Book Review: One of Us is Lying by Karen M McManus

I received a copy of One of Us is Lying by Karen M McManus from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Description (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." 

My Review: 

One of Us Is Lying is a young adult mystery told through alternating viewpoints.  Each chapter is from the point of view of one of the students that was in detention with Simon when he is killed.  Each person feels they shouldn’t be in detention – all having been caught with phones in class – phones that aren’t theirs.  It is all very mysterious and then Simon dies.  I won’t spoil the surprise on how he dies – but each person in that room comes under scrutiny as a suspect in Simon’s death.

As the story unfolds we learn more about the characters that were in the room as well as their secrets and possible motivations for wanting Simon dead.  You see, Simon published a blog about the secrets and scandals of his classmates and everyone – no matter how innocent they are have secrets to hide.

I really enjoyed reading this story and learning about the characters.  It was interesting to see how they became unified by this single event.  It was interesting to see how their stories unfolded and how someone continued with the blog posts after Simon was gone, throwing suspicion on different characters.  It was interesting learning their secrets and just how far each could be pushed.

The ending was not something that I could ever have guessed, which I found very refreshing.  I hate it when you already know who committed the crime and why before you’re even half way through the book.

I rated this book 5 Stars because it entertained and it kept me guessing.  I highly recommend it to anyone that loves a good mystery.