Reviews with content warning for Racism - One of Us Is Next

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus

7 reviews

sare1125's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

4.0

Content Warnings

abicaro17's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Once again a fun read! As a sequel, this book was fighting any preconceived notions from One of Us is Lying. I can say that this book, although not as good as the first, is a solid sequel. One of Us is Next brings in Brownyn's sister Maeve, a computer genius, Maeve's ex boyfriend and current best friend Knox, a law intern, and Phoebe, a waitress at the restaurant that everyone hangs out in. As a new gossip fueled game, Truth or Dare, starts up 18 months after Simon's death and creates drama and danger. I really enjoyed the new characters in Phoebe, Knox, Maeve and Luis. I think this is a true strong point in this story. I appreciate how this story keeps the basis of the first story while changing almost everything else. The original characters are involved but it's not about them, the location is the same but there are new ones too, and the mystery is entirely different as well. My problem is that I didn't care as much. The beauty of the first book is that Simon dies in front of the original four and its pretty much the first chapter. This means that the mysterious death is the forefront and the game is more secondary. It is the reverse in the sequel. I feel like this means the story is harder to get into and is less of a meaningful twist. I think the first was hard to follow and although this book stops short it is a fantastic mystery either way.

Content Warnings

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

This book is very slow for the first 60%. There is a lot of focus on drama unrelated to the underlying mystery and characters that don't matter past the initial burst of drama. There is somehow not enough focus on any of these characters to pull off a red herring maneuver. You can basically figure out the plot by the 70% mark aside from a few details that were mishandled, in my opinion. There is also a romance between a 17 year old and someone who is old enough to have graduated college.

There is a character blatantly introduced at the 90% mark. He is mentioned two to four times throughout the book but only in passing as the "intense guy." To no one's surprise he is one of the three culprits and not at all a red herring. There are three culprits: Emma, Owen, Jared Jackson. Jared Jackson made a deal with Emma in a revenge board. Emma did this through the use of her sister's phone as she had conveniently lost hers. Emma admits this all from the hospital bed where she is suffering from the effects of alcohol poisoning. When Emma backs out by ghosting on Jared, Owen (the little brother) steps in, steals the pseudonym, and pursues revenge against Brandon for the death of his father. Emma and Phoebe agree to act like Jared fabricated Owen's messages to protect him.

The reveal right at the end of the book is a very cheap gimmick and though it was executed properly, it feels unrealistic to how someone of that age demographic would respond to the info they'd acquired.

Content Warnings

nataliapassos's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

brookey8888's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this! Not as much as the first, but it was still really good. I just really like the characters she writes and I love that we got to see the characters from the first in this. Also how the events of the first book effects this one. Now it didn’t get interesting plot wise for the first like 50%(I don’t really care because I like the characters and relationships). The last part of this book I did not see coming my jaw dropped.

Content Warnings

sarahthenerd's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

Holy shit.

First of, One of Us Is Next > One of Us Is Lying.

This book is more relaxed, less tense and suspense than the first one. I really love that this book is not only surrounding the main victims but also other people to avoid any suspicious.

I love that the Bayview Four was also included in this book and omg, Chapter 8 was like "holy shit" and "😩" and Chapter 31 when Nate and Bronwyn made an appearance was totally 😩. And I love that they're out of the high school gossip which makes it a lot more amaze because just like Maeve once said “𝙄𝙩 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝘽𝙖𝙮𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮'𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨.”

Also this book is very different from all the mysterious and crime book I've read because in this book, there's two mysteries that the characters need to solve.

Also can't wait for the third book, the cliffhanger was leaving me on the very edge of the cliff. There is so much explanations that need to be explained because the cliffhanger literally doesn't make sense why he did it.

And I hope for the One of Us Is Lying TV adaptation will be similar to this. If not almost. Because I want to see the new characters on screen.

Content Warnings

evavstheworld's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

One Of Us Is Next is a sequel to the well-known and loved book by McManus, which I read at the beginning of my bookstagram journey. I absolutely love the YA mystery thriller vibes and McManus’ books are super fast paced and read super quickly! I enjoyed OOUIN, it was able to pull me out of a little reading slump I was experiencing and I’m really glad I finally read it. It was good to revisit Bayview and some of the OG Bayview characters, alongside some new protagonists. The plot is well designed and suspenseful, so I’m sure thriller and mystery fans will enjoy this!⠀
⠀
That said, I found the book to contain a lot of triggers- the full list will be at the bottom! With my first McManus book, I was oblivious as to how certain topics could affect readers, but I took that lesson to heart whilst reading the sequel. I think McManus likes to put all her teenage characters through a LOT, all in a very short span of time. ⠀

Content Warnings

More...