One Of Us Is Next by Karen McManus
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
I enjoyed the YA book “One Of Us Is Lying” so dang much that I started this sequel IMMEDIATELY after finishing.
I was all geared up and ready for another highly entertaining gossipy teen suspense drama again…..
And while the “gossipy teen suspense drama” part rang true this time around, the “highly entertaining” part did not.
The whole “the sequel is never as good as the first” thing rings TOTALLY true on this book.
It wasn’t awful….I didn’t hate it…but there just wasn’t anything that gripped me into the pages as much as the first one did….so I didn’t really like it much either.
It was just…..okay, I guess.
If you haven’t read the first one yet and you are wanting to, DON’T READ ANY FURTHER because they may be spoilers for that book from this point on.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Here is the official summary:
“Come 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.”
Lots of similarities between the first book and this one….teenage secrets, rabid high school gossip mill, dark and dangerous use of online platforms, and a classmates unresolved death.
The characters from the first book are in this one too…but only as supporting roles this time.
The main characters are the “next generation”…the four from the first book have graduated and moved on in life (well, for the most part….).
But one of the new main characters isn’t so new to the audience….she had a prominent role in the first book as well.
Maeve, Bronwyn’s younger sister who had a hand in solving the missing pieces of Simon’s murder/suicide, is one of the “new four” that gets entangles in another mysterious set of increasingly dangerous events.
Should have been entertaining read like the first go around…but just fell kinda flat for me.
There were more romantic connections in this story than the first, which I feel was kinda thrown in there just for added “spice”…not really super critical to the storylines…and some felt a little forced.
There is this whole “drinking problem” that pops up suddenly for one character that I feel was a COMPLETELY jacked up and inaccurate description of the very real problem of addiction. Alcohol addiction should absolutely be addressed in books with a teen audience…but it should be based on real truths and experiences.
AND…
Yalll…..
The ending.
UUUUGGGHHHHHHHHHHH the ending.
HATED IT.
The story just kind of stops.
There is a big “WTF?!?” moment where an unexpected plot twist happens in the LAST FEW PARAGRAPHS …
And then BOOM.
It’s done.
I HAAATE endings like that!
I’m fine with books that don’t finish up in neat little packages or with a happily ever after ending….but I CAN’T STAND when they just effin’ END.
I seriously thought my phone had skipped ahead on the audiobook or something and had to check like two times….
Nope. No tech error…just a shitty ending.
If you read the first book, I don’t think this one is a “MUST”….and this book is DEFINITELY not a stand alone novel.
But it’s worth a try if you go into it knowing it won’t be like the first one…you gotta have different expectations than I did going in.