I feel like it's kind of really obvious that neither Bronwyn, Addy, Connor, nor Nate killed Simon. I mean, it’s split narration between the four of them, so even though they do keep a few secrets for a little while (all secrets come out in the narration, though, so…you know, it's not like the reader doesn't know them at all), the reader gets to know how their minds work, what they think, how they were feeling while Simon died. To tell me that what they were thinking—not even saying, but thinking—the entire book wasn’t actually their true self, and in reality they’re a psycho murderer, wouldn’t be believable. It just wouldn’t, and it was like that’s what McManus wanted us to think. Especially with this one guy, Nate. He’s the kind of character that everyone in the story thinks is this awful criminal (which is sort of true), but in reality he has a hard life, and then he ends up in the cutest relationship ever with the most unpredictable (except for all those CW fans out there, who have seen this done over and over and over on that channel), excessively responsible person. He cleans his life up, yada, yada, yada. You know that kind of story, so I’m not going to go into major detail (don’t even worry, though, the ship is getting its own section a little later, I swear). Anyway, it felt like the whole book, she was trying to make it as if there was still a chance it’d be him, but he’s giving narration. The reader is seeing into his mind, and once you see into a character’s mind, especially for a quarter of the book, it’s pretty easy to know if they’re the murderer.
He wasn’t the only suspect, though. He was generally the main suspect, but there were other ones, too. None that I can think of now, but you ,know, they were there. I think. Circumstances had it that the entire school hated the guy who died.
Let me give you a quick run-down of the plot; I’m only just now realizing that most likely none of that made any sense to you. Basically, it’s a murder mystery Breakfast Club. Yes, you read that right--murder mystery Breakfast Club, the weirdest and most interesting combination I’ve heard for a book. (Wait, no, that’s vampires and Wuthering Heights. Seriously, Stephenie Meyer, how did you think of that?!) Five people go into detention—the brain (Bronwyn), the beauty (Addy), the criminal (Nate), the athlete (Cooper), and the outcast (Simon). Simon, however, dies from a suspicious allergy attack. The four others are then, of course, questioned a million times over, especially after a Tumblr account begins posting creepy it-was-me, I-watched-him-die notes. Why would someone kill a random high schooler in detention, you must be thinking. Well, as it turns out, pretty much every single person in the school had motive to kill him: Simon ran a gossip blog that touched on mostly everyone, and, wouldn’t you know, the next day Simon had an article planned that featured all four main characters.
So yeah. A little basic when it comes to YA murder mysteries, I’m not much of an expert on this genre, so there isn’t much I can say on the plot. What I do know, though, are ships. Let’s move on to those.
After the cringiest transition ever, we’re going to talk about the best ship in this book (not the best I’ve seen, however), Bronwyn and Nate. McManus is really good at writing good-girl-falls-for-bad-boy because she doesn’t make it seem like being a good girl is a bad thing. She also doesn’t romanticize the drug-dealing, school-failing-because-of-a-lack-of-effort side of him, which happens all too much in this kind of romance. Instead, she shows both characters in a fully real way—Bronwyn is set on a successful path but is a little too rule-oriented, and Nate has potential but was pushed into an illegal, unproductive lifestyle. That’s often not how this slightly-overdone romance is shown—instead, Bronwyn’s character is shown as mean, overbearing, a workaholic, etc, and it’s supposed to be good in this twisted, unhealthy way that Nate is overly relaxed and stupid. McManus, however, sees the fault in this mindset and works around it to create a real, healthy relationship. The honest approach taken makes this ship worth it. It makes me root for them. I applaud you, McManus, for your fantastic job there.
There were two other relationships (well, one actual relationship and another sort-of ship), but they weren’t as interesting. Cooper and Kris (their names sound so cute together) were a nice relationship but weren’t focused on much beyond the point that it was really hard for Cooper to come out to his dad. I felt like Kris only got, like, three scenes. They were good scenes, but I never really learned out enough about his character or their relationship to fangirl over it.
The sort-of ship never actually solidified. There was a guy that liked Addy named TJ, but she wants to stay friends because of her poor mental state the whole book (lightning breakdown: she was in a controlling, misogynistic relationship, but her boyfriend broke up with her, crushing her). That’s cool and I respect her decision and her for being able to make it, but that’s not what I want to read. Like, no shade on her for not wanting to be in a relationship, but shade on McManus for not giving me more than one relationship to fully fangirl over.
It was a queen move for Addy to make, though. Even at the end of the book when her life is sort of on course again, TJ goes over to her house and asks her out, but she declines. She values her mental health, and it's really cool that her plot shed some light on the fact that, sometimes, people need to figure out how to love themselves before they can fall in love with someone else. Here in late 2019, people talk about that kind of thing often(ish). Movies revolve around that (anyone seen Isn't It Romantic?), and celebrities talk about it. But back when One of Us is Lying came out, that wasn't much of a thing. It released in mid 2017, and she was writing it for a while before then, too. Nice job, McManus, for being so forward and mental health conscious.
Sorry that today’s review is a little short, but there isn’t much else that I’d like to say. I’m really excited for One of Us Is Lying’s sequel, One of Us Is Next coming to bookstores in early January. Keep reading, readers.