One Of Us Is Next Book Review [NO SPOILERS]

It has been a while since I have written a book review. University life got in the way, and as you can imagine, with being an English student my reading list was already quite long. Between lots of assignments. and dance life, I didn't have much time for personal reading. Obviously with the academic year ending, and lots of time on my hands due to quarantine, I've actually been able to read for pleasure again - hooray. So FINALLY I bring to you a long awaited (or maybe not but I'm writing it anyway), book review. 

Today's book review is for One of Us is Next by Karen M.McManus. Some of you may be thinking 'hmm that sounds familiar', and that is because it is the sequel to a book I reviewed at the start of last year - One of us is lying. I loved the first book so of course when I found out the second novel was published at the start of this year, I had to add it to my TBR. The review I wrote for the first book is actually my most read blog post ever, so it seems like many of you loved it too! Or at least were intrigued by it. If you want to know my thoughts on One of us is next (without spoilers of course), just keep reading. 

Description from Goodreads:

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. 

Doesn't the synopsis give you Gossip Girl vibes? I really hope I'm not the only one seeing similarities there. When I read the description for this book, I instantly had high expectations. Not only did I have high expectations due to loving the first novel, but this book sounded great all on its own. I'm so glad that my expectations were met. I loved it. 

One of my favourite things about this book is that it didn't rely on the first novel in order to be a good read. It is one of those books that I definitely recommend you wait to read until you have read One of us is lying, simply so you understand some of the context and characters, but as a story it was gripping all on its own. Had I never read the first book, although I may not of gotten all the hidden gems, I would have enjoyed nonetheless. 

Karen does character development extremely well and I think that is what makes these novels so entertaining. I can almost imagine them all as real people, therefore it made it very easy to experience all the emotions that I did. When a book is able to give you second hand embarrassment, you know it has been written well. It was like I was a part of the story. Sometimes I would really empathize with the characters and other times I felt like a friend watching things all unfold. In this book, we get an inside scoop of the lives of previous characters and some new ones. The main characters are new but by the end you feel like you really know them. It's so strange how description can somehow create relationship. 

The narrative voice for this book is first-person, from all three characters. I loved that it jumped from person to person as you were able to hear what was happening from different perspectives. All the characters are so different, so seeing how they individually processed things was quite nice. I would love to read more books that are written like this. 

I loved the settings of this book. They are written so well that it feels like you're creating a movie in your mind. Just by the descriptions of setting, I was able to place the characters perfectly and even imagine their exact mannerisms as everything proceeded. 

This is a story full of twists and turns that I definitely didn't expect. Nothing (in my opinion) was predictable and that made it so hard to put down. There were times when I literally gasped out loud. The end of the book was certainly a shocker. 

The first book gave me 'The Breakfast Club' vibes, whilst this one took a very similar approach to Gossip Girl. The whole idea of a friendship group with secrets they never thought would get out, being completely put on blast through their mobile phone. 

If you like YA novels with lots of mystery, I definitely think you'll enjoy this. 

Overall, I would give this book a strong 4.5 out of 5. 

Have you read One of us is next? Let me know in the comments. 

Thanks for reading,

Have a great day x