After finishing The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder I was on the hunt for another YA mystery/thriller and fast. I stumbled upon Karen M. McManus’s, One of us is lying on my shelf and that cover was stunning. When I read that it was a, “breakfast club murder mystery” I had to know more. I loved the 1985 movie from John Hughes and this idea of pairing it with a mystery had me so intrigued I had to read it next. I’m sad to say that although this showed a lot of promise, it did not live up to the hype I have seen. The whole gossip column angle added a sensational aspect to the story that was intriguing because just like Gossip Girl you want to know who’s behind the words and it was hauntingly scary when someone took over for that person but there wasn’t enough of those posts to keep it terrifying. I’m still unsure of whether or not the gossip platform makes sense to be on Tumblr because as I read it I couldn’t help but feel like it was an odd choice to use. That being said I’m not sure what I would have picked instead if I were in McManus’s shoes.
I found the murder plot fell flat as soon as the answer was revealed. There was no, huh I didn’t see that coming OR whoa never would have thought that. There was absolutely none of that for me. The ending was a Moriarty (BBC Sherlock reference) mystery and I HATED that because there was so much build happening and plot thickening and then it turned out to be a kinda sad and predictable explanation. It’s like all that mystery seemed to be forgotten when the end was revealed and it made me loathe this book a tiny bit. It’s a mystery book without a good mystery, it’s as simple as that. I found it more of a contemporary where the murder backdrop only exposed their lives for what they were, fake and to me that shows the ‘lying’ aspect was more for their personal ways of life rather than exposing the culprit of the crime. This isn’t what I expected for the story and that’s why I can only give this book a 3 out of 5. I needed that compelling, nerve-wracking conclusion and I just didn’t get it.
Being an avid reader and television fiend, I found some of McManus’s references to be an overload of pop culture cringe. First off there’s a coach named, Coach Ruffalo and all I could think was of Mark Ruffalo aka The Incredible Hulk. Secondly, there was a character named Jake Riordan and again I immediately thought of the author of a certain demi-god series, Rick Riordan and that would also stop me in my tracks. I swear I don’t think these names were chosen to do that and I’m sorry to admit that every time the references would pop up it was ten times harder to refocus on the actual story. Again I don’t think this was the intention of the author and I’m certainly not blaming her or shaming this piece of writing because of it. I’m only bringing it up to see if others had the same problem and how that affected their readability of the book itself. Because maybe it’s just a ‘me’ problem but I felt this needed to be addressed because it does lend itself to the overall readability of the novel.
However, on the actual characters and their story arcs? Those were much better executed and seemed to have better moments which boasted the story and I cannot fault the writing either. McManus’s writing was top notch as well which only makes me sad to write this review because of the disappointing plot.
As I’ve said before I found this book to feel much more like a teen contemporary rather than a murder mystery and what was shockingly unexpected was a dash a romance mixed in (which I’m definitely here for). Nate and Bronwyn had this really cute and adorable love affair at the time of this massive media circus around the murder. McManus would include these brief and fleeting moments where one character would just observe the other despite the scene in front of them as if they were zoning out (and who doesn’t do that—you always see more stuff when you aren’t focusing on it) and this was one about Bronwyn from Nate’s perspective which had me swooning!
“Maybe it’s the wrong time to notice, but I like how her face floods with color whenever she feels strongly about something. It makes her look twice as alive as most people, and more distracting than she already does.”
I even like how the author (through Nate) mentions that this isn’t the time to be thinking about this but can’t help it. These are those cute moments in the movie when someone realizes that they’re in love with the other person and I live for these utterly romantic and beautiful times. Seeing them written in to this story just uplifted it for me I think because here it just felt so real and innocent. It felt like it was an honest comment about a character and the beauty is in the other character’s obliviousness despite the reader knowing and seeing it unfold. And I also loved how it wasn’t one-sided either. Here’s an adorable one-liner from Bronwyn about him (just as adorable)
“Because God, it’s beautiful when that boy smiles.”
This gets me EVERY TIME! My hopeless romantic heart is happy haha! But seriously this was the perfect response to his own and I get a tiny bit giddy because only the author and the reader know what they see and say to themselves which only makes it more romantic.
The next point I want to address is a certain character’s coming out (keeping it vague to not spoil too much) I loved that when all was aired out and the character was shunned (naturally as teens are the cruelest for that stuff) that cafeteria scene when an almost stranger stands up for him despite what the clear majority thought was absolutely heartwarming. He had someone in his corner and you know it’s real because that character owed him nothing by doing it despite it meaning everything for the other. And what made it even better was when one of his current friends stuck by him despite this gossip bombshell.
___________
“Goddamn it,’ Pop mutters. ‘Here we go again. Hope this was worth it.’
‘What was worth it?’
‘Your choice.’
Anger flares inside me—at both his words and how he spits them out without even looking at me. ‘None of this is a choice.”
___________
I especially hated it when the outed character’s father called his sexuality, ‘a choice’. That enraged me so much and I was so glad that the character had the courage to stand up to him rather than doubt his true feelings. McManus covers a lot of real moments like these and they felt it. There’s tons of emotion in these scenes that is a definite plus to this book! This style should be hard to do when you split the story equally across four main characters but McManus handled it brilliantly. You get tons of scenes for each of the four and they aren’t useless ones either. Lots of talk and progression happen in very few words that remain effective to building their characters. Yes, there could have been more but in my opinion it was the perfect balance. I got just enough back story to each that leaves the potential for more if there were to be a sequel.
Like I said for me this book read more like a contemporary than a mystery because it was the relationships and bonds between the characters that had a lasting effect on me as a reader. I found it only fitting to end with one of my most favourite albeit subtle and long last quote. This to me showcases ‘the breakfast club’ vibe to a tee.
“I hesitate. Even though I haven’t processed everything yet, there’s this little ball of relief growing inside of me. Because yesterday I was the police’s number one guy. And today I’m not. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good. But this is Nate. Who’s not a friend, exactly. Or at all, I guess. But he’s not nothing.”
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