ARC Review: One of Us is Lying #3

One of Us is Back by Karen M. McManus

Publication Date: July 25, 2023

Summary from NetGalley:

The third time’s a charm.

It’s been almost two years since Simon died in detention, and the aftermath has been hard to shake. First the Bayview Four had to prove they weren’t killers. Then a new generation outwitted a vengeful copycat. Now the entire Bayview Crew is back home for the summer, and everyone is trying to move on.

Only, this is Bayview, and life is never that simple.

At first the mysterious billboard seems like a bad joke: Time for a new game, Bayview. But when a member of the Bayview Crew disappears, it’s clear this “game” is serious—and whoever’s in charge isn’t sharing the rules. Or maybe there aren’t any.

Bronwyn. Cooper. Addy. Nate. Maeve. Phoebe. Knox. Luis. Kris. Everyone’s a target. And now that someone unexpected has returned to Bayview, things could start getting deadly.

The thing is, Simon was right about secrets—they all come out eventually. And Bayview has a lot it’s still hiding.

ARC provided by Random House via NetGalley for an honest review.

Confession:

Reviewing the third book in a series is hard. I promise there won’t be any spoilers for this one, but there maybe spoilers for the first two books.

The Bayview Crew is back and solving another mystery or two. This third installment was just as good as the first two, and possibly a tiny bit better as I really liked the mystery and the final twist at the end. My only disappointment was that we only had three points of view from the Crew, but we had bonus ones that we had never heard from before.

The story is told from the POVs of Nate, Phoebe and Addie for the most part. It was wonderful spending time with them again, especially Nate. It was nice to see Nate given more page time and to see that he is turning his life around for the better. Phoebe is still struggling with the fallout from the second book, especially with her brother’s issues. And that of course is affecting her relationship with Knox. Addy is the final point of view and she is also struggling a bit emotionally. All of the rest of the gang are still in the picture and it is of course a group effort to figure out what is going on.

We do have some flashbacks from two characters we have never heard from before, and I found these to be fascinating and perhaps one of the best things about this book. I won’t say who, as that might be a bit of a spoiler, but if you are familiar with the books you can probably guess who they are.

As usual, the plot is very well done. Lots of nice twists and unexpected happenings. We learn a lot more about Bayview and some of the secrets many people have been keeping in this town. The pacing is at time fast and furious, but there are a few down times so that we get to a chance to catch our breaths. I love this author’s writing style and it is always a pleasure to read her books.

If you read the first two books and enjoyed them, I am certain that you will like this one too. If you have not yet picked up this YA mystery/thriller yet, now would be a good time as the series is done and you can binge read them.