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A review by bookishrealm
One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus
4.0
I truly believe that McManus did a good job with this one!
One of Us Is Next is the follow up to McManus' debut novel One of Us Is Lying. While it is categorized as sequel, it doesn't directly deal with the events of the first book. It was great to see characters appear from the first book. This book follows some of the students who still remain at Bayview High. It's hard to even give a summary of this book without spoiling the first book so I'm just going to talk about a view things that I enjoyed.
McManus is a gifted writer. I flew through this book in about two sittings and that says a lot considering the intense schedule that I have currently have. She is easily able to draw the reader in to the not only the plot, but also the plight of the characters. It flowed seamlessly and really made me connect with several of the characters. Maeve was a character that I enjoyed in the first book so it was nice to see her take center stage in this sequel. I connected with her emotional struggles that she faces in the book due to certain circumstances. She's shy and for the most part is well liked by everyone, but I was proud of her for realizing her own character flaws and how those flaws affected her interpersonal relationships. The same feelings were apparent in my reading of Knox. While I wish that he wasn't as self-deprecating, I realized that a lot of the self-esteem issues that he faced is a reality for some teens. While Phoebe wasn't a character voice that I enjoy as much as Know and Maeve, she's definitely important to the plot/narrative of the book. The dynamic that these three have together in trying to solve the mystery of this book is AMAZING. They struggle with each other at times, but they also learn to depend upon and trust one another to work their way through the plot.
Speaking of plot, this book was much better than the first in terms of plot. While I was able to pick up on the initial reveal, those last couple of pages had my mind blown. This book follows a true/dare game which makes things even more interesting and when the reader figures out how everything is connected it definitely comes as a surprise. A huge thing for me when it comes to YA thrillers/mysteries is their level of predictability. I thought that this was going to be easily predictable, but McManus definitely proved me wrong.
Overall, I thought that this was well-written, fun, and engaging and I can't wait to read her new release in December.
One of Us Is Next is the follow up to McManus' debut novel One of Us Is Lying. While it is categorized as sequel, it doesn't directly deal with the events of the first book. It was great to see characters appear from the first book. This book follows some of the students who still remain at Bayview High. It's hard to even give a summary of this book without spoiling the first book so I'm just going to talk about a view things that I enjoyed.
McManus is a gifted writer. I flew through this book in about two sittings and that says a lot considering the intense schedule that I have currently have. She is easily able to draw the reader in to the not only the plot, but also the plight of the characters. It flowed seamlessly and really made me connect with several of the characters. Maeve was a character that I enjoyed in the first book so it was nice to see her take center stage in this sequel. I connected with her emotional struggles that she faces in the book due to certain circumstances. She's shy and for the most part is well liked by everyone, but I was proud of her for realizing her own character flaws and how those flaws affected her interpersonal relationships. The same feelings were apparent in my reading of Knox. While I wish that he wasn't as self-deprecating, I realized that a lot of the self-esteem issues that he faced is a reality for some teens. While Phoebe wasn't a character voice that I enjoy as much as Know and Maeve, she's definitely important to the plot/narrative of the book. The dynamic that these three have together in trying to solve the mystery of this book is AMAZING. They struggle with each other at times, but they also learn to depend upon and trust one another to work their way through the plot.
Speaking of plot, this book was much better than the first in terms of plot. While I was able to pick up on the initial reveal, those last couple of pages had my mind blown. This book follows a true/dare game which makes things even more interesting and when the reader figures out how everything is connected it definitely comes as a surprise. A huge thing for me when it comes to YA thrillers/mysteries is their level of predictability. I thought that this was going to be easily predictable, but McManus definitely proved me wrong.
Overall, I thought that this was well-written, fun, and engaging and I can't wait to read her new release in December.