Book Review: One Of Us Is Lying; Karen M. McManus

On the surface this doesn't necessarily seem like my type of book - not only is it a teen high school drama (not famed for being my favourite genre) it's also marketed around fans of 'Pretty Little Liars' which is a show I didn't find myself overly bothered about watching. But this book, surpassed all of my expectations, and I do love a good murder mystery!

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: One Of Us Is Lying
AUTHOR: Karen M. McManus
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Penguin
PAGES: 358
GENRE: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT, Mystery

RATING: 5/5 Stars

Blurb:
On Thursday 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 Thursday, he died. But on Friday, 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 just 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.

What I Liked:

• There were so many awesome things about this book that I barely know where to begin. I suppose I'll start with my favourite thing about the book - the characters. There were 4 POVs in this story, all of which were suspects to the murder and each had their own unique personality, secrets and interests. It was good to learn more about them as the story progressed. I also enjoyed watching them interact with each other, their relationships and conversation definitely felt very genuine.
• The plot itself moved perfectly. Plenty of twists and turns along the way, some a little predictable but a lot of them fun enough to keep me guessing. This continued until the very end and I had only guessed a little bit of how the finale would play out. But I loved the pacing and plot direction, and McManus didn't let me become bored for one second. 

What I Disliked:

• I'll be honest, nothing really struck me as a dislike about this book. It was an easy, fun read that had me hooked from beginning to end. I perhaps wish that a little more focus had been given to what happened to them all after the investigation, but at the same time I feel like McManus rounded off their stories really nicely. So really, I think it's more wishful thinking on my part to be honest.

Overall Conclusion:

All in all, this was a great book! A well built setting, a school that reacted exactly how I imagined in such a situation, a great murder mystery, and fantastic character building. This was everything I wanted in a read and it's actually made me feel that I might enjoy more books like this, especially if they involve something a bit juicier than the usual high school gossip!