One of Us is Lying is a mystery novel about four high-school students: Bronwyn Rojas, Nate Macauley, Adelaide Prentiss, and Cooper Clay. They each just want to graduate high school without problems, but that’s not possible. One day, the four of them along with another student, Simon Kelleher, get stuck in detention. That same day, Simon dies from poisoning in his drink, and the police suspect it’s one of the four who killed him, especially after news comes out that Simon had dirt on each and every one of them. To prove that none of them murdered Simon, the four teens get together and investigate the reason for Simon’s death, since it was so clearly a murder. At the end of the book, there is revealed to be a major plot twist, changing the reader’s whole point of view on the characters.
I liked the book overall. It was a very unique concept and I enjoyed every second of it. There were so many plot twists in the book, especially the one at the end. I think what most kept me reading the book was so that I could see how the characters had felt about the whole situation and how Simon died. Also, I liked how the author kept things in the book real, and she reflected on real things that happen to high-schoolers. For example, the story explains a lot about how the teenagers think and care a lot about what others think, which is a common problem in our world with teens.
I think the cover accurately represents the plotline of the story. The cover shows 4teenagers, two girls and two boys, and their faces are covered in notebook paper. I think that this is accurate enough because it shows that the four of them are suspects in this book, hinting its genre, as well that it’s a mystery. However, it doesn’t really show anything with the murder, just the fact that there are suspects, but it’s still a good enough representation of the story.