Hi friends, happy Wednesday! I hope you’re all doing well! Today I’m posting my review of the final book in the One of Us Is lying trilogy, One of Us is Back by: Karen M. McManus.

You can read my review of book one: One of Us is Lying
You can read my review of book two: One of Us is Next

One of Us is Back by: Karen M. McManus: Just when the Bayview Crew thought it was safe to live in Bayview and put the past behind them, they have to think again. When a billboard gets hacked, it seems like a tasteless joke for a new game, but when one of their crew go missing, they realize it’s not a joke and things just got very serious. And when someone unexpected comes back to town, things get a little deadlier. Now the crew must put their heads together to solve one last mystery. This novel was suspenseful and had the reader on their toes for most of the novel. There were moments in between where the reader didn’t exactly care what was happening to each of the characters individually, they get it was for character growth, which was great to see in this because all of these characters have been through so much trauma, but sometimes that would bog down the mystery/thriller aspect of the plot. We’d get so into finding out what was going to happen in the plot, only for things to slow down because we needed to be updated on what was going on in their personal lives. Sometimes it correlated to the main plot, because for the most part everything was connected, but sometimes it didn’t, and that’s where it bothered the reader the most. As for the overall plot, it was good and it did a good job of tying all loose ends off. What started with Simon’s death in the first book, ended with the secrets Simon had kept in this final book, which the reader thought was an interesting choice. It made sense to bookend the story to give it a nice perfect package for the trilogy, but at the same time it just felt weird to bring this guy back. The reader didn’t think it felt totally believable that Simon would time everything out so perfectly years after his death. We get that we’re supposed to accept that’s part of Simon’s character, to be a perfectly timed, time bomb, but this plan was years in the making, are we really to say he hated people, or one person in particular, that much? It felt far-fetched; obviously it made for a gripping story, but the reader found themselves taken out of the story because of it at times. The way this story played out, it now made sense why the second book ended the way it did, with the brother storyline. Again, that one felt unlikely in that book, but it was intriguing to see where McManus took it in this novel. It was a bit of misdirect set up and the reader could appreciate that. As mentioned above, it was a great to see all the characters again and to see them come together to solve one last mystery. We could see that they’ve all grown from the first book, and the way they all care for one another was really beautiful to read. The only thing is what started as four main characters, doubled to about eight main characters and trying to keep track of who was who, got a little confusing, but that aside, they did all have distinct backstories and little things that made them better people. The new characters that were added to the mix really shook things up for both the story and our main characters and it really kept things interesting because it tested everyone to new limits, which definitely expanded their growth.  Overall, this was an exciting trilogy, and it ended in a way that the reader is happy with because it felt like the characters finally got the justice they deserved.