

Bronwyn asks who Simon is, and he replies, “the omniscient narrator,” then downs a cup of water and collapses to the floor. Avery briefly leaves to investigate, Simon accuses the other four of being “walking teen-movie stereotypes”: the “brain” (Bronwyn), the “princess” (Addy), the “jock” (Cooper), and the “criminal” (Nate) (11). During detention, a car accident in the parking lot distracts the students.


The students claim the phones are not theirs, but their teacher, Mr. The first part, entitled “Simon Says,” begins with Bronwyn, Nate, Addy, and Cooper serving detention for bringing their phones to class. Most chapters feature two narrators, and each narrative is date- and time-stamped. Free UK p&p over £15.The novel is divided into three parts. One of Us Is Next is published by Penguin (RRP £7.99). She can pilot her characters to be their best selves, very often just after they have been their absolute worst. Teen genre fiction can so easily be awash with cliches and stereotypes, and she manages to disrupt them. It’s a small gripe: McManus keeps the juicy subplots ticking over and drip-feeds reveals as clinically as an IV tube. Although both books are told by a revolving cast of first-person narrators, everyone’s interior monologue sounds the same. Hell?!”), but it is used indiscriminately. Like its predecessor, One of Us Is Next suffers from one drawback: the dialogue is certainly snappy (“The. Untangling the shifting matrix of allegiances are fatherless Phoebe Maeve, the tech-savvy leukemia survivor whose cancer is in remission (or not, as her nosebleeds start up again) and Knox, Maeve’s ex, currently interning with Eli. This small town is alive with clandestine hook-ups, feckless or uncommunicative parents and resentments, and what seemed like a tragic accident starts to look like foul play. In One of Us Is Next, the narrative engine is a high-stakes game of truth or dare, conducted by text. In the first book, a gossip app spread misery and resentment. As before, an anonymous sadist is trying to manipulate people, with fatal consequences. Everyone is still reeling from recent events when rumour, deceit and death stalk the student body again.

Maeve is the younger sister of Bronwyn, the star of the first book Eli Kleinfelter, the crusading lawyer, is back with his own plot. The focus shifts to a handful of characters, many of whom are familiar. After a diversion to another town in 2018’s Two Can Keep a Secret, McManus has returned to Bayview High.
