A review by sunfalls
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I mean, it was an okay book. It was a bit hard to follow along with all the different perspectives, where every so often, it'll switch from Addy to Bronwyn to Nate to Cooper. Plus, I couldn't keep track of what date and time it was. In terms of analyzing this book for plot points or for overall story, it doesn't quite hold up, but other than that, it is a fairly enjoyable read. The time I spent on this book was very passably entertaining, and I do not regret the time spent. That is all however; it is not a memorable book or a book that made me feel anything. I do like how everything got resolved, and I do like the fact that everyone had secrets, and there was foreshadowing as well as other elements that made it rather clear where the author was directly things without making it all excessively obvious. I liked Addy's character growth, and I liked the fact that there were realistic elements in this book.

If I were to analyze certain things about the way this book's plot proceeded, I think certain parts were too full of shock factor or unnecessary intrigue, like how
Simon's murder ended up being an elaborate suicide plan to shock the school more than the trauma of getting a gun and shooting some kids before shooting himself would
or how
perfect boy Jake Riordan ended up being pretty heavily involved in the murder plot just to get revenge on Addy
. If I look at things like that from a more analytical viewpoint, the whole thing sounds like it would have just fallen apart because there were too many moving factors and pieces for it all to have gone so smoothly to the point where the police would have had no idea who the real killer would have been beyond those four suspects. Like, from where would
Simon have gotten the peanut oil, that supposedly had to be gourmet in order to trigger a fatal allergic reaction, in the exact moment that the car accident happened? He could not have had the bottle of oil in his bag or have the cups pre-coated because in preliminary searches, they did not find that the cups had traces, beyond the one Simon drank from. Also, I don't think they found anything incriminating on Simon's person or in his bag. So that begs the question, from where would he have obtained the peanut oil at the perfect moment to put it in his cup while everyone else was distracted, while also hiding the evidence that he slipped the oil into his own cup? Once he drank the oil, he would have been incapacitated enough to not be able to hide the evidence. That's a fairly large plot hole, in my opinion. Everyone thought it had to be one of the four in the room, since no one else would have had access or been in the right position to slip in and out, even with the distraction of the car accident. Therefore, it makes it unlikely that someone else handed the oil to Simon to put in his cup while everyone else was distracted, and then left with the oil before Simon drank it. The other four would likely have noticed this person. Additionally, how would the boys, who were paid to cause the distraction of the car accident, be able to time their accident so perfectly and also not have it be too fatal or cause too much damage? I don't think that kind of thing can be timed so exactly without practice; most people aren't punctual down to the last second. Plus a perpendicular accident like that is hard to control so that it looks and sounds convincing, while also not causing too much damage. I suppose it would have been better than a rear-end or a head-on collision, but if it were me in the situation, I'd probably go too slowly and softly and then it wouldn't have been convincing. How many people know how to cause a car accident in the perfect manner like that? Not to mention, Jake actually added in the fake story about Detective Wheeler eating a whole plate of doughnuts, like he couldn't see through Addy's lie. Maybe he was so self absorbed that he would never dream that Addy was capable of lying to him, but even so, it's such an odd detail and story that surely he would be able to see that it was fake. I'd certainly be skeptical if I heard a story about that while listening to a suspect in a rather high-profile murder case. The timing of everything was super suspect, and maybe these kids were super-human or maybe the police were exceptionally incompetent, but I doubt that the way Jake and Simon had planned for things to go would be the way things would actually go. A lot of their plans relied solely on luck. For that matter, the way the "Murder Club" managed to solve the crime was pure luck as well.


In any case, if you disregard some of the finer points, this was an enjoyable book. The action was pretty fun; I liked the characterization and the character growth. I liked the way that everything got addressed and wrapped up in a neat little bow. I did have a nice time reading this, even if it got a bit slow at certain points.
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