One of Us is Lying Best Review And Summary

Brief Summary:

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus is a murder mystery thriller. The story is about a murder of a high school student inside the school premises. There are five major characters, the victim Simon, the geek Bronwyn, the princess Addy, the jock Copper, and the criminal Nate.

These characters suffer detention because they take cell phones in the class. They all stay in a room with a teacher. But soon the teacher leaves – leaving the five behind.

They all hear a car crash and look out of the window. After that, Simon drinks water from a cup and starts choking. They all try to save him but he dies. The police investigate all of them and then allow them to leave.

However, soon there are social media posts by some unknown admin which reveal that Simon was about to expose the hideous secrets of these four characters. The police reconsider their judgment and call them back – now as murder suspects. One of them surely is lying and that one is the killer.

Plot Analysis of One of Us is Lying:

The plot is quite simple. The novel begins with a murder. The middle deals with the investigation. The novel ends at a resolution where the murderer is found and the case is closed. It is divided into three parts Simon Says which deals with the murder, Hide-And-Seek which deals with the evidences against all the characters and each one of them appears doubtful, and Truth or Dare in which the truth is revealed.

The novel is full of plot twists and it is surely a page-turner. The reader gets to know the perspective of each of the four main characters. However, the characters have traits which make the reader wonder if one of them is really a murderer or not. The author gives everyone the motives which could drive them to commit this murder. He makes sure that there are traits in these characters which make them possible killers in the eyes of the reader.

But the details provided by the author are very carefully woven into the structure. These attributes do not make the characters absolute evils but do not present them as purely innocent either. Each character is presented in shades of grey – neither black nor white. It makes them more real and therefore the reader can associate with each one of them. This association is the reason that the reader thinks of them as heroic even if one of them turns out to be a murderer.

Narration:

Narration is the most significant part of the novel. There are small chapters with each character’s name. The author presents everyone’s perspective and allows the reader to dive deep into the mind of the characters. This structure gives enough knowledge about the characters and also reveals what they think about each other.

Characters:

The characters are expressed in the tagline as well, A Geek, A Jock, A Criminal, A Princess – A Murder, Who would you believe?

Nate is the criminal. He has been working as a drug dealer in the past. He has a notorious past and most of the students think he is capable of doing it. The reader also comes to know that even though he is on probation, he still works as a drug dealer. This is his secret which Simon knows.

Bronwyn is the geek in the group. She has always been a bright student. But she has been cheating in past to keep up her position. This is the secret that scares her all the time.

Addy is the charming princess-like girl of Bayview High School. However, she is very loyal to her boyfriend. As the plot unfolds, the reader realizes that she is very much dependent on her boyfriend Jake. This dependency makes her scared of him as well. She has cheated on him in the past and this is the secret she wants to protect forever.

Simon is the bully who posts secrets of students on his application About That. The secrets are often so disturbing that few students have even tried committing suicide. Everyone in Bayview High is scared of being a part of this app.

The minor characters include Bronwyn’s sister Maeve, Addy’s boyfriend Jake, Simon’s best friend Janae, Cooper’s girlfriend Keely and his friends Luke and Kris, and the smart young lawyer Eli Kleinfelter who helps the kids. The family members of each character also play a supportive role in the novel.

Major Themes in One of Us is Lying:

Bullying:

Bullying in high schools is one of the most prominent themes in the novel. The victim Simon is a bully and that’s why most of the people in school think of his murder as an act of poetic justice. However, an in-depth analysis of the novel reveals that Simon is not a bully he simply posts the secrets of other students online to make them suffer for what they have done. It is also revealed later in the story that Simon has been a victim of bullying and that’s what prompted him to come up with this idea of spilling everybody’s beans all around.

Depression:

Depression is the cause of everything in the novel. Every character has his/her own battles to fight. The author also reveals that it is not just these characters but almost every student at Bayview High School is a victim of depression. The reader realizes by the end that depression is the leading cause of all the major events in the novel.

Minor Themes:

The minor themes deal with the theme of love and friendship, the theme of trust and wisdom, and the theme of parental love.

Concluding Remarks:

The novel is the best choice to break a reading slump. Few instances make the plot move slow. But the author does it only to develop his characters. It is a pretty good choice for fans of the mystery genre. The language is very easy and simple which makes it more enjoyable and realistic. There are no complex ideas or personalities in it. Every character is simple but each one of them is practically thrown into a circle of hell even Dante never imagined. It is a thriller which is about the most ordinary and common people we meet in our lives.

Discover more from Digital Kitab Khana

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.