journey of the 4 teens, each with their own story to tell.
The book has been described as The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars but I personally don’t see where The Breakfast Club reference comes into play other than the fact they were all in detention together and that was only for a short period of time.
Blink and you could miss it entirely.
So, to me I don’t understand that reference, but I definitely get where Pretty Little Liars comes into play with the individual point of views and the secrets all whilst uncovering what happened.
From Goodreads:
“The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars, 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.”
One of Us is Lying Characters
Every character is different, and each has their own thing going on.
As the story unfolds it is told from their perspectives so that the reader can get to know each of them and experience what is happening from their point of view.
Admittedly, I wasn’t too keen on this style to begin with as I was worried that the overall plot would become murky and confusing.
But it was an easy narrative to follow and each person’s section was labelled appropriately so you knew who was telling the story and at which point.
I also found that the characters were quite relatable and the way social media came into play felt realistic.
There have been real world news stories on the role social media has played in young people’s lives being turned upside down due to the accessibility. This makes it easier for secrets to come to light and online bullying has been getting worse.
It was obviously exaggerated for the story but I wouldn’t be surprised if I read a story on a news website similar to what happened in the book.
It seems these sort of things can happen easily now compared to when I was a teen. So, I found this to be a nice touch in the story telling McManus displayed.
The book was paced well
I was also pleased to see that the action started pretty much straight away as I thought the whole story would lead up to the teens getting detention and then only 4 leaving but it happens at the start of the book and the story progresses as we find out why it happened.
To me it felt like a good pace as sometimes stories like this can take a while to get into and once the main event happens, it goes downhill.
But in One of Us is Lying, it jumps straight to the action and has a follow up that is satisfactory.
There weren’t any parts in the book that I wanted to skip over. It was nicely paced, and I got the gripping feeling which is always a bonus as I like to be on the edge of my seat, eagerly awaiting what comes next.
All of it was interesting!
I got a lot of what I like in a story from this book, murder, mystery, budding romance and secrets.
I was also blessed with not knowing the exact twist that was coming which normally I tend to spot straight away.
At first I suspected one character of murder, sure that it was them until about 30% of the way through and that’s when I scrapped them as a suspect and had two people on my mind that it could be.
Lucky enough one of them was right!
But the fact I couldn’t be 100% sure made this story exciting to read as I didn’t have it all figured out within the first few chapters.
The whole plot of this story felt like it could be made into a movie or a TV series, which I think is happening from my research on Google.
It says that NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, has already cast the actors and actresses for the pilot based on Karen M. McManus’ book.
I’m looking forward to seeing if this does come to fruition because I would definitely watch it.
Although it has the vibe of Pretty Little Liars, I could also see this as a plot from Riverdale. Well, maybe circa season one or two, not the new musical style Riverdale.
I Loved it!
All in all, I really enjoyed One of us is lying and I’m eager to read the next book in the series, One of us is next.
It was a thrilling read with characters that felt relatable. If you enjoy young adult fiction books that cover thrilling mystery’s, I would definitely recommend you pick up a copy and give it a read yourself.
I would give One of Us is Lying a 4 out of 5 stars.
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Ive had this book sitting on my shelf for a while but keep skipping over it for some reason. Maybe I'll have to give it a go pretty soon!
I actually feel like I get that whole "Breakfast Club meets PLL" reference, but I totally get where you're coming from as well! I like that it's the start of a series, that sounds fairly intriguing. Although this is a genre I'd never normally reach for, I'm still quite interested in the storyline!
I absolutely adored one of us is lying when I read it! I literally couldn't put it down and ended up reading it instead of revising for a microbiology test oops!!
Ooh this sounds a good book! Me too with the reading during lockdown. I am trying my best to keep up the reading habit now the pub is back open. I'm halfway through A nearly normal family by M.T. Edvardsson, which I'm loving so far x
Fantastic review, Jordanne. 💚 Obviously as a book blogger, I was already reading quite a bit 😘 but lockdown has certainly increased my quality reading time.
Hope you have a good weekend.
Flora
I absolutely love thrillers! This one looks really good, and that comparison to The Breakfast Club and Pretty Little Liars is super intriguing. Great review. (:
The plot seems quite interesting and I believe that The Breakfast Club has to do with some stereotype-ish personality with the novel? But yes, I can see some of the influence of The Pretty Liar.
It may not be my cup of tea but if they ever turn it into a movie I may watch the film.
Michelle
Sounds like a book I’d be interested in! I love thrillers and mystery. I’ve really enjoyed the books where the event happens immediately and then you spend the rest of the time figuring out why or who did it! I can never put them down because I need to know!
It’s a great book! Definitely worth a read, loved playing detective throughout
It’s always nice not to know the twist before it comes! I figure it out a lot of the time too, and it’s kinda a let down…
You’ve definitely convinced me to add this to my pile… PLL was great so I’m sure this will be something I enjoy as well!