Karen M. McManus’s One of Us Is Lying is so irresistible because it blends a juicy high school drama with the momentum of a true page-turner. What begins as a Breakfast Club-inspired setup—the brain, the beauty, the criminal, the athlete, and the outcast—quickly tightens into a sharp, twisty mystery where everyone has something to hide.
If you’re looking for books with the same mix of teen tension, layered secrets, and compulsive plotting, the titles below are excellent places to start. Some lean more heavily into murder, others into family drama or psychological suspense, but all of them capture that same thrilling feeling that the truth is just out of reach—and that finding it may come at a cost.
If One of Us Is Lying worked for you, Two Can Keep a Secret is an easy next pick. Set in a small town haunted by old disappearances, it follows twins Ellery and Ezra as they arrive in a place where another girl soon vanishes.
Ellery and Malcolm start digging into the town’s buried history, and the mystery gathers speed from there. McManus once again places teens at the center of a dangerous web of rumors, lies, and long-held grudges.
The small-town setting gives the story a chilly, suspicious atmosphere, and the family secrets running underneath it all make the payoff especially satisfying.
The Cousins trades school hallways for a wealthy family compound, but it delivers the same kind of tension McManus does so well. Three estranged cousins are unexpectedly invited to spend the summer working at their grandmother’s island resort.
As they try to understand why they were summoned—and why their parents were cut off years ago—old betrayals and hidden motives begin to surface. Much like One of Us Is Lying, the novel thrives on uneasy relationships and the pressure of being trapped together.
It’s a strong choice if you enjoy mysteries built around messy family dynamics, shifting loyalties, and revelations that reframe everything that came before.
In A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, high school senior Pippa Fitz-Amobi chooses a supposedly solved murder case for a school project—then starts uncovering details that don’t add up. The deeper she goes, the more dangerous the investigation becomes.
Like One of Us Is Lying, this novel turns a familiar teen setting into the backdrop for a dark and absorbing mystery. Pip is a determined, smart protagonist, and the story balances school life, relationships, and escalating suspense extremely well.
If what you loved most was the combination of teen perspective and genuine investigative momentum, this is one of the best follow-ups you can read.
This sequel to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder pulls Pip into another case when a local teenager disappears. Even though she wants to leave investigations behind, the circumstances draw her back in.
As in One of Us Is Lying, trust is fragile and appearances are misleading. Social media, podcasts, and public scrutiny give the story a contemporary edge while also increasing the pressure on everyone involved.
Readers who enjoy smart teen sleuthing, emotional stakes, and a mystery that keeps tightening chapter by chapter will find plenty to like here.
Avery Grambs’s life changes overnight when a billionaire she has never met leaves her his fortune. The catch: to inherit it, she must move into his mansion and outmaneuver the family he left behind.
While it’s more puzzle-box thriller than murder mystery, it shares a lot with One of Us Is Lying: hidden motives, tense teen interactions, and the constant sense that nobody is revealing the full story. Barnes keeps the twists coming without losing sight of the characters.
Pick this one up if you like clever plotting, dangerous games, and secrets layered inside other secrets.
Ellingham Academy is a prestigious boarding school built around a notorious unsolved kidnapping and murder case. Amateur detective Stevie Bell arrives determined to solve the mystery, only for fresh danger to erupt around her.
The series has much of what makes One of Us Is Lying so appealing: a school setting, a strong ensemble cast, and clues that unfold gradually as the tension builds. Johnson also does an excellent job of weaving past and present together.
If you want a mystery with atmosphere, intelligence, and plenty of suspect-worthy characters, this series is well worth diving into.
Sadie alternates between Sadie’s own perspective and the transcript of a podcast trying to reconstruct what happened to her. After her sister’s murder, Sadie disappears while pursuing the man she believes is responsible.
Like One of Us Is Lying, it peels back layers of secrecy and hurt, but it does so in a grittier, more emotionally intense register. The podcast structure adds immediacy and makes the mystery feel especially vivid.
