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Review: One of Us Is Next by Karen McManus

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One of Us Is Next by Karen McManus

One of Us Is Next (One of Us Is Lying #2)
Karen McManus
Delacorte Press for Young Readers
Published January 7, 2020

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About One of Us Is Next

Come on, Bayview, you know you’ve missed this.

A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one’s been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts.

Until now.

This time it’s not an app, though—it’s a game.

Truth or Dare.

Phoebe’s the first target. If you choose not to play, it’s a truth. And hers is dark.

Then comes Maeve and she should know better—always choose the dare.

But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it’s that they can’t count on the police for help. Or protection.

Simon’s gone, but someone’s determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there’s a whole new set of rules.

The highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling thriller everyone is talking about, One of Us Is Lying! There’s a new mystery to solve at Bayview High, and there’s a whole new set of rules.

My Review

I had a little bit of a rough start with this book. It’s been a while since I read ONE OF US IS LYING, but actually, ONE OF US IS NEXT does a great job reacquainting us with the characters from the previous book. The downside of that was that it also introduced a lot of characters in the first couple of chapters and it took me a bit to get everyone and their connections all sorted out.

Once I had that all figured out, I pretty quickly got into the book. As with the first book, clues about what’s happening come from surprising places. Everyone has secrets and motives that aren’t always clear cut.

I liked this cast of characters, too. Maeve is a cancer survivor, and she begins having symptoms of a relapse but doesn’t want to face it. So she decides not to tell anyone. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to reach into the story and beg her not to do that. I loved the way we got to know her and the things she learned about herself in the story.

Phoebe was also a great character. Her rocky relationship with her sister resonated with me a lot. And I loved all that happened as she got to know and grow closer to Maeve and Knox. The story left me with one Phoebe question that I really wanted answered. She discovers a connection to her past and doesn’t ever seem to consider whether the person who had that connection sought her out knowing who she was or if it was a terrible coincidence. Maybe that question gets answered in ONE OF US IS BACK, which comes out next summer?

On the whole, I liked this one. It had a lot of reveals in the places I needed them. It kept me guessing in some places and kept me turning pages, super tense about what would happen, in other places. If you liked ONE OF US IS LYING, definitely check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Maeve is Colombian American and a cancer survivor.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to sex. References to a boy being bullied in the past because he was outed as gay. A girl gets bullied because of rumors she slept with someone. A boy gets bullied because of rumors he wasn’t aroused when his girlfriend was prepared to have sex with him.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to an accidental death at a construction site. Threatening messages online and through text messages. A high school student dies. Four other students witness his death. A boy hits another boy hard enough to give him a concussion.

See spoiler section below for additional information.

Drug Content
One scene shows a house party at which teens are drinking alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

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SPOILER

A bomb explodes, injuring people.

Review: One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus

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One of Us Is Lying
Karen McManus
Delacorte Press
Published May 30, 2017

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About One of Us Is Lying

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.

Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.

Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.

Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.

Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.

And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?

Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

My Review for One of Us is Lying

This is definitely the kind of story that keeps you turning pages late into the night. Every chapter hints at and slowly reveals new secrets that change what you know about each character in the room with Simon when he dies.

I liked that each character had a lot more going on than it originally appeared, and each is a lot deeper than her classmates initially perceive her to be. I liked each of the characters a lot, especially as I got to know them.

Throughout the story, important clues come from surprising places, which again kept me guessing. There was a point at which I thought I had the plot figured out and was pretty close. Honestly, by then, I was so invested in the story and so curious as to what would happen to the truly innocent parties, that I didn’t care if I turned out to be right.

If you’re a fan of the cult classic The Breakfast Club or murder mysteries in general, you need to add this one to your summer reading list. If you’re like me, once you read the first chapter, you won’t be able to put it down.

The series continues with One of Us Is Next, out in early 2022.

Content Notes for One of Us is Lying

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Bronwyn and her sister are half-Latino. One character comes out as gay midway through the story.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Addy’s mother teaches her that the only way to keep a man is to keep him sexually satisfied. She and her boyfriend make out on her bed, and it’s clear she means to have sex with him. Through the course of the story, she begins to question her mom’s advice and eventually decides to take a break from dating and be herself.

Some kisses are exchanged between boy and girl or between two boys.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A boy goes into anaphylactic shock and dies.

Drug Content
Nate sells drugs to pay the bills his father ignores. After Simon’s death, he stops, knowing the police investigation puts him at too great a risk of getting caught. Eventually he finds other reasons not to pick the habit up again.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of ONE OF US IS LYING in exchange for my honest review.

Read the Next Book in the Series

One of Us Is Next by Karen McManus

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads | My Review

The highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling thriller everyone is talking about, One of Us Is Lying! There’s a new mystery to solve at Bayview High, and there’s a whole new set of rules.

Bronwyn’s younger sister, Maeve, and her best friend/ex-boyfriend, Knox, and their friend Phoebe become targets of the next gossip attack. Appearances from the original Bayview Four.