One Of Us Is Next by Karen McNamus- A Book Review

Note: This review is spoiler free (spoilers are all marked and have warnings)!
Book: One of Us is Next
Author: Karen Mcmanus
Genre: Mystery
Age: For readers 12 and up 
Rating:  3/5

Honestly, as a member of the “Always Being Disappointed by Karen Mcnamus” fanclub, I don’t know what I expected from this book. I went in with low expectations and yet I STILL managed to finish the book bored and annoyed. 🙄  But I must admit that this is probably the better book out of the other mystery books she’s written. It’s wayyyy better than the monstrosity called “One of Us is Lying” and “Two Can Keep a Secret'' 🤢 . 

What I didn’t like:

The Characters are Selfish Brats (Spoilers): So you’re telling me that a SIXTEEN YEAR OLD STUDENT died and there is heavy evidence it was a murder and the things the main characters in this book are worried about is getting their phone confiscated ??? WHERE ARE THESE KIDS PRIORITIES?!
There's this part where the characters contemplate whether they should get the police involved and one of them actually said that they shouldn’t because if they do, their phones would get confiscated and they wouldn’t be able to have phones in school anymore. I GENUINELY WANTED TO SLAP THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THESE DUMB KIDS. In what world is getting justice for a dead student less important than being able to hold on to your phone during school hours? 
Incompetent Police: The police in mystery books have always lacked several braincells but in this book it was TOO MUCH. Spoiler: A kid died on the roof of the building because it collapsed for NO REASON. Does that not sound suspicious???? But the police were like: oH WeLl iT wAs JuSt PrObAblY SoMe AcCiDenT! 🤷‍♀️ 🤷‍♂️  Smh these dumb officers should be fired on the spot.
Unrealistic: 

• The most illogical part of this book is how a 17 year old easily hacked into a computer that belonged to an employee of a law establishment. I don’t care how skilled in computer programming you are, no 17 year old can hack that well. And she didn’t even hack! She guessed the password by typing in birthdates! I assure you, corporations do not leave passwords to be made in the hands of their employees. Plus there are multi factor authentications employees have to go through, like plugging into their USB port to verify they are the employee. So HOW IN THE WORLD was Maeve able to guess her way into a computer? And then later on in the book this kid easily “hacks” into the law cases on the computer that are heavily guarded? WHAT?

• SPOILERS: How did Jared get Pheobe’s number? If he was texting Emma pretending to be Phoebe on her phone, Jared would have Emma’s phone number written down. How did he get her number?
• SPOILERS: As much as I appreciated the last minute plot twist, how did Owen continue the conversation with Jared without a phone? How did he even know about the deal with Emma and Jared? At the end it says he was eavesdropping but how can you eavesdrop on your sister texting something? She wasn’t saying all her diabolic plans outloud?! 

Truth or Dare: This whole book was marketed around the mysterious truth or dare game right? Then can someone explain to me WHY it only made an appearance for less than 20% of the book?! 
Romance: YAWNNN 🥱  I literally couldn't care less about the romance. When I tell you the romance in this book is beyond cringy, I’m not lying 🤡  💀
Too Much Drama: Drama is fun but not when it overshadows the mystery aspects. This book was 90% highschool drama and 10% mystery, which is ironic considering this book’s genre. 😬  Anyways, the abundant amount of teenage drama removed ALL the suspense from this book. 
Plot Points Galore: It’s like Karen Mcnamus had wayy too many ideas, mixed it all together in one book and hoped for the best. If you’re going to bring in serious plot points, you can’t just leave it stranded! You have to be prepared to invest time to attend to that plot point. But in this 300 page book, it was so unnecessary to bring in other plot points when there is no time to really delve into it. SPOILERS: The cancer was unnecessary because the plot point was dropped so suddenly and didn’t add to the story at all. It was so random too. Maeve was worried her cancer was reappearing but like 20 pages later, it was resolved and she had no cancer. After that it wasn’t mentioned at all. You can’t just bring in an important plot point like cancer and just forget about it. Besides, there were too many elements in this 300 page book that plot points like the cancer one were just abandoned, with no meaning to the plot.

What I liked:

Gee, that’s a hard one. I liked the ending! Because that meant the book was finally over and I didn’t have to keep reading it 🤠
Just kidding. The ending was actually the only part of the book I found interesting. Yah the last minute twist was only added for shock factor and there were several plot holes tied to it but I still liked it nonetheless lol. 

This book is not worth it. Most of the book is just filler plot and it’s just boring. If you want a good mystery book, go read Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. 

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