One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus [Book #1]

Content Tags: Death, Gossip, Bullying, Mystery

Description from Storygraph:
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.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This is a re-read before reading the newly released Book #3!

I always enjoy how Karen M. McManus builds the mystery in her books being very deliberate about what is revealed when. The shifting perspectives also keeps the flow really interesting and engaging. Each character has such thought put into them and I love how they feel authentic to the story and their ages. So many times books are set with high school students but they're acting like full grown adults. 

If you want a modern-day whodunnit, Karen M. McManus is a great author to offer you a few options to read!


Book Reflection Wrap-up:
What are your thoughts on the book's structure? Did it serve the story well?
I love a good POV shifting book. There's probably a name for that and I could Google it, but I could also just go with my gut. lol. This structure of narrative writing really keeps me interested. It's similar to an omniscient narrator, but way more personal in my opinion. I like that we get glimpses and moments of each character's thoughts and personality.

How did the setting impact the story? Would you want to read more books set in that world?
The book is set in the "real world" and not one that the author created or developed, but I like how she represented the reality of it. A lot of times authors will choose to fixate on only one demographic or aspect of reality. Whereas in Bayview, it's a prominent detail that there is a mixture of income levels, different neighborhoods, wealth inequality, etc. It's not just focused on any one demographic, but a mixture of all different walks of life. 

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