The person01–03
01·Who they are
Who is Addy Prentiss?
Addy Prentiss is introduced as one of Bayview High's golden-girl archetypes — the beautiful, compliant girlfriend of star athlete Jake Riordan. McManus establishes her social identity almost entirely through Jake's gaze: Addy dresses to his taste, socialises within his orbit, and has internalised his preferences so thoroughly that she struggles to identify her own. She is cheerful, well-liked, and largely invisible as an individual. Yet underneath this performance of perfection sits a young woman of considerable emotional intelligence and moral conscience, both of which the novel's central crisis will drag to the surface. Her apparent ordinariness is precisely what makes her arc the most quietly radical in the book.
02·Arc & motivation
What is Addy Prentiss's arc and motivation?
Addy's arc is a study in self-excavation. At the novel's opening, her primary motivation is preservation — of her relationship, her popularity, and the safe, if suffocating, identity Jake has helped construct. The threat of Simon's About That gossip app revealing her affair with TJ Forrester does not, at first, radicalise her; it terrifies her. She wants the secret buried, the status quo maintained.
The turning point is Jake's response to that secret. His escalating control — emotional manipulation shading into physical intimidation — holds up a mirror Addy can no longer avoid. McManus structures her transformation as a series of incremental defiances rather than a single epiphany, which makes it feel earned. Addy begins to ask what she wants rather than what Jake will permit. Her motivation shifts from self-preservation within the relationship to self-preservation from it, and finally to something more expansive: the pursuit of truth and, by implication, authorship of her own life.
03·Key moments
What are Addy Prentiss's key moments?
- The haircut. Addy cuts her hair without Jake's approval — an act McManus frames as deliberately small and devastatingly symbolic. It is the first time in the novel that Addy makes a choice about her own body purely for herself.
- The affair revealed. When Simon's impending post would have exposed her relationship with Evan Neiman, Addy is positioned as a suspect with clear motive, and the reader watches her wrestle with guilt, shame, and a growing resentment of the circumstances that made secrecy necessary in the first place.
- Jake's threats. Jake's shift from charming boyfriend to intimidating controller is the novel's most explicit depiction of intimate-partner coercion. Addy's recognition that this is not love — and never was — is the psychological hinge of her entire journey.
- Friendship with Janae. Addy's growing closeness with Janae Norman, Simon's best friend, represents her first authentic relationship independent of Jake's approval. Spending time with Janae pulls Addy out of her old social world and into something more honest.
- Recording Jake's confession. Addy's decision to meet Jake wearing a recording device and deliver the evidence to Officer Nadia Santiago is the novel's dramatic culmination of her arc. The girl who once arranged her wardrobe to please a boy now risks her safety to expose him.
The cast04–05
04·Relationships
What are Addy Prentiss's most important relationships?
Jake Riordan functions less as a romantic partner than as a structural force that has shaped Addy's entire selfhood. Their relationship reveals how coercive control can masquerade as devotion; his approval was currency, and Addy spent years earning it. His escalation toward violence is what finally converts her compliance into resistance.
Janae Norman is, in many ways, Addy's most important relationship in the novel. Forged in mutual suspicion and shared grief for Simon, their friendship is free of performance. Janae does not need Addy to be the pretty girlfriend; she simply needs her to be present. This is revelatory for Addy.
Simon Kelleher, though dead before the narrative properly begins, haunts Addy with guilt. She barely knew him in life and is uncomfortably aware that she dismissed him. His death becomes a moral obligation she feels personally — her empathy for someone her social world discarded mirrors her growing empathy for her own discarded self.
Bronwyn, Cooper, and Nate — her fellow Bayview Four — offer parallel models of people concealing truths under social pressure. Cooper's closeted identity in particular rhymes with Addy's hidden self, and the group's solidarity quietly teaches her that vulnerability shared is not weakness.
Officer Santiago represents institutional scrutiny, but Addy ultimately turns that relationship into an act of agency. Handing Santiago the recording is Addy choosing accountability over self-protection.
05·Connected characters
How is Addy Prentiss connected to the other characters?
Study06–07
06·Questions
Questions readers ask about Addy Prentiss
What does Addy Prentiss do to help solve Simon's murder?
Addy records Jake Riordan's confession using a hidden recording device and delivers this evidence to Officer Nadia Santiago, which leads to Jake's arrest and clears the Bayview Four. This act marks the climax of her character arc — the girl who once curated her wardrobe to please a boy now risks her safety to expose him as a murderer.
Why is Addy Prentiss a suspect in Simon Kelleher's death?
Addy is a suspect because Simon's About That gossip app was set to reveal her affair with Evan Neiman, giving her a clear motive to silence Simon. She was also present in detention on the day Simon died, placing her at the scene with the other members of the Bayview Four.
How does Addy Prentiss's relationship with Jake Riordan define her at the start of the novel?
Jake's approval serves as the foundation of Addy's identity at the beginning of the novel — she dresses to please him, socializes within his circle, and has internalized his preferences to the extent that she struggles to recognize her own. McManus portrays their relationship as coercive control disguised as devotion, with Jake's escalating threats ultimately transforming Addy's compliance into resistance.
Why is Addy Prentiss's haircut significant in One of Us Is Lying?
Cutting her hair without Jake's approval represents Addy's first independent choice regarding her own body, making it a small act with significant symbolic impact. McManus depicts this as the initial step in a series of gradual acts of defiance, indicating that Addy's transformation will unfold incrementally.
How does Addy Prentiss's friendship with Janae Norman change her?
Janae, Simon's closest friend, provides Addy with her first genuine relationship outside Jake's social circle and free from performance. Janae only needs Addy to be present instead of the polished "pretty girlfriend," and this acceptance is transformative — it draws Addy toward honesty and helps her gain clearer self-perception, symbolizing her broader departure from Jake's control.
Does Addy Prentiss feel guilty about Simon Kelleher's death?
Yes — Addy is deeply affected by guilt over Simon, partly because she hardly knew him and is acutely aware that she dismissed him like many others. McManus frames this guilt as a moral catalyst; Addy's empathy for someone her peers overlooked reflects her increasing empathy for her own long-suppressed identity.
How does Addy Prentiss's connection with Cooper Clay and the other Bayview Four members shape her?
Shared peril breaks down the social barriers between Addy, Bronwyn, Cooper, and Nate, fostering solidarity and mutual respect across former divisions. Cooper's own hidden secret — his sexuality — parallels Addy's concealed self, subtly reinforcing the novel's theme that shared vulnerability is strength, and the group's collective experience encourages Addy toward greater honesty.
How is Addy Prentiss different at the end of One of Us Is Lying compared to the beginning?
By the novel's conclusion, Addy has transformed from a passive figure in Jake's world into an active agent who makes her own choices. Previously unable to imagine life without Jake or even select her own clothes, she concludes the story having recorded a murderer's confession, developed a true friendship with Janae, and embraced a resilience she had never recognized in herself.
07·Essay angles
Use this in your essay
Tool · Essay angles
Coercive control and recognition: Analyse how the novel stages Addy's gradual recognition of Jake's behaviour as abuse. What narrative techniques does McManus use to make the reader
Guilt as a moral catalyst: Addy's guilt over Simon's death
Agency and confession: The act of recording Jake's confession reverses Addy's relationship to secrecy throughout the novel. Write a thesis exploring how McManus uses the motif of revelation