One Of Us Is Lying - Karen M. McManus

Began reading: 23.8.2017
Completed reading: 29.8.2017
Overall rating: 4 stars

Five students walk into detention.

Only four leave alive.

Yale hopeful Bronwyn has never publicly broken a rule.

Sports star Cooper only knows what he's doing in the baseball diamond.

Bad boy Nate is one misstep away from a life of crime.

Prom queen Addy is holding together the cracks in her perfect life.

And outsider Simon, creator of the notorious gossip app at Bayview High, won't ever talk about any of them again.

He dies 24 hours before he could post their deepest secrets online. Investigators conclude it's no accident. All of them are suspects.

Everyone has secrets, right?

What really matters is how far you'll go to protect them.

Trigger warning: this book contains alcoholism and drug references.

One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus is a contemporary young adult novel that contains mystery and thriller themes. I have been so excited to get into this book! It was pretty good, and I loved how I was hooked from the very first page. Let’s discuss this book!

Being sent to detention for something that no one was guilty of, five students from Bayview High are somehow involved in a mystery murder – one of their fellow students suffers a severe anaphylactic reaction, which later kills him. The remaining four students are thrown into an extensive investigation, especially when the police discover that each student has a secret worth killing to keep hidden. The students are forced to work together to determine how someone managed to die when no one from outside entered the room, as well as who is responsible. Tensions rise when the media gets involved and word spreads across the school, causing everyone to turn against the ‘Bayview Four’. The student will have to learn to stay strong as their secrets are laid bare for their classmates and the media to warp, but when they realise who is responsible for the murder, they will have bigger problems to worry about.

The book was well-written, in particular the pacing – it was fast, which matched the atmosphere of the plot. The various literary techniques that appeared in the book added detail to the narrative, especially the use of flashbacks, foreshadowing and point of view. There were also a couple of great quotes thrown in, including:

[…]if you say no too much, pretty soon someone else will say yes (pp. 45-46).

When the whole school’s starting to turn against you, you need somebody on your side (p. 138).

More quotes from the novel can be found here.

As I briefly mentioned above, the use of point of view to increase intrigue in the novel was notable. The book was separated by different sections, but also by the points of view by the four protagonists. This enhanced the story because we got insight into how each of the characters reacted to the news of Simon’s death, as well as what they thought of their secrets being revealed. Each protagonist had unique experiences prior to the detention that involved Simon in some way. This amplified the mystery because each of the characters were set up to look guilty in some way. This aspect of the novel was executed with meticulousness, which was the main reason why I enjoyed this book.

                   

The primary reason why I read mystery novels is because their plots promise an interesting and shocking narrative. I have to know what happens and the reasons behind the mystery. Of course, the blurb of this book had me eager to read it immediately. It was intriguing, full of suspense and provided opportunities for a range of sub-plots. While the main plot remained the over-arching storyline, there were a few minor plotlines that added depth to the book. 

I’ve said it numerous times, but I was fascinated with the plot before I even purchased it. For a debut novel, I think that this novel was almost perfectly designed, with a lot of attention to detail.

I like a good surprise, and McManus didn’t disappoint – two almost-forbidden romances were something that I didn’t see coming, but did not disagree with. Although I dislike fluffy romances, this novel did not exaggerate the romance, nor did it feel out of place. There was a decent amount of romance, which suited me. I hate when romance overpowers the storyline – that makes me sound grouchy, but big romances aren’t my thing. I was worried about the good-girl-falls-for-bad-boy cliché, but it turned out fine. The relationships felt justified and realistic, which is a testament to McManus’ writing skills.

                                            

Speaking of surprise, the plot twists in this book were a mixture of predictable and unpredictable, which is what I love! I had a feeling that the ultimate plot twist (Simon’s death) was predictable, but I enjoyed being suspicious of almost every character as they were introduced – I thought it would be the teacher! Furthermore, discovering who was behind the blog posts was an unpredictable shock, but made sense in the end. Despite being able to predict some of the twists, I still enjoyed the novel.

I had only one minor issue with this book, but at the same time it felt relevant to the narrative. There were some moments in the book that felt dumb, which made the scene somewhat laughable. For example, the moment when Addy’s phone went off felt silly – it was either unrealistic or she just had sh*tty luck; I’m gonna go with the former reason. Another example was the way in which the police handled the investigation – it was definitely unrealistic and frustrating. Like I said, it was only a minor issue so it didn’t really impact on my overall rating.

My favourite character is Bronwyn because she was protective of her younger sister (just like me), ambitious, rebellious, studious and responsible. Out of all the characters in the book, I related to Bronwyn the most. I really liked how she was with Nate, and I was relieved when they decided to get together.

                              

I didn’t like how the popular group handled the situation. I wonder if it’s an accurate representation of that clique group. I thought that their behaviour helped bring the four protagonists together, so I don’t hate what they did – I just didn’t like that they turned against their friends.

My favourite part of the novel was the conclusion because it was sweet, swoon-worthy, and provided closure. I liked that it didn’t feel completely finished; instead, it left enough to the imagination.

Recommendation time! If you like The Perfectionists series by Sara Shepard, The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee, and the Wicked Games series by Sean Olin, you will love this book. Also, I recommend this book to anyone who likes How To Get Away With Murder tv series, Pretty Little Liars tv series, The Breakfast Club, and St. Elmo’s Fire.

Happy reading!

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Dear Amy - Helen Callaghan

Began reading: 16.8.2017
Completed reading: 21.8.2017
Overall rating: 2 stars

In her guise as ‘Dear Amy’, agony aunt for a local newspaper, Margot Lewis has dealt with all sorts of letters – but never one like this…

Dear Amy,

I’ve been kidnapped by a strange man.

I don’t know where I am.

