Karen M. McManus

Gah! That last line!
A great sequel to One of Us Is Lying, with familiar characters and setting, but an entirely new mystery. McManus writes teen dialogue really well, including romance that's sweet and not corny, mean-spirited gossip that has teeth but doesn't sound like she's trying too hard, and friendly banter that makes you want to join in. The mystery was well-plotted, with clues scattered throughout, but enough held back to make guessing hard. Satisfying.

Ellery and her twin brother, Ezra, have heard all about the small town their mother grew up in and was desperate to escape from, but they've never been there. Their aunt went missing when she was seventeen. And five years ago, a homecoming queen was murdered there. Now they have to live in this town with a grandmother they hardly know. As soon as they arrive, bad things begin to happen. And another girl goes missing. It seems to Ellery that everyone in the small town of Echo Ridge is hiding show more something, and most people aren't good at keeping secrets.

I loved One of Us Is Lying so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. I devoured this book. It was so easy to get lost in the story and I could not turn the pages fast enough. Very suspenseful, full of twists and turns. I thought I had everything figured out but I was quite happy when I learned I was totally wrong. This was just so fun to read, it was always one thing after another but it never felt like it was too much or that things were crazy just for the sake of being crazy. I loved it SO MUCH! show less

“Welcome to life in a small town. You’re only as good as the best thing your family’s done. Or the worst.”

Floored by One of Us Is Lying, I was all for reading this one as part of a group read and because I could finally land my hands on a copy. I wasn't in the mood to spend the high e-book price, but the woes of the life of a reader sometimes. Not to rant, but also the life of an author since I get the economy woes in this field.

Anyway, off-topic aside, this little thriller is show more certainly worth a read. Small town dysfunction, twin bonding, mystery and crime, unconventional mothers, intelligent teenage leads. The author bounced between two point of views well without it becomes frustration or shallow. She did this while managing to create strong side-characters who stood on their own as interesting without needing their own chapters in their own viewpoints.

Ellery is awesome - she's a little sarcastic, she's confident enough to survive high school newness, she's loyal, and she's addicted to true crime stories. Her twin brother Ezra plays enjoyable roles and I enjoyed the bond of the twins, and how it relates to another set of twins mentioned earlier in the story.

Malcolm may have been my favorite viewpoint because he was in such a crappy situation but struggling to still stay on his feet. Between the odd family angles, his brother back in town, his reputation at school, his dependent mother, he was well-done.

The suspect isn't a shock. We have enough culprits in the pot to suspect, so the issue isn't that she didn't give enough possibilities, it just wasn't a shock. The twist was there and it was well-done, but it wasn't as much of a stand-out. I enjoyed her first book better because of the journey being more intricately layered and fascinatingly twisted, but this one still keeps you reading thanks to McManus's well-done writing style and characterization skills. show less

This was by a wide margin the most peculiar format of any book I've ever read. It is common for a novel to be written from one perspective or possibly switch between the point of view of 2 characters. But in 'One of Us Is Lying' Karen McManus manages to pull off telling the story of Bayview High gossiper Simon Keller's murder through a staggering four-character-switch of perspectives.
At first it has to be said that the layout proved to me to be ultimately just kind of confusing; however, as show more the novel progressed further and further I found that being able to see into the thoughts of all 4 protagonists added a thrilling twist to an ordinary murder mystery story experience.
Although having knowledge of many characters thoughts and emotions gave me an increased amount of background information about each of them, the outcome was not predictable. Page after page I found a new person to suspect and it wasn't up to the very last moment that I knew. A gripping, interesting read! show less