One of Us Is Lying

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?”