One of Us is Next

Mystery/Suspense

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Justification: I chose this book because I enjoyed the prequel, One of Us is Lying. It was a suspenseful page-turner. I was also excited to read a newly minted book for 2020. On the whole, I really enjoy adult mysteries and I was looking forward to reading one for a young adult audience. McManus is popular amongst the teen girl population in our library and I wanted to be able to relate.

Response: In this sequel to One of Us is Lying, McManus disappoints. Told by a revolving cast of first person narrators, One of Us in Next suffers from hackneyed depictions of high school students. Worse yet, their narratives start to blur together and their voices sound the same instead of singular individuals. You have the brainiac, the bad boy, the jock(s), the loner, and the popular girls. The only person I could identify with was Maeve Rojas, who, fortunately, was one of the more central characters in the Bayview High drama. She was relatable as a high-school junior and didn't fall into one of the aforementioned tropes. Second to Maeve is Knox, her ex-boyfriend now close friend.

I did however, like the use of social media in this book. Students are captivated by a texting game of "truth or dare". This type of cyber-scenario is plausible and so it starts out as something realistic. Everyone's curiosity is piqued by who among them will be targeted next. The mystery revolves around who is the mastermind behind the nefarious game. Truth reveals deep, embarrassing secrets and dare can be deadly. While some students elect to remove themselves from the drama by turning off notifications of their incoming texts, they are ultimately drawn back into the siren song as events escalate.

Conclusion: Ultimately, I found this book to be lackluster. The characters were shallow caricatures of high school stereotypes. The plot was predictable, foregoing any suspense. I had high expectations after reading the prequel, but ended up disappointed. I won't recommend this book.

APA Reference: McManus, K.M. (2020). One of Us is Next. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.