Match Book
One of Us Is Lying
Karen M. McManus
2017 · 360 pages · Young adult
How it reads
One of Us Is Lying is young adult (young-adult mystery thriller, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.
It's set in a suburban setting, in the present day, told in the first person by several narrators. Its central concerns are secrets, friendship and justice. In weight it's light and escapist — easy to fall into.
It opens a series. The ending resolves happily. At 360 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something tense
- you want a book that pulls you through
- you want an escape
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy or heartwarming
- you want dense, lingering prose
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- young adult
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- early career
- Setting: place
- suburban
- Setting: time
- contemporary
- Mood / feeling
- tense
- Pace
- fast paced
- Tone / weight
- light and escapist
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- first person, several narrators
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- mega-bestseller
- Series vs standalone
- first in a series
- Themes
- secrets, friendship, justice
- Ending style
- resolved and happy
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
- Catch Your DeathRavena GuronShares: young adult, tense mood, light and escapist tone, young-adult mystery thriller
The Inheritance GamesJennifer Lynn BarnesShares: young adult, tense mood, light and escapist tone, young-adult mystery thriller
The InmateFreida McFaddenShares: tense mood, light and escapist tone, fast paced, resolved and happy ending- Only She Came BackMargot HarrisonShares: young adult, tense mood, fast paced, set in suburban
The CheerleadersKara ThomasShares: young adult, light and escapist tone, young-adult mystery thriller, fast paced- The Summer She Went MissingChelsea IchasoShares: tense mood, light and escapist tone, young-adult mystery thriller, fast paced
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