Saturday, June 13, 2020

Book Review: One of Us Is Next (One of Us Is Lying #2) by Karen M. McManus

ook Review: One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus
One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus

Published: January 7, 2020

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller

Pages: 377

SynopsisCome 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.

Thoughts: I remember being very enthralled with One of Us is Lying; it kept me at the edge of my seat with the mystery, and drew me in further with the characters. I also highly enjoyed McManus' other book, Two Can Keep a Secret, which is not related to this series at all, despite it making it seem like it with the name and the cover design. This actual sequel to One of Us is Lying, however, didn't hold my interest quite as much as those other two did.

I think the difference for me is that those others seemed to focus a lot more on the mystery than this one, which was more heavily about the relationships and romance. I wasn't quite as engaged with those relationships as I was in the other books either. I don't know why, exactly, because the characters are all likable and interesting on their own merits, there was just something that didn't quite hook me as much. 

Also, while there was certainly a mystery element from the beginning, it didn't really get moving until halfway through the book, which was maybe throwing me off in terms of pacing. It could be that I was going into it with some preconceived notions about what to expect, and was thrown off when it was taking awhile to get to those points. But it felt like it took awhile to get the mystery going, and then it got solved pretty quickly after that.

Nonetheless, I'll still look forward to McManus' other books since I enjoyed the other two so much.

Rating: 3.5/5

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What I'm Reading Next: Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray

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