This is an excellent choice for readers who want something darker, rawer, and deeply character-driven.
Set at an elite boarding school, People Like Us opens with a classmate’s murder and only gets more intense from there. Kay Donovan is forced into a dangerous scavenger hunt that exposes the secrets of her classmates—and threatens to reveal her own.
If the suspicious cast and social maneuvering of One of Us Is Lying kept you hooked, this one offers a similarly tense experience. The school’s hierarchy, buried betrayals, and mounting paranoia all add to the pressure.
It’s a fast, sharp read for anyone who enjoys dark academia energy mixed with high-stakes teen drama.
This Is Not a Test takes the high school pressure cooker in a very different direction: zombie horror. A group of teenagers is trapped inside their school while the world outside collapses.
Although it leans more into survival horror than mystery, it still shares key strengths with One of Us Is Lying—strained relationships, hidden emotional wounds, and the way extreme pressure forces truths into the open.
Choose this one if you want the same teen-driven intensity but with a much darker, more apocalyptic twist.
In We Were Liars, the wealthy Sinclair family spends every summer on their private island, projecting an image of elegance and control. Beneath that polished surface, though, something terrible has happened—and the protagonist cannot fully remember what.
Readers who enjoyed the misdirection and slow reveal of One of Us Is Lying may be especially drawn to this novel’s atmosphere and carefully constructed suspense. Lockhart lets the mystery unfold with deliberate precision.
It’s haunting, clever, and ideal if you like stories about privilege, memory, and the damage secrets can do.
Five cheerleaders died years ago, including Monica’s older sister, and everyone says the tragedy is in the past. Monica isn’t convinced. As she revisits what happened, she begins to suspect the official version of events left out something important.
Like One of Us Is Lying, this novel mixes teen life with a steadily deepening mystery tied to peers, family, and old trauma. Monica is an engaging lead, and her search for answers gives the book a strong emotional pull.
The story reveals its secrets patiently, making each new discovery feel weighty and unsettling.
Diana Urban starts with a brutal premise: six students are locked in a room with a bomb and told that one of them must die within the hour or everyone will. The tension is immediate, and it never really lets up.
That setup creates the same kind of suspicion and shifting alliances that make One of Us Is Lying so compelling. Under pressure, resentments rise, secrets spill out, and nobody feels safe.
If you enjoy morally messy scenarios and stories that force characters to show who they really are, this one delivers.
Anna arrives in a Hamptons town for the summer and soon finds herself accused of murdering a local girl named Zoe Spanos. Complicating matters further, a true-crime podcast starts investigating Zoe’s disappearance.
Fans of One of Us Is Lying may appreciate the blend of teen drama, uncertainty, and media-driven suspense. The podcast element gives the mystery a modern feel, while Anna’s shaky sense of what happened adds another layer of intrigue.
It’s an absorbing pick for readers who like unreliable memories, shifting narratives, and a story that keeps second-guessing itself.
Gossip Girl isn’t a murder mystery, but it thrives on many of the same pleasures: secrets, betrayals, rumor, and social power. Set among privileged Manhattan teens, the series follows friendships and rivalries that can turn vicious in an instant.
If your favorite part of One of Us Is Lying was the drama of reputation, shifting alliances, and hidden personal lives, this series scratches a similar itch. The tone is lighter and more glamorous, but the chaos is very real.
Think of it as a less deadly, highly addictive version of teens weaponizing what they know about each other.
When four friends begin receiving threatening messages from an anonymous figure after the disappearance of their former leader, their carefully buried secrets start resurfacing. Pretty Little Liars mixes blackmail, suspense, and teen drama with relentless efficiency.
It shares a lot of DNA with One of Us Is Lying: a group of young characters haunted by what they know, what they’ve done, and what someone else might expose. The series is built on paranoia and constant reversals.
If you want another addictive story full of lies, pressure, and characters who can’t quite escape their past, this is a natural fit.
