Ethan Denman

One of us is lying is a murder mystery novel written by Karen M. McManus. The is about five students who enter detention but only four leave alive. It is up to those four to find out who murdered Simon Kelleher. Simon Kelleher, Nate McCauley, Cooper Clay, Bronwyn Rojas and Addelaide Prentiss enter detention after being framed by having phones in their bags. They are discussing stereo types for each of them, and Simon says, ‘I’m the omniscient narrator.’ He takes a sip of ‘water’ and starts to have an allergic reaction. Later Bronwyn gets a call saying Simon has died. The four students get the nickname the ‘Bayview four,’ and are constantly being interviewed by the police. The Bayview four put all the clues together with the help of Maeve, Bronwyn’s younger sister, who hacks into the admin page for About that. The story starts on September 24th and ends on February 15th making the story last for four months and twenty-one days. The ending was ordinary and boring, and the opening was slow with lots of detail and dialogue. The main characters are Cooper, Addy, Bronwyn ad Nate. They are all very different in the way they act and their personality. The characters aren’t described in much detail. I found Cooper the most interesting, but Bronwyn was the most sympathetic. Addy changed throughout the story starting of as a typical high school popular girl and then ended with a cooler style. The story was written in first person, and this was very important as the perspective was constantly changing. The setting wasn’t described very much throughout the story as it focused on the plot more. The setting, when it was described, was in detail. Feelings and attitudes were described in depth and detail especially in scenes with conflict or deep passion. The story was good because the plot was basic, and the characters made the story feel real. My favourite moment in the story was when the Bayview four found out who was running About that after Simon’s death because all the pieces came together perfectly. The ending could have been improved because it was slow and there was a build up for nothing. If I could change the end, I would make it so that the build-up effected the ending. After reading this book I felt relieved but disappointed at the ending because I finally finished and found out what happened which didn’t fit in with the story. I can’t compare this story with any others I have read because I like this one in a different way to any others. I would 100% recommend this book to children 12+ because it is good but there are some violent scenes in it.