Rating: 4/5
Spoiler Alert! Come on guys, it's a mystery book. Don't read the review if you don't want it spoiled...
To preface this review, I love McManus' writing. One of Us is Lying really got me interested in mystery books, especially YA mysteries (where the stakes are a little lower). One of Us is Next is set roughly a year after the first book and follows the next generation at Bayview students - including Bronwyn's little sister, Maeve, and Luis, Cooper's best friend. (Okay so technically not all of them are the next gen but you get the point).
It's been a while since I read a series, so when I first started this book I found it really hard to keep things straight. There was so many characters being introduced, and although I recognised some of them straight away, it was such a lot to take in alongside a recap of the first book and laying the foundations for the main plotline.
McManus sticks with her usual format, swapping between characters' point of view to provide the reader with a more well-rounded view of the way the mystery affects everyone. I really enjoy this style as it allows the reader to make connections that characters cannot, but maintains a mystery as to how the parts interlace.
This story wasn't as compelling as One of Us is Lying, but as follow ups to murder mysteries go? I'm gonna say it's pretty damn good.
We get just enough interaction from the original characters to realise that the previous year has had an effect on everyone involved, the Bayview Four if you will. But it isn't about them. It's a whole new mystery that just happens to connect to them.
I was a big fan of Maeve and Phoebe in particular, they were brilliant characters. In fact, McManus has such a talent for creating full, individual characters who feel real. The only time I really got annoyed at characters was when Maeve and Knox fell out over the "truth" that came out from their relationship. I know they're only teenagers but come on. Are we really still at the point where people find it hilarious when a guy can't get it up?
Otherwise, I really enjoyed the characters, their friendships developing and the realistic feel to vaguely knowing someone from school but not really enough to talk to them when you see them in public. The truth or dare game features less heavily than the marketing surrounding the book would have you believe, but it's an interesting way to push characters toward each other.
And now we come to the ending...
I gotta say, after letting it sit for a while, I really feel the ending let it down. The plot was strong right up until the introduction of a bomb. Even that could have been accepted had it not been dealt with by two teenagers who barely knew what they were doing. Between that and the final chapter where Emma talks to her lawyer about Jared, I wasn't quite ready to accept the end. Those two events just didn't fit with the generally realistic approach to teenage life McManus has in her writing.
I will give her this though; with each book she writes, McManus' plots become harder to guess at. There were obviously moments which fell into place for me before they did for the characters, but overall it was a thrilling read, even at the end, because I always had more questions that needed answering.