One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus Series: One of Us is Lying #1
Published by Delacorte (5.30.2017)
Genres: Thriller, Young Adult
Format: Audiobook, 361 pages
Length: 10 hours, 43 minutes
Narrator: Kim Mai Guest, MacLeod Andrews, Robbie Daymond, Shannon McManus
Source: Library
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.
My thoughts
It’s been a while since I read a mystery/thriller because they’re not usually my jam (and ya’ll know I don’t usually do contemp at all), but I really enjoyed this one! I loved the mystery aspect and how we slowly got snippets of information that lead to clues about the murder. The mystery and all the secrets kept me going!
Honestly, throughout most of this book I had no idea who did it. It was well done for sure! I can usually see most twists coming, and this one kept me on my toes. It’s hard to talk about anything without giving the book away, so I’m going to put the rest in a spoiler tag!
View Spoiler »I want to say, the characterization in this book is fantastic, and was probably my favorite part besides the mystery. Each of the characters had such depth to them, they were all realistic and believable. It was fantastic that each and every one of them had their own secrets that slowly came to light (which also makes the title ironic because they were all lying). I also enjoyed how they all came together as a group toward the end and became a tight knit group of friends that relied on and supported each other!
While this one didn’t have that extra magic that would make it a 5-star read for me, I really enjoyed it and definitely recommend for fans of mystery and thriller (or even if you aren’t)!
The audio
I absolutely LOVED the narrators! Such a fantastic job! I actually picked this one on the basis that Kim Mai Guest (Auri in Aurora Rising) and MacLeod Andrews (Nik in Gemina) were narrating. I was also super impressed with the other two!
Kim Mai Guest as Bronwyn – She’s become one of my favorite narrators, and she was honestly perfect for Bronwyn!
MacLeod Andrews as Cooper – I freaking love his voice, it’s so dreamy okay.
Shannon McManus as Addy – I loved her narrating! Would definitely listen to her again. I actually think her character is the one that grew on me the most!
Robbie Daymond as Nate – not gonna lie, he was my least favorite, but still really good!
The narrators seriously brought the characters to life. When I wasn’t listening, I was thinking about listening! When I finished I went and immediately put a hold on the second book!
Overall Assessment
Plot: 4/5
Premise: 4/5
Writing style: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Pace: 4.5/5
Feels: 3/5
Narration: 5/5
Cover: 3/5
Overall rating: 4/5
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