A game turned deadly.
One of Us is Next is an international bestseller, a YA thriller. Written by Karen M. McManus. There is a Netflix series based on the book series this book is a part of called One of Us is Lying starring Annalisa Cochrane & Cooper Van Grootel among others. This book is the second one of the series.
Truth or Dare, everyone has played this game at least once, right? It is controversial I agree, sometimes it plays as the trigger of fights and misunderstandings but deadly? nah. Out of context but if you have some funny anecdote relating to this game please share it in the comment section.
Back to topic,
well, McManus took it upon herself to prove us wrong. Turns out Truth and Dare can be deadly as hell. This year someone is playing this game with Bayview High. You take the truth your deepest darkest secret out in the open and we established this in the last book that everyone has secrets and nobody wants to share. I know what you are thinking choose dare easy-peasy, we are talking about teenagers here, that too book ones, they are even more teenager-like than the real-life ones, need I remind you of that challenge that came out in the 2010s called “Blue Whale” in the real world, so dare may not be the smartest choice.
But this is way bigger than a game and the clock is ticking for our protagonists tick-tok tick-tok.
I recommend reading the first book of the series before this one. Even though the important events of that book are explained or mentioned in this one. For the best experience read in order it would give you more insight into how Bayview functions and it is really nice to meet the old characters again as they progress in their lives.
To help you decide Book Review of One of Us is Lying.
McManus has improved from the last book to this one you can feel it, this is a level up and that is saying something since the last book was quite good too. This book has the absolute right to be called suspense. There are unexpected twists and turns, and all the characters go through lots of stuff. In the last book, there was a lot of pressure from the media, just common people on the internet. This time it was mostly personal struggles at home and school. Family issues, feuds with friends, and the like.
The build-up and the consequent revelations were so well done. I caught myself biting my nails at one point, which is not something that happens often.
This time I couldn’t find any popular stereotypes to fit the main characters into, in contrast to the last book which was filled to the brim with stereotypical characters, this somehow made it feel more real, if that makes sense. There are three main characters and the love interest of one of them could be called main too, I suppose.
Maeve Rojas, our Bronwyn’s baby sister is finally getting her life on track. Cancer has taken its toll but she finally has a chance (or not). She now actually has a social life and her very own friends, of course, this is the peace before the storm, she is a Bayview student and not to forget Bronwyn Rojas’s sister.
Maeve is one of the two main characters we have met before, the other being her love interest, we’ll come to that later. She goes through a lot of emotional growth over the course of the novel. Her disease is a major part of her life and has also in ways shaped who she is, not exactly a good thing. We see how she breaks free from all that. She falls down but gets up again learning something new each time.
Her love interest is Luis, yep, Cooper’s jock friend. He is so cute. There is a lot more to him than meets the eye. He is important to the story. He helps Maeve too, and opens her up to being vulnerable sometimes in front of people she trusts. It was the he fell first but she fell harder trope, they were cute but no couple could beat Bronywn and Nate, in my eyes.
Knox Myers, He just wants to get through high school, figure out his interests, and not disappoint his father. Well tough luck to him, because he is going to be facing a tough few weeks, that just may shake things up to a large next. All thanks to his ex-turned-best friend.
I particularly enjoyed reading his chapters, Knox is just a normal guy, the kind you see at school in real life not some sort of teen stereotype like a jock, nerd, bad boy, you know. Just a normal boy who loves his video games trying to figure out his life. He gives us a peek into what toxic masculinity looks like and does for young men out there. Just another perspective on the wonderful gifts of patriarchy (I’m being sarcastic guys, just to be clear.)
Phoebe Lawton, She is your average teenager, working as a waitress and has few friends. She also has a thing going on with a very toxic person, the thing being strictly physical. Also, her siblings and her are not on the very best terms. You’d think the girl seems to have a lot on her plate already, maybe not make things worse, turns out our dear author doesn’t agree. Because she is the first victim of this new game and shit hits the fan.
She honestly feels like Addy 2.0 in some ways, like she did something really bad, but learns from her mistake and tries her best to pick up the pieces after the game, along with her schoolmates makes her life hell. She is the one who, in my opinion, had the toughest time throughout the novel. The character arc was amazing. She and Knox are each other’s love interests. Who doesn’t love a slow-burn romance?
The plot wasgood, in a way, there was never a quiet moment in the book, one thing after another, but I found myself more concerned about the characters and their lives than finding the culprit. I feel it should have been the exact opposite in a mystery book. There was this one point in the book, the climax, I was literally on the edge of my seat. Now that I think about it, that was because everyone was in serious danger. Hope you’re getting my point.
Can’t really say the revelation was something that blew your mind, McManus is amazing with her characters and their arcs, they are so believable and real, but the plot did have scope for improvement. The pace was not too fast, not too slow. I thought long and hard, but couldn’t really think of any major plot holes. The ending was absolutely unexpected I did not see it coming at all. I would give the book the complete in one sitting tag though.
I would give 14 and up age rating. It is about 400 pages long. The book has bombing, manipulation, sexual assault, bullying, and violence. If you’re sensitive towards any of these I would suggest you to exercise caution.
Look, It was a very good read for me, I love books having good characters with interesting lives and relationships. There are people looking for just an amazing mystery that want little to do with romance & personal drama of the characters and there are people like me. If you are anywhere near the latter you need to read this book ASAP.
Really looking forward to reading the 3rd book, but it’s exam time so reading would probably have to wait.
Yours,
A Fellow Bookworm
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