One of Us Is Lying
Ratings468
Average rating3.7
Some delicious trash while reading. After finishing though, I feel the same way I felt after eating an entire bag of Halloween candy. Each morsel was yummy and kept me reaching for the next. Once I was finished, I stared at the empty bag feeling guilty and disconsolate.
I loved this. Loved the pacing, characters, plot, balance between the mystery and side storylines <3
3.75/5 stars “I guess we're almost friends now, or as friendly as you can get when you're not one hundred percent sure the other person isn't framing you for murder.”
So I actually predicted the ending well all except Jake had something to do with it and I'm so incredibly proud of myself, I'm thinking of throwing away all future career plans I may have and becoming a detective because obviously, I'm a prodigy.
And for once in my life, I'm not overwhelmed by a rush of disappointment after finishing this book. I knew this wasn't a type of book I was going to be all heart-eyes over, so my expectations was a three star book and that's what I got. Thanks @disappointment for leaving me along for once.
One Of Us Is Lying is about The Breakfast Club four stereotypical high school students who witness a murder during detention one day, and after some Tumblr posts, they are all the main suspects in the murder.
There's Bronwyn, the “brains”
And Nate, the “criminal”
Then Addy the “beauty”
Lastly, Cooper, the “athlete”
Sounds just like The Breakfast Club right? Except one's a classic movie and the other has murder...
I think one of the most tragic things about this book is Simon, the guy who was murdered, died in detention. Poor guy. Nobody deserves that. If I was to die, I would want to be doing something I loved, like while reading a book or six episodes deep into a Toddlers & Tiaras marathon. But Simon was unfortunate enough to be murdered during the worst part of high school. I don't care if he's some huge gossiper, no one deserves to die, and no one deserves to die in detention. Even with the twist at the ending, no one deserves it.That plot twist at the ending, the one I correctly predicted, where it was actually all an elaborate suicide left me incredibly disappointed. I felt like it was thrown in there just as a plot twist,instead of using this as a way to talk about mental health.Also, let's talk about the misleading title. None of the four characters were lying, while at the same time all of them were.
This book really wasn't anything outstanding to me, but the read was so freaking fun that I don't even care. I became so invested in wanting to know what happened, that I read the entire thing in mostly one sitting.
If ya wanna fun, ya thriller that's more addicting than thrilling then this is the read for you.
i read this book a long time ago and i dont remember it that well anymore, but i remember being pleasantly surprised by it. while i like mysteries im not always huge into the highschool drama type genre, so i was worried it would be too much for me but i found it better than i expected. i do remember some aspects of the mystery were a bit confusing in a way that did not feel intended but it was overall interesting.
Disappointed that I paid $20 for a hardcover version of a novel in which I predicted the killer from the beginning.
It was so obvious that Simon committed suicide to pin a murder on the other characters, because peanut oil is just such a specific thing that simply seems unrealistic for the gravity of the secrets these high schoolers had.
It was also very unrealistic that Yale tweeted at the end that they were looking forward to her application. Um, what? That makes no sense considering how most private schools will generally automatically rule out anyone who cheated, especially someone who cheated and exposed themself for doing so publicly. I just found that part extremely odd to add. It didn't add anything to the novel except for praise for the studious girl who cheated because she was bad at chemistry, which is just unfair.
Well damn....... I had to take pauses after the major plot twist. Like, who would have thought that Simon would plot his own death and Jake? Jake knew everything and still acted like everything was normal n I didn't even get how that possible
Now I want to re-watch The Breakfast Club....
Anyways, this was really fun to read cause I only figured out the killer a few pages before it was revealed. I was definitely not expecting this level of complexity in the setup
And may I just say the CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT ❤️
Тема книги манит и обещает, что скучно не будет. Школьники из богатых семей, каждый, как водится, идеален и безупречен, но со своим скелетом в шкафу. В школе есть некий сплетник, который не просто собирает сплетни и рассказывает о них всей школе, а еще и не скрывается. Все знают, что сплетни рассказывает Саймон, все немного побаиваются его и каждый день молятся, чтобы сегодняшняя сплетня была не о нем.
И - вот сюрприз! - Саймона убивают, а под подозрением оказываются 4 человека, которых обманом собрали в классной комнате...
По части напряжения было здорово - деткам не дают успокоится, то к одному, то к другому приходит полиция; атмосфера нагнетается и, кажется, вот-вот разразится гроза...
Но нет. Кажется, но нет: разгадка довольна тривиальна, и тем обиднее это, чем больше нагнеталась тревога. Изначально загадка была сложной, там не могло быть никакого простого решения - полупустой школьный класс, 6 человек вместе с жертвой и учителем, и каждому из них веришь как себе - так уж прописаны персонажи. Все сильны по-своему, и у каждого своя история; ждешь классного развития сюжета, а получаешь пшик. Будто сама таинственная составляющая истории была не так и важна, а больше внимания уделялось персонажам и их историям. Что ж, это и правда вышло, но тогда зачем эта тайна?.. Словом, я не впечатлена.
The suspense! Not proud of this but I nearly flipped the pages to the last 5 chapters then get back to the story afterwards. The multiple POVs were annoying at first then they got very curious... I started wondering if one POV was lying to me as a reader.
