Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

66 reviews

angelo_vossen's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Karen M. McManus’ „One of Us Is Lying“ is a mix of mystery and young adult drama, offering a modern take on the classic “whodunit” style. The story revolves around five high school students—Bronwyn, Addy, Nate, Cooper, and Simon—who all end up in detention together. However, things take a dark turn when Simon, the creator of a notorious gossip app, suddenly dies during their detention, leaving the remaining four students as prime suspects. Each character has a secret they desperately want to keep hidden, and Simon was about to expose them all.

The novel is told through multiple points of view, which gives readers insight into each character’s mindset and backstory, allowing for an engaging, character-driven plot. McManus does an excellent job of weaving together these different perspectives while maintaining suspense. Each student is a well-rounded character with their own motivations and flaws, which makes it harder to pinpoint who could be responsible for Simon’s death.

At its core, „One of Us Is Lying“ explores themes like high school cliques, social pressures, identity, and the lengths to which people will go to protect their reputations. The writing is accessible and keeps you hooked with its fast pace and twists, although seasoned readers of the genre might find some of the plot points predictable. Nonetheless, the novel keeps its energy high and delivers some genuine surprises along the way.

While the central mystery is the book’s driving force, the character development is what gives it staying power. Each of the suspects undergoes significant growth, and the ending is both satisfying and thought-provoking, offering a commentary on the impact of gossip, rumors, and hidden lives in the digital age.

Overall, „One of Us Is Lying“ is a fun, engaging read for fans of young adult fiction and mystery. It combines the tension of a murder mystery with relatable teen struggles, making it a solid choice for anyone looking for a suspenseful and entertaining story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Outing

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Police brutality, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism

ajg022's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An enjoyable page-turner, with enough variance of character perspectives to keep me hooked. The plot itself is a little predictable, but isn't necessarily the focus of the story as much as the characters and their relations to others. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Outing, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, and Car accident

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Gaslighting

icedlemonade's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings

nenah_elizabeth's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, Gun violence, Self harm, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism

mitchell_1's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Gaslighting

jessanicolesingh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I would describe this thriller as a breakfast club turned murder mystery, centering on a modge podge of stereotypes in detention; a brain, beauty, criminal, athlete and an outcast who ends up dead! The victim had plenty of enemies, as he ran the school’s infamous gossip blog, and was prepared to out the aforementioned classmates on some pretty juicy stuff before his untimely death.

The book was written in multiple POVs, giving you a glimpse into each of the main characters' high school lives throughout the investigation. I actually kept notes on all suspects, determined to figure it out. I had to put the book down and tell my husband my guess at who the killer was around the 75% mark, and I was right!!! That's not to say the book wasn't good enough to surprise me, I'm just really proud of myself for figuring it out AND not skipping to the end to spoil it for myself (I have admittedly very little self control sometimes).

Albeit this book is about murder, be warned there are some additionally heavy triggers with some warnings at the expense of ruining the ending, so keep that in mind if you decide to pick this one up!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Outing

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug use, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings

suicide

kirstencholewa's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This story draws you in and keeps your attention to the last page!
At times it did feel a bit forced from a diversity perspective. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Body shaming, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual content, and Mass/school shootings

azileotulp's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I'm gonna say right now that this was soooooo close to being a 5-star read for me. In all honesty, it probably should be because I only had one minor issue that is totally petty and that no one else probably cares about, but I personally can't overlook it. (I'll be discussing that under the spoiler tag later though.)

I do have to say that this was such an engaging mystery. Sadly, I did have part of the ending spoiled for me because one of the reviewers here doesn't know how to use spoiler warnings, but even with that spoiler, I was still able to enjoy it. It was just as much fun to try to figure out why the person responsible did what they did.

I also loved the characters so much. Usually in books with multiple perspectives, there's always that one character's POV that I'm just trying to get through before I can get back to the more interesting characters. This book wasn't like that at all. Even the characters I originally didn't like at first (who I did grow to love throughout the story, by the way) had such compelling perspectives that I was always excited to read them. And I have to say, I am such a Bronwyn and Nate fan...

Which brings me to my only problem with this book. Like I said... it's petty, but I don't even care. Yes, Bronwyn and Nate do end up together in the end, which I'm so happy about, don't get me wrong. But that little period of time at the end when it seemed like they went their separate ways? That hurt. Especially when I started reading the epilogue set 3 months later and saw that Bronwyn was dating Evan??? I actually bursted into tears. That period of uncertainty just went on too long for me, especially after having read another mystery novel where the protagonist and her love interest do actually go their separate ways. I won't say which book that was, but it genuinely made me sick, and I was so scared it was going to happen again. So, like I said, petty reason for not giving the book 5 stars, but amazing author should have thought about that before scaring me like that.

I do also want to talk a bit about my baby boy Cooper.

I had no idea this book had a prominent LGBTQ+ character, but now I'm happy I decided to read it during Pride Month. Y'all, I feel so connected to Cooper and I'm going to be thinking about him for months. We're both southern gays with homophobic fathers, and we have such similar queer experiences. What really got me was that ride home with his father before he came out to his family. When I came out to my mother, I was also fretting over it while in the car with her, and as soon as we parked, I told her. His story just resonated so deeply with me, and I'm so sorry I was hating on him at the beginning for being a cheater. (Yes, he did still cheat, but I favor gay people and his ex seemed to forgive him by the end. Leave me alone.) I love you, Cooper, and I'm sorry I ever doubted your good nature.

All in all, I truly adored this book. I was captivated the entire time I was reading, but especially those last seventy or so pages. I was gasping, shrieking, throwing up (okay, slightly exaggerated on that last one, but I did gag once). I can't recommend it more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Outing

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, and Car accident

While I didn't add "eating disorder" as a content warning, one character is described multiple times as becoming much skinnier and seems to lose about 10 pounds in a short period of time. This is most likely due to stress rather than body issues.

kcohrs19's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

sydtheogreadingkid's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

THIS BOOK IS AMAZING I JUST FINISHED IT AT 2:29 IN THE MORNING BUT I REGRET NOTHING I LOVE THIS BOOKKKKKKK ❤️ ❤️❤  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Their was no other option for it but by schizophrenia/psychosis it was the best choice for Bipolar