Reviews with content warning for Grief - One of Us is Back

Honestly, this was such a dissapointing book. I have really enjoyed the first two books in the series, and I do think this book had an interesting set up. However, this book was just so incredibly boring. Nothing happened for most of this book. The mystery was barely present until the very end of the book, and it just was our main characters hanging out, doing nothing. The mystery itself was also just a bit of a letdown to me. The reveals weren't very impactful, and it all just felt a bit anticlimactic.
This was honeslty such a slow paced book it honeslty got painful. It made me think that Karen M McManus didn't really have anything planned for this book, and just wrote it to fulfil her contract, and therefore just stretched out a very thin idea. If I didn't care so much about these characters already this 100% would be a one star, or maybe even a DNF. It just wasn't a good book at all, and my love for these characters is what pushed me through.
That being said though I do think Karen M McManus didn't do a good job juggling the large cast of characters in this book. So many characters just felt left to the wayside, and kind of forgotten about throughout the book, which I thought was a shame. We only get POV's from Addy, Phoebe, and Nate, and that honestly left me a bit sad. I did love Addy's POV. She had the most interesting POV from the three, and great character growth throughout the book. I also understood why we got Phoebe's POV as she played a large part in the story, and she also has great developement throughout the story but I just didn't really like following her that much. I just don't think she was that compelling of a character, and whenever we got to her chapters I was just hoping we would get back to Addy as soon as possible. Nate's POV though could have been scrapped. He didn't play that big of a part in the story, he's on the same line as some of the side characters that didn't have a POV, and he also just doesn't have a personal journey to get through. It kind of felt a bit unnececary besides a few scenes here and there were we get a tiny bit of plot.
So yeah, this just didn't end up working for me at all. However, I do like the place this left our characters in a great place, and I am glad that I read this book just to see these characters happy endings. However, it just wasn't a good book. I can't in good conciousness even think that it is, which is a massive dissapointement as this series has been pretty good before that.

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greatexpectations77's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have been really liking this series, and I thought this installment was a particularly strong one. Families are so messy, and it's interesting to look at the effect of having the perfect family can have on your social capital.

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melodyseestrees's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

The characters are diverse in that there are LGBTQ+ characters. All characters feel very white, even though some of them may not be. This may just be an error in reading on my part or some sort of internalized stereotype however.
This book starts as possibly the slowest and most boring book of the trilogy. The first forty percent of the book contains a lot of set up and very little suspense. The characters also feel like they should all be in their late twenties, even though two of them are in their late teens. They don't feel old in the way most other traumatized characters do either. They seem mostly unphased by the events of the last two books other than when there is an active threat.
There are several potential antagonists being hinted at throughout the novel. This is often a very nice technique however I felt the technique was a bit fumbled upon the reveal.

It winds up being none of them. It is two characters, one who shares a work place with one of our main characters and another character you lowkey forget exists until the reveal.

The world is also unrealistic in how it handles certain events

Owen being revealed to be complicit in the actions of Jared in book 2. The whole town just seems to shrug and go 'huh. okay.' The town also seems fine with revealed accusations that Jake's legal father killed his biological father.

There was also very unrealistic use of an ankle monitor. This is partially justified by the incompetence of the local police.

You have only a few minutes before the ankle monitor alerts the police of any potential tampering. Jake would have been found before he even had a chance to be missing.

The ending is a happy one with promises at a good future for all of them. Well for everyone who survives. Hooray for therapy!

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hales_1243's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

While this isn't my favorite book in the trilogy, I do like how it ended. I love that the Bayview crew gets a happy ending, while also growing and acknowledging what they've been through. The pacing was nice and I really enjoyed the story. It did get a little dull halfway through, but I think it picked up again after the final reveal in part 1.

I loved the discussion about privilege and how it plays into the legal justice system. </Spoiler>

In regards to a potential drug use trigger,

a character was roofied at a party.

In regards to a potential sexual violence trigger,

there is a storyline discussing nonconsensual recording of sexual acts.

Content Warnings