Audiobook Review: One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

youngcreativepress

1 year ago

Synopsis:

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.

Review:

I went into One Of Us Is Lying mostly already knowing where the story would go as I’ve seen the first season of the adaptation. There were some differences though so those kept me on my toes. This was my second book by Karen M. McManus and I’m happy to say they’ve both been pretty good reads (technically listens as both were audiobooks).

I’d definitely recommend reading the book before watching the show as the twists don’t hit as hard the other way round. A few of them are different too so I was waiting for the revelation from the show, which could still be coming in book two maybe, but I thought the twist in the show was a little more shocking.

The narration was really well done. I’d probably say Bronwyn’s chapters were my least favourite and Nate’s my favourites. Mostly because of Robbie Daymond but also because Nate was the most interesting character. I found the voice of Bronwyn’s narrator a little annoying but that could be down to the slightly faster speed I use to listen to audiobooks. Using actual voice actors to narrate audiobooks is always a good idea.

I actually quite like the fact that you aren’t really supposed to like any of the main characters. They’ve all done something bad, some much worse than others, but you can’t help but like them. Nate has committed literal crimes but he was my favourite character. He probably had the most complex background and he has so much room for development. I get that he’s a classic bad boy who deals drugs tropey character, but there’s definitely more depth to him that we aren’t seeing yet.

I think some aspects of One Of Us Is Lying could have been handled better, mainly mental illness, but often YA books aren’t great at this. Which makes sense when a book is told from the perspective of self-involved teenagers with little to no empathy. Every character in this book basically only cared about themself. With the expectation of Bronwyn and Nate but that’s only because of their budding romantic relationship.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend reading One Of Us Is Lying–even if you’ve already watched the show. There are enough differences to keep it interesting. Also, the mystery is great to experience for the first time. I remember being so shocked when watching the show. I can’t imagine how great the big twist would have been if I’d read the book first.