One of Us Is Next

One of Us Is Next is the second installment of the One of Us Is Lying young adult thriller series by Karen M. McManus. Published in 2020, One of Us Is Next returns to Bayview High, where students are grappling with the lasting effects of Simon Kelleher’s death and his gossip page. The Bayview Four, the four students Simon framed for his death, have gone their separate ways, and their younger classmates and siblings must contend with a new gossip-filled game of Truth or Dare. McManus’s novel illustrates the timely effects of cyberbullying in an age rife with technology and iPhones. She demonstrates the pitfalls of being consumed by social media and being motivated by popularity and status. Over the course of the novel, the protagonists learn that gossip only has as much power as it’s given.

Maeve Rojas, Phoebe Lawton, and Knox Myers are the protagonists of One of Us Is Next, and their viewpoints alternate to tell the next Bayview story. Each chapter begins with date stamps, grounding the story in real time. This literary tool aids the reader in understanding the numerous perspectives involved and allows for a well-rounded apprehension of the story. The novel is divided into two main parts, each part beginning with a news report from Liz Rosen and a conversation between usernames Bayview2020 and Darkestmind on a Reddit subforum entitled Vengeance Is Mine.

Plot Summary

The local news station opens the novel, reporting that another death has occurred at Bayview High, coupled with the re-emergence of the Vengeance Is Mine Reddit subforum, frequented by Simon Kelleher. The first part of the novel is introduced as users Bayview2020 and Darkestmind agree on the subforum that no one should be able to ruin someone’s life and get away with it. Phoebe Lawton is the first to receive a text from Unknown, notifying her that she’s been selected to play Truth or Dare. With the memory of Simon still fresh, Phoebe ignores the message. Knox is working at Until Proven, the law firm that assisted students in One of Us Is Lying, when he also receives a message from Unknown. Unknown states that Phoebe’s inactivity means she forfeits her turn but that a secret will be revealed about her anyways. Unknown texts the Bayview student body and reveals that Phoebe slept with her sister’s boyfriend. Phoebe is mortified, not only because the school knows her deepest secret but also because now her sister Emma knows it too. The two bicker and Phoebe reflects on her dad’s passing. Phoebe thinks he held the family together and encouraged a healthy relationship between Phoebe and Emma. In a work accident, a forklift holding a block of cement jammed, resulting in their dad’s death. After his passing, Phoebe’s family moved to a small apartment, her relationships with her sister and her brother, Owen, have been strained.

Maeve Rojas has been showing signs of relapse with her leukemia. Maeve’s first appearance has her grappling with her illness, terrified that her cancer has returned. To spare her family from worries, Maeve keeps her symptoms to herself. Knox grabs lunch at Wing Stop with his older sister, Kiersten, when he notices that the Bayview High mascot head has been forced onto the head of Wing Stop’s famous chicken statue. He checks his phone and sees a message from Unknown that says that Sean Murdock was selected to play Truth or Dare after Phoebe, and he completed his dare the night before. Knox reflects that people like Sean Murdock and Brandon Weber, another popular jock, are never held accountable for their actions. At work, Knox notices numerous death threats targeted at his boss, Eli. Sandeep, a Harvard Law student who works for Eli, states there is a fool-proof system in place to deal with these notes, but Knox remains worried.

Ashton Prentiss, Eli’s fiancée, hosts her Bachelorette party at Café Contigo. During the party, Phoebe and Maeve witness an uncomfortable interaction between Bronwyn Rojas and her on-again-off-again love interest, Nate Macauley. Phoebe also notices her friend Jules Crandall enter the café. Jules has obviously spent more time than usual on her hair and makeup, struts straight up to Nate and confidently kisses him. She turns to Phoebe and mouths to her that she should always pick dare. It is revealed that Jules was chosen to play after Sean Murdock, and her dare was to kiss a member of the Bayview Four.

Maeve is the next player chosen, and she, like Phoebe, decides not to engage with Unknown. Instead, she begins to obsess over tracking the number sending the text messages. Knox tries to convince Maeve to just take the dare, but she refuses. The next day, Unknown reveals Maeve’s secret: she “dumped Knox Myers because he [couldn’t] get it up” (116). Both Maeve and Knox are mortified, and Knox becomes the new laughingstock of the school, having to clean limp noodles and Viagra off his locker every day. Maeve cultivates a new relationship with Luis Santos, and the two share a kiss at Café Contigo.

