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

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

One of Us is Back by Karen M. McManus

33 reviews

bookishexpat's review against another edition

Lots of filler, too large a cast, and most of the people affected don’t even have POVs which makes everything feel remote and detached.
It reads like what it is, a portion of a story that was already finished but was made into a THING, possibly also to provide more material for the TV adaptation.

My recommendation: read the first book maybe, but skip the rest (including the adaotation).

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kfergy's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

An enjoyable conclusion to the trilogy (at least, I think it's a conclusion 🤔) - some of the twists were well telegraphed so there was that enjoyment, but others were a bit unexpected, so all-in-all a satisfying read

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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.

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lauren_shilling's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This was the third book in the One Of Us Is Lying series, and it was honestly just fine for me. I didn't think it was bad, but I think it definitely lacked compared to the other two. The first book is absolutely a five star for me. I loved everything about it. The second book was around a four star, I think. I liked it, but it didn't live up to the original. This book, I think mainly suffered from having way too many characters. I understand the point of the story was to focus on all the characters from the previous two books and really bring them all together in the final story from Bayview, but I think it missed the mark a bit. We barely heard from a lot of characters, and the story was very unbalanced between them all. Overall, I just think it was too many, and this book either needed to find a better way to focus in on a few of them or to be longer to give each of the characters more time. That being said, Nate, Addy, Bronwyn, and Cooper are characters that I love dearly from the first book, so seeing them again in any capacity is always a delight for me. I thought their stories all wrapped up really nicely as well. I thought the story was good and engaging, but there was just a lot going on at once and I feel like it was tied together a little haphazardly in the end. A lot of the reveals came from a villain monologue that spans actual chapters, and I have to say, that did bother me a little bit. I loved the flashback chapters, but I feel like they could have been more spread out. Plus, two of the major plot twists are revealed within pages of each other when I feel like it would have been better if they happened further apart. Overall, though, I did enjoy it, and I would recommend that people who enjoyed the other two books in the series should read this one as well. It does eventually wrap up in a satisfying way, especially for our original Bayview Four, so I did really appreciate that.

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