One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

Thrillers are totally my jam, although I'm really on the fence with YA thrillers since I tend to find them too predictable. But with the hype surrounding One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus (and the fact that I got to meet her at a local event a few weeks ago), I figured I needed to give this one a shot. Plus, Karen described this story as "The Breakfast Club, but with murder" so obviously that got my attention right away.

When five students are sent to detention for something they didn't do, only four walk out of the room alive. Simon is dead, and now Nate, Bronwyn, Cooper, and Addy are the prime suspects. You see, Simon ran the school's gossip app, About That, and there were pending stories about all 4 of them that were about to be posted. Did one (or more) of them decide to kill Simon to keep their secrets from getting out? Building off the criminal, the brain, the athlete, and the beauty from the original Breakfast Club, the story follows these four teens as they deal with questioning and try to figure out who the real killer is.

The story was told from all four points of view. I loved how each character had a very unique voice, and personal struggles they were dealing with in addition to the murder investigation. I really identified with Addy, but I loved Bronwyn and Nate the most (especially together!). I just couldn't identify with Cooper, probably because he was the athlete in the group and I just couldn't relate to all the baseball talk. I loved that there was a gay character in this story as well and I think that aspect was really well done. When I saw Karen speak, she mentioned that she actually let her son name one of the characters, and thus Hank Budapest was born. I just love that, and knowing the story behind it made me laugh every time his character showed up.

Unfortunately, I did figure out the killer pretty early on. Like I said before, I can usually predict thrillers (probably because I've read so many...both adult and YA) but from what I've heard most people were not able to predict this outcome. I also wanted a little more from the ending, but there will be a B&N Special Edition coming out this summer that promises an extra chapter! Overall this was a quick, fun read, and definitely a good first thriller to try if you're new to the genre!

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars