Four voices are named in the description of One of Us Is Next and only one of them reaches the narrator field of the audiobook. Holly Linneman, Maria Liatis, Fred Berman and Karissa Vacker are each listed against a role in the copy, one per viewpoint plus a narrating voice, while the record credits Liatis alone. That is more than a filing quirk. Karen M. McManus built this sequel out of rotating perspectives, the production clearly cast for it, and anyone deciding between formats deserves to know a full cast is waiting inside ten hours and twenty-four minutes rather than a single reader.
Bayview High has a vacancy, and that is the smartest thing about this book. Simon is dead, the four students accused of killing him have been cleared, and a year on the copycat gossip apps have all failed to replace what he provided, because none of them has the facts. Into that gap comes something worse than an app. McManus understood that the first novel's real subject was not a murder but an information economy, and the sequel goes straight at the supply problem: a school addicted to knowing things about each other, and someone willing to feed the habit.
Truth or Dare is the delivery mechanism, and it converts gossip from something that happens to you into something you are made to participate in. Phoebe is tagged first and her truth is dark. Maeve, who ought to know better, is next. By the time Knox is in line the dares have stopped being humiliating and started being dangerous, and the students already know from last year that the police will not be much help. The structure is neat because it generates its own deadlines: every target has to choose, and every choice hands the game more material.
The Strengths
Gossip-driven thrillers are built for full-cast audio, and this production is set up to take advantage of it. A rotating-viewpoint novel read by one voice asks the listener to track whose head they are in through style alone, which works but costs attention; a cast assigns each perspective a person, and the transitions stop being work. An April 2020 four-star describes the pleasure precisely, returning to a school it calls toxic and enjoying every minute, adoring the cast both old and new, and taking particular satisfaction in checking back in on the couple carried over from the first book.
Phoebe, Maeve and Knox also give the sequel a fresh problem rather than a repeat of the original. The first book asked who did it. This one asks who is doing it, while the targets keep being chosen and the stakes rise on a schedule, which is a harder structure to sustain and a more propulsive one to listen to. McManus keeps the returning characters in supporting positions where they can supply history without taking over, and the result works for a listener who wants momentum rather than a slow accumulation of clues.
Weak Spots in One of Us Is Next
Blurbs on this page all belong to other books. Every pull quote sits under a heading announcing praise for One of Us Is Lying, the first novel, and the description closes by pointing you toward a different title again, which it presents as the author's third young adult thriller rather than as the next volume in this series. One written entry compounds the confusion by carrying the title of a third Bayview book while its text plainly describes this one. None of that is dishonest, and all of it makes the page harder to read than it should be for anyone trying to work out reading order.
Page counts turn up in the column too, and they answer a question the record does not. A March 2020 five-star lists the print details it was working from, a 377-page edition from a young readers imprint, alongside an age recommendation of sixteen and up for mature scenes, violence and death, and a note that gay couples and characters of different races feature prominently. Divide 377 pages by ten hours and twenty-four minutes and you get about thirty-six pages an hour, which is the pace of a complete unabridged reading of a dialogue-heavy novel. The arithmetic checks out, which is worth knowing since nothing on the record says either way.
Recommended For
Series readers who finished the first book are the obvious audience, and the recommendation is straightforward for them. A February 2026 five-star reports suspense sustained to the end and an appetite for the third installment, which is roughly the reaction the book is engineered to produce. A three-star from the Italian marketplace is more measured and more useful, preferring the first novel while conceding real attachment to the characters and admitting that the twists arrived unannounced. Between those two you have an honest picture: a strong sequel that does not quite recapture the shock of the original.
Coming to this without the first book is possible but wasteful, since half the pleasure is watching a town that has already survived one scandal fail to learn from it. Anyone who dislikes rotating narrators should also weigh the cast structure, which is a feature for most listeners and a distraction for a few. And if you want a mystery that plays fair with clues rather than one that runs on escalating jeopardy, the truth-or-dare engine will feel more like a thriller than a puzzle.
At a Glance
- Voice: The narrator field names Maria Liatis alone, while the description credits four performers, one for each point of view.
- Big ideas: school gossip economy, truth or dare, returning to a scandal, teen surveillance
- Atmosphere: Fast, mean and gleeful
- Worth it?: A propulsive sequel that suits full-cast audio, provided you have read the first book.
A Few Questions About One of Us Is Next
Do I need One of Us Is Lying before this audiobook?
Strongly recommended. The description opens with Simon dead, the accused four cleared and a year gone by, so the emotional weight of every returning character depends on knowing what happened. New targets carry the plot, which makes the story followable, but the payoffs are built for readers who were there.
What age group is the One of Us Is Next audiobook aimed at?
The record shelves it under teen and young adult. The content involves blackmail, a prior death investigation and dares that turn genuinely dangerous, which places it comfortably with mid-teens upward. Anyone who handled the first book will be fine with this one, since the register has not shifted.
How does the truth-or-dare game work?
Someone is tagged as the target, and declining to play is itself a choice: refuse the dare and a truth gets told instead. Phoebe is first and the description warns hers is dark. As the game runs through the school, the dares escalate from humiliating to dangerous.