Please help me,

Bethan Avery

This must be a cruel hoax. Because Bethan Avery has been missing for nearly two decades.

But as the present-day search intensifies for another missing schoolgirl, Margot is unnerved enough to take the letter to the police, hoping they will dismiss it as a sick joke.

Instead, they let Margot in on a little secret. One that confirms her darkest fears and tangles her up in the search for the sender, which could save one girl’s life and cost Margot her own…

Trigger warning: this book contains substance abuse and sexual assault/paedophilia.

Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan is a fictional novel that contains thriller and mystery themes. I was interested in reading this book since its release, but I didn’t want to purchase it. I’m glad that I didn’t because this book did not live up to my expectations AT ALL. I was so disappointed with this book, and I came close to giving it up several times.

School teacher and agony aunt for the local newspaper, Margot Lewis, has not had an easy upbringing. Being brought up by nuns, Margot had to learn independence from a young age. Her present-day life might appear to be perfect to her students, but Margot is experiencing anxiety and a divorce. When one of her students disappears, Margot receives letters from another abducted girl from twenty years ago, pleading for Margot’s help. When Margot gives the letters to the police, they inform her that it’s a joke but things quickly turn serious when the letters become increasingly detailed. While Margot struggles with her personal problems, she will also become involved with the case of the missing girls – and the closer Margot gets to solving the mystery, the higher the risk of her falling into danger herself.

The book was well-written, in terms of structure and lack of errors; however, the pace was extremely slow. Callaghan utilised a variety of literary techniques to add detail to the narrative, which helped with imagining the story in my mind. These techniques included setting, flashbacks and foreshadowing. There were some great quotes, including:

Sometimes I feel like a goldfish, with the glass walls of my bowl providing a continuous source of novel amusement each time I swim around them (p. 15).

[…]there’s plenty of evidence that reading aloud is good for kids. They have to engage with the text; even what appears to be the most colourless and stammering rendition implies choices in what to emphasise and what to play down – what to show and what to hide. It requires you to structure your language, to be fluent, to wrestle with what you are saying, to face the crowd (p. 41).

Appearances are of vital importance when you’re at that age – my personal conviction is that this is something we are all supposed to grow out of, and yet so few of us do (p. 92).

[…]telling people things about yourself is always, always a mistake – like a drug, in a way – the euphoria of communication and trust is always followed up by the regret of paranoia and suspicion (p. 180).

Things, once known, can never be unknown (p. 180).

More quotes from the novel can be found here.

The range of characters is important in a story, and I believe that they should be memorable – who wants to read a book, only to forget the characters as soon as you finish it? Callaghan successfully incorporated a small variety of characters to provide individual back-stories and personalities. The character ‘voices’ weren’t too unique, but their backgrounds were interesting and added depth to the plot. The characters provided a different side to the story, and I enjoyed reading how it unfolded as we learned more about the characters.

                    

Speaking of back-stories, I thought that incorporating the different perspectives was a good choice. This might make me sound like a psychopath, but I enjoy reading about what is happening to the abducted characters in a story such as this one. I thought that reading from Katie’s perspective was insightful and intriguing because we could gain an image of how they were being treated and what they were thinking. I also felt that going inside the kidnapper’s mind was interesting. Reading about how he began to develop an interest in specific girls, the reasons behind the abductions, and how he met Bethan Avery was extremely chilling and grimly fascinating. The only I had with it was not knowing whose perspective I was reading – I think the different perspectives should be labelled so I wouldn’t have to go all the way back to the beginning of the section to realise who was speaking.

There is a fine line between good and bad plot twists – I usually don’t mind if some twists are predictable, as long as they are appropriate and can be justified. I prefer plot twists to be unpredictable, but I can roll with the punches so to speak. I found that this novel had a few predictable plot twists that seemed too obvious, which removed the suspense. This was one of the reasons why I was so close to not finishing this book – if it’s meant to be a thriller, it needs to be full of suspense; without the suspense, it’s not a thriller. Having the suspense removed from the plot through predictable plot twists killed the narrative for me.

                    

One of the major issues that I had with this book was the last section, heading towards the conclusion. A narrative should/must flow coherently, but in this case, I think it didn’t; instead, it felt choppy. I could see what Callaghan was trying to do: answer the questions by going back – similar to how a film or tv show would give closure. This novel failed in doing so, and it came across as abrupt and resembled a checklist (like: this happened here, oh but I forgot to mention that this happened before… let’s jump forward because this was important but don’t forget this important titbit that happened before the last important point). See what I mean? It was all over the place.

The protagonist is the most important aspect of a good novel, particularly thrillers because their thought process helps solves the mystery. I would have been happy to have been given more narration from Katie because she had depth – her family situation was interesting and raised so many questions. In contrast, Margot’s story felt dull and boring because there was no drama and her dialogue felt like “woe is me” the whole time. Because of this, I lost interest quickly – why should I read 344 pages with a whiny protagonist?

                                                

My favourite character was Martin because he was friendly, direct and honest.  He made Margot confront her hidden past and was there for her when she was trying to find herself.

When I read a book, I do my best to like the protagonist, so I tried to like her. Unfortunately, her constant self-pity and self-doubt really put me off her. She was a confusing character, so I wasn’t interested in discovering her secrets.

My favourite part of the novel was Bethan Avery’s abduction which was told from the kidnapper’s perspective. It demonstrated how easily trust can be broken, and how detailed a psychopath’s plan can reach. It was intense but interesting at the same time.

Recommendation time! If you like Follow Me Back by Nicci Cloke, Risk by Fleur Ferris, Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher, and The Cellar series by Natasha Preston, you will love this book. Also, I recommend this book to anyone who likes The Call, the Taken series, Gone, and Kidnap.

Happy reading!

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