Books Review: "One of Us is Lying" and "One of is Next" by Karen McManus
“One of Us is Lying” and “One of Us is Next” by Karen McManus
Synopses: Pay close attention and you might solve this. On Monday 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 Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, 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 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.
Come on, Bayview, you know you've missed this.
A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one's been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts.
Until now.
This time it's not an app, though—it's a game.
Truth or Dare.
Phoebe's the first target. If you choose not to play, it's a truth. And hers is dark. Then comes Maeve and she should know better—always choose the dare. But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it's that they can't count on the police for help. Or protection.
Simon's gone, but someone's determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there's a whole new set of rules. - Delacorte Press
Rating (out of 5): 4 (“Lying”) and 3.75 (“Next”)
Review: I’m going to attempt to do a two-book review today, mostly because I’ve read both of these books in the past two weeks, and it just felt right. I had never read “One of Us is Lying,” and when I saw that the sequel was about to come out, it seemed like a perfect quarantine read. I enjoyed both of these books — the first slightly more than the second, only because the central mystery was more engaging — and I feel like they are a great escape right now, even if there’s a bit of murder.
Every time I read a YA book like this, I think about two things: one, my high school experience was so comparatively boring, and two, no one actually had this high school experience. I am so glad that I was able to get through my formative years without social media, and while I wasn’t outwardly bullied, middle and high school weren’t a peak time for me. I cannot imagine going to school and having to wonder if every misstep would be fodder for a text or a TikTok recreation, and I feel bad for Gen Z for having to live through that. The author, who I assume is closer to my age than high school, accurately captured that feeling of fear and urgency in a way that made Bayview High feel both real and suspenseful.
Are these the most realistic books I’ve read? Nope.
Did I guess some of the twists and turns? Sure.
Do I think that this book touches on some of the really big issues facing teens today — peer pressure, social media, bullying — and turn them on their head? Absolutely.
Am I recommending this series to you if you like the following: teen melodrama, kids behaving badly, parents who serve little-to-no plot purpose? Heck yes.
I found the first of these two books to be the stronger of the series, but I still enjoyed the second — which really dealt with the “next generation” of kids at Bayview High. Both stories were clever and well-written, with well-drawn main characters and a good central mystery.
TL;DR: A fun and fast diversion — combining some of the best aspects of “The Breakfast Club,” “Gossip Girl” and “How to Get Away with Murder” into a compulsively readable series.
If You Liked This, Try These:
“A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” by Holly Jackson - Bookshop | Kindle (my review here!)
“They Wish They Were Us” by Jessica Goodman - Bookshop | Kindle (my review here!)
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