The reason as to why the person dies is pretty sad.
Would totally recommend
This book was able to get me back into reading. I couldn't put the book down at all. The ending was a bit predictable but that didn't take away from the book at all. The characters were enjoyable and I liked being able to see each persons perspective and how they felt about the events happening. The main characters were able to show growth and change through-out the book. It flowed well too. Overall I would recommend the book to anyone who wants to get back into reading or anyone who wants an introduction to mystery and thriller with a touch of romance!
I just don't think this author is for me. This is a reread from when it first came out because I wanted to give it another try. I found all of the characters unlikeable and one-dimensional. I didn't like the writing style, and the ending and big reveal was just meh to me. Many of the characters also read the same to me, and multiple times I had to go back to remind myself who I was reading about. The best part of the book was the gossip blog, and there wasn't nearly enough snippets to keep me interested. I think I wanted (and expected) it to be more like Pretty Little Liars, and if more secrets were revealed, or even some flashback chapters were incorporated, I think I would have liked it better.
It was better than I thought! Heard so many bad things about it but it was so good! I didn't try and solve it, I just read and then let the book tell me who it was. Going to read the sequel now
OMG? It was actually really really good book, I loved it! I actually expected the end to happen, but anyways, so good book! Definitely recommend!
I enjoyed this book. The writing was a tad simplistic but it's nothing to complain about.
I had thought that the principal was responsible for his anti-technology crusade. I did not expect Simon to have killed himself. Now that I'm thinking about it though, what did he carry the peanut oil in and where was it? Addy said it had to be cold-pressed, and maybe that's the answer, but I'm not sure what that means. If this is not the answer and he brought in a vial or something and lined his cup while filling it up, where was that vial? The police would have found it either way if it was still on his person or if he threw it out in the library. It would have had his fingerprints on it and this could have been avoided.
Something i think about whenever i'm reading an american teen novel, are america's kids' problems so big or are they dramatized and exaggerated for the sake of fiction. And if so, won't at some point life imitate art, and have teens juggling life's biggest challenges cz they believe they're supposed to. Seeing how many teens are driven to suicide or shootings, i guess many do believe the highschool experience is that important to perfect, when i have no idea how the social life in school as a concept started (might be another thing started in movies that life decided to imitate). Like couldn't all these films be made about college kids instead of highschool kids? Isn't worrying about getting good grades and accepted in colleges enough?
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I had started writing that review not knowing where the book is going, but it did give me that feeling of anxiety and suffocation, and not to spoil anything but it makes sense.
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It's a good book, the mystery part is intriguing, u can build ur own theories while reading the book, there's nothing the protagonists know that u don't, which is always more fun when reading a mystery. The reveal was good, made sense, and the book gave us enough time to say goodbye to the characters, also an important thing for me. Also it really made me hate cops, the book gets an extra point for that.
i always wondered how people could read entire books in one day. when i was in elementary school, it would take me a week to finish one book. no matter how many pages. 100 pages, 200 pages, 300 pages. ‘one of us is lying' was the first full book that i have read in years, and i finished it in 6 hours.
i realized now that there are two reasons why people finish full novels in one day: the book is so good that you can't put it down, or the book is so annoying you just want to finish it to see it through.
to me, one of us is lying is both of those combined.
at the beginning of the book, i was really interested in the story and characters. excited to see what would happen and how they would solve the murder. then i start to suspect everyone. at one point nate, even cooper, and then i believed serious that jake had to be the one!
then the big reveal. simon had killed himself.
mind blowing. so mind blowing that i almost through my phone across the room. all of a sudden, all that detective work just to slap “suicide” over it and call it a day.
i understand simon's mental health was at rock bottom, and honestly, i could see something like this happening in real life. but the ending felt so anticlimactic, like i was waiting for some big reveal and nothing happened.
i did like the characters though, they weren't bad at all. sometimes they were annoying but they were bearable at best. i think addy had the best character development and she went from at the beginning of the story being ‘useless' to basically finding out what happened and getting injured trying to help. still though, i never really liked cheaters but they're redeemable to me if they feel bad after cheating. (and addy felt horrible)
the guys in this story kinda sucked though (not that the girls were any better). jake was a 0/10 guy, cooper was a cheater (but he seemed like a nice guy minus that), simon just sucked ass. only nate kept my interest. but to me, he was such a walking bad boy stereotype, that i could see through him like a window. when his mom showed up and all he could say was “what's up, mom?”
not going to lie, i was aiming for 4/5 stars up until i found out the real reason simon was killed (OR, spoiler alert, killed himself to get back at bunch of other kids who didnt include him in). I was rooting for either of them to be the murdere but i was really disappointed.
Bueno bueno bueno... Tenía muchas expectativas con este libro y la verdad que no ha defraudado, ha superado con creces la verdad. Amo a los cuatro personaje principales, sobre todo Nate. Empezaré con ansias el segundo libro.
Really good plottwist. I did not know until the end. I love books written by Karen M. McManus.
Necesitaba un thriller de estos en mi vida. Me pienso leer los otros dos libros antes de verme la serie. Me he ventilado la primera parte en menos de 24 horas. Lol
