Five students with seemingly nothing in common are all in detention one afternoon. Bronwyn is the scholar, the one destined for the Ivy League. Cooper is a baseball star with a secret. Addy is the girlfriend of the most popular guy in school and lives it. Nate is the town bad boy who deals in drugs. Finally, Simon, the runner of a malicious gossip app, is the one who dies during the detention. When everyone has something to hide, who is the killer?

A bit of a mixture of The Breakfast Club and a locked room mystery, Karen M. McManus' ONE OF US IS LYING is a high runner for one of the best mysteries of the year. As each piece falls, the mystery builds at a breathless pace. As much as I love a good whodunit, my favorite aspect of the novel is the beautiful emotion underneath everything. Each character becomes lovable, nuanced people, ones that by the end feel like good friends. Readers are thrust into their personal lives filled with heartache, ambition, and discovery.

While each character is well-developed, Bronwyn and Addy's journeys hooked me the most. Addy's journey focuses primarily on self-discovery and self-empowerment. For so long, she has existed in the shadow of her psychologically harmful boyfriend. Without him, she has to figure out who she truly is. For Bronwyn, she feels constant pressure to maintain a clean image for her family, but she also finds herself falling for Nate. Their relationship is completely swoony, and readers should be ready to board the ship immediately.

ONE OF US IS LYING deserves all the hype it's received. Karen M. McManus spins a thrilling mystery you won't want to put down.