One of us is lying - Karen M. McManus

   Hey there! I'm back with yet another young adult fiction: One of us is lying by none other than Karen M. McManus. To all those of you who haven't any clue about this book, it is a  murder mystery thriller that sets off among 5 totally unrelated high school students. And no, this isn't the type of typical murder drama where a detective comes in and solves the crime with his unrestrictedly witty brains. In this book, McManus kind of leaves it to the reader to unravel the mysteries and clues and this is one of the many things I really enjoyed about this book. It actually made you think about the different aspects and possibilities of the story and involved a lot of reader interaction. Well let's get to the plot now-

The story takes place in a high school setting- Bayview High, when Brownyn, a studious, ambitious, high school girl walks into detention with 4 other people:

Nate: the criminal- already on probation for previous criminal records.

Addy: the beauty- the picture perfect gossip girl.

Cooper: the athlete- the handsome American, all-star baseball pitcher

and of course, Simon: the outcast- the creator of Bayview High's most notorious gossip app.

Just as they figure out the fact that they actually didn't do anything that deserved detention, the strangest distraction arises and before you know, Simon is choking to death. When his autopsy was released, it was evident that he didn't do this to himself and there was definitely an involvement of someone else too. In the process of Simons past truths and enemies being revealed, it was left to the other 4 (the so called Bayview four) to figure out who among them was the killer. Or is the killer even one of them...? Everyone has their secrets. What really matters is how far they would go to protect them. Among death, killers, romances, secrets and past life grudges, who's actually innocent and who merely appears to be innocent will always be a mystery. 

This book had one of the most riveting twists that made it all the more interesting to read. The characters were just so beautifully portrayed and that's one of the most important factors you see in a book. Overall, this book was really impressive and suits its genre very well. I would honestly give this a solid 4.7/5. Where did the 0.3 go, you ask? I personally find no harm if there was a little more to the plot/story because I feel it had enough potential to become so much more. But on the contrary, it was satisfying in itself, how apt it turned out to be. So yes, all you murder mystery lovers, you just got another book on your list:)