Phoebe, who takes pity on Knox, decides to befriend him, and the two skip health class together. They get coffee at the mall, and as Phoebe drives home, she sees ambulances and firetrucks rushing toward an abandoned construction site. It’s the same construction site Knox cuts through to get to work. Phoebe has noticed a drastic decline in Emma’s mental health: she has broken her phone and refuses to get a new one, and she has been drinking herself to sleep every day.

The second part begins with Liz Rosen from the local news station interviewing Principal Sona Gupta about the death of yet another student. The text then moves to a conversation on the Vengeance Is Mine Reddit subforum, where Darkestmind tells Bayview2020 that they can’t ghost them forever.

Maeve, Phoebe, and Addy visit Knox in the hospital. Knox sustained injuries from the events that occurred at the construction site the day before. The group learns that Brandon Weber fell through the roof at the construction site and died. Sean Murdock was with him, and Sean claims he saved Knox’s life when Knox became hysterical and tried to jump after Brendan. Knox’s concussion has made his memory fuzzy, and he cannot recall the truth. He becomes determined to uncover what really happened, because he suspects Sean is lying.

One night, when Knox is unable to sleep, he decides to see if Phoebe is waitressing at Café Contigo. On his way out, he overhears a conversation between his parents about a potential lawsuit. Knox learns that Brandon Weber got into trouble with the law as a minor and was let off without having to face any consequences. This information prompts Knox and Maeve to hack Mrs. Myers’s computer, where the law documents are stored from Brandon’s case.

Over the course of a few days, Luis secures video evidence from the day Brandon died, and Nate reveals that the beams that collapsed appeared to be tampered with. This information leads the group to conclude that Brandon’s death was caused by an attempt to complete a dare from Unknown. Maeve receives her test results for a potential leukemia relapse, where she learns that the bruises and nosebleeds are from an iron deficiency.

Knox, Maeve and Phoebe drive to a park where an unidentified person has asked Phoebe to meet them. The group believes it to be someone who has been stalking Phoebe at work, who Knox has dubbed “Intense Guy.” The group is joined by Luis, where Phoebe confirms that she does not recognize the person. Maeve decides to follow his car, and she notes the license plate number. Knox and Maeve grab coffee at a diner directly across the street from Intense Guy’s house, who they learn is connected to the death threats Eli received. This man, named Jared Jackson, blames Eli for the arrest of his brother. The two notice Jared drive off and they follow him to Ashton and Eli’s rehearsal dinner. They watch him place something under the building, which they find out is a homemade bomb. Knox moves the bomb and saves everyone inside the restaurant.

After the bombing, Phoebe visits Emma in the hospital as she recovers from alcohol poisoning. Phoebe calls Derek, Emma’s ex-boyfriend, who has been trying to reach her, and finds out that he told Emma he slept with Phoebe the day after it happened. Phoebe hangs up in shock and enters Emma’s hospital room to find a police officer. Phoebe learns that Emma used her name to remain anonymous when chatting with Darkestmind, who the police officer confirms is Jared Jackson. Emma confesses to starting the game with Jared after she learned of Brandon’s role in her dad’s death. Emma reveals that Brandon was the child who jammed the forklift. Emma says that she quickly changed her mind and stopped messaging Jared after the secret about Phoebe was made public.

Ashton and Eli are married the next day, but Knox isn’t feeling like himself. He leaves Maeve and Luis to themselves and decides to bring some cake to Phoebe. He finds her crying on the roof of her apartment complex. He shows her compassion while battling his fear of heights, and the two kiss.

Back at their apartment, Phoebe, Emma, and their mother are look at records of Emma’s conversation with Jared. It becomes apparent that someone else continued the conversation after Emma stopped. Emma’s lawyer relays that Jared made the bomb to take matters into his own hands but that they still do not have a lead on the second individual who conversed with him. Then, Phoebe notices a spelling error that makes her heart sink—“Phoebe” spelled bizarre as “bazaar”—the same mistake Owen made when the two were practicing his spelling bee words. Phoebe and Emma share a look, and Emma tells the investigator that it’s impossible to tell what happened after she stopped messaging with Jared, and that the man is clearly insane.