Books like One of Us is Lying
What should you read after Karen M. McManus’s novel? It depends on what you loved most about it.
- Karen M. McManus
- 2017
- Young adult mystery
What did you love about it?
Choosing one reorders everything below.
Best books to read after One of Us is Lying
Ranked overall. Pick what you loved above to re-rank them.
Best overall matchThe Cheerleaders
Kara Thomas
A small town that decided long ago what happened to five dead girls, and one sister who won't accept the tidy version. Same appetite for the secret under the official story.
- The twist you didn't see
- Everyone is lying a little
- Read it in one sitting
- Grimmer; no ensemble to root for
Great matchTwo Can Keep a Secret
Karen M. McManus
McManus doing the same trick in a new town: a place with a habit of losing homecoming queens, and narrators who are each hiding the thing that would explain everything.
- Everyone is lying a little
- Four narrators, four secrets
- The twist you didn't see
- Two narrators, not four
Best for the gossip appGossip Girl
Cecily von Ziegesar
The ancestor of Simon's app. An anonymous voice publishes the private lives of rich teenagers and everyone keeps reading anyway, because being talked about beats being forgotten.
- A gossip app that ruins lives
- The high school caste system
- Reputation as a weapon
- Nobody dies — this is not a mystery
Best for reputation as a weaponThe Truth About Alice
Jennifer Mathieu
Four classmates take turns explaining what Alice supposedly did, and the rumour builds itself in front of you. It's the multi-narrator structure aimed straight at how a school destroys a girl.
- Reputation as a weapon
- Four narrators, four secrets
- The high school caste system
- No crime, no investigation
Great matchPeople Like Us
Dana Mele
A body in the boarding-school lake, then a blog post from the dead girl assigning Kay a list of people to expose. Blackmail-by-secret, but the narrator is the one being hunted.
- Everyone is lying a little
- A gossip app that ruins lives
- The high school caste system
- Single narrator throughout
Best for friendship under suspicionLittle Monsters
Kara Thomas
The new girl gets adopted by two inseparable friends, then one of them vanishes and the group turns on her. All the pleasure of watching an alliance rot from inside.
- The twist you didn't see
- Suspects who become friends
- Everyone is lying a little
- Meaner-spirited than McManus
Best for more of the same castOne of Us Is Next
Karen M. McManus
Bayview again, a year on, with a copycat running Truth or Dare by text. If you wanted to know what happened to the Murder Club afterwards, this is the direct answer.
- Four narrators, four secrets
- A gossip app that ruins lives
- Suspects who become friends
- Works best after book one
Worth a look — with a warningSadie
Courtney Summers
A missing girl hunting her sister's killer, told half through a true-crime podcast chasing her trail. Structurally thrilling, but it goes to places McManus never would.
- Read it in one sitting
- Everyone is lying a little
- Four narrators, four secrets
- Child abuse on the page
Great matchThis Lie Will Kill You
Chelsea Pitcher
Five students invited to a mansion for a scholarship contest, each of them holding a piece of the same buried night. Detention, essentially, with better catering and worse intentions.
- Everyone is lying a little
- Four narrators, four secrets
- The twist you didn't see
- More lurid and stagey
Best for the grown-up versionThe Lying Game
Ruth Ware
Four boarding-school friends built their bond on lying beautifully, and fifteen years later a text pulls them back to what they buried. The same premise, aged twenty years.
- Everyone is lying a little
- Suspects who become friends
- Reputation as a weapon
- Adult novel, adult problems
Best for the twistWe Were Liars
E. Lockhart
A rich family's private island, a summer the narrator can't remember, and a final reveal people still talk about a decade on. Read it before anyone spoils it.
- The twist you didn't see
- Read it in one sitting
- Reputation as a weapon
- Clipped, lyrical prose style
Great matchAll These Beautiful Strangers
Elizabeth Klehfoth
Charlie wants into her boarding school's secret society and gets handed dares that dig into her own mother's disappearance. Elite institutions protecting themselves, from the inside.
- The high school caste system
- Everyone is lying a little
- Four narrators, four secrets
- Reads adult more than YA
Best for anonymous blackmailPretty Little Liars
Sara Shepard
Four friends, one vanished ringleader, and messages from someone signing off as A who knows what each of them did. The blueprint a lot of this shelf is built on.
- A gossip app that ruins lives
- Four narrators, four secrets
- The high school caste system
- Opens a very long series
What should you read after One of Us is Lying?
One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus works on several levels at once, and which book you should read next depends on which of those levels got you. For most readers the closest match is The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas — a small town that decided long ago what happened to five dead girls, and one sister who won't accept the tidy version. Same appetite for the secret under the official story.
If what stayed with you was everyone is lying a little, read Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus instead: mcManus doing the same trick in a new town: a place with a habit of losing homecoming queens, and narrators who are each hiding the thing that would explain everything. Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar is the other strong option — the ancestor of Simon's app. An anonymous voice publishes the private lives of rich teenagers and everyone keeps reading anyway, because being talked about beats being forgotten.
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