he third and final book in the One of Us is Lying trilogy was published by Karen M. McManus on July 25, 2023. The first book followed the characters of Nate, Bronwyn, Addy and Cooper, as they all became murder suspects after the death of a classmate, Simon, in detention with them. By the end all their names were cleared after it was discovered that Simon had killed himself and framed them as a final hurrah, with the assistance of Addy’s boyfriend Jake for both of them to reveal their secrets and seek revenge. The next book, One of Us is Next, follows Bronwyn’s sister Maeve and her friends Phoebe and Knox. A game to reveal the secrets in Bayview results in the death of a student. It is uncovered by the end that a man Jared Jackson wanted to seek revenge against a lawyer, but needed assistance. He came up with the game to help Emma, Phoebe’s sister, seek revenge on Brandon for his role in her father’s death and in return receive her assistance in his plan. Once she found out the extent of his true plans, she decided she didn’t want any part, but the messages still continued. Except this time they were with her brother, Owen, which was found through a misspelling in his writing. Emma and Phoebe decide to hide this fact and continue to carry this secret in One of Us is Back. 

The first book I extremely enjoyed, but as time has passed I believe I have lost my initial joy. I liked the first book due to the previously established connections within the cause of the death. It was a great surprise to see characters who seemed inconspicuous throughout the book to turn out to have performed heinous actions. A BHS junior, Jennifer Lee, said, “It is one of my favorite books,” while another junior, Ashka Shah, said, “It was only okay.” Within the second book, the introduction of Jared Jackson, the one trying to seek revenge, came last minute and didn’t feel continuous with the story. It was strange to see this character only introduced at the end and still have no idea of who he really was. The third book reverted back to the use of previously established characters with Evie and Gavin, who had formed relationships with Phoebe and Nate respectively throughout the book, being the cause of the deaths and disappearances. We didn’t know as much about the characters as compared to Jake in the first book, but I still think the reveal worked better than the one in the second. Lauren Kelly, a BHS junior, said, “I like it really better than the second book, but not better than the first yet.”

This book followed the perspectives of characters from both of the previous books with Phoebe, Nate and Addy being chosen. I feel Phoebe’s perspective was necessary due to her brother’s involvement in the last book and it was interesting to see her debate over whether to reveal the truth to everyone. I don’t think Phoebe’s internal debate could be completely perceived without her perspective, but the case isn’t the same for Addy and Nate. While Nate’s job at the country club provided a connection to Jake and his family which became integral to solving the case, this connection could have been established with any character. Nate’s perspective only provided information that could have been found by any other character, so I feel the inclusion of his perspective was kind of pointless. Then I felt Addy’s perspective provided nothing to the story. While she was the one with the strongest connection to Jake, I feel her processing his release from jail did not play the role it should have, leaving her sections of the book mostly meaningless. All of the characters who were followed in previous books did not play a large role in this one. They are all supposed to be close friends as they’re all part of the “Bayview Crew” due to their roles in the events in Bayview in the last few years. Despite this, it seems most of them have no real connection and there are only smaller relationships within the larger group that really matter. I think combining all the characters from both books did not allow them time to shine unless their perspective was followed, which still wasn’t very fulfilling. The perspectives I did enjoy though were Simon and Jake’s. These provided flashbacks which were new to the books, but provided a deeper understanding of the characters. From this new viewpoint you could see both their origins, and from this I came to believe Jake couldn’t be redeemed due to his carelessness for life shown from an early age. He killed the man his mother was having an affair with after discovering this man was his true father. While I understand being emotional after hearing this news his reaction showed he couldn’t handle things not being his way and his release from jail would only put others in danger. Jake’s fate ends in the same way as he dies at the hands of Evie, seeking revenge for the death of her father. I don’t believe this book reached its full potential with the chaos of too many characters and if the story was limited to a smaller group, like the first book, I think the story would have improved greatly.