20 upcoming YA books we can’t wait to read in 2020

One of Us Is Next – Karen M. McManus

The highly anticipated follow-up to Karen McManus’ best-selling debut thriller One of Us is Lying takes us all back to Bayview High a year after Simon’s death for another round of danger, mystery and betrayal.

Simon’s original gossip app has spawned many copycats in the past year, but it’s an old-fashioned game that rocks the school in sequel One of Us is Next. An anonymous texter is suddenly sending random Truth or Dare requests to all the students of Bayview, with dangerous and unpredictable consequences.

If you choose truth – or refuse to answer – one of your secrets will be publicly revealed. Complete an assigned dare and you’ll be left alone. It all seems harmless enough, as most games like this do in the beginning. But all that changes when people start turning up dead.

The Bayview Four from McManus’ original novel make brief appearances, but this sequel is largely focused on three juniors: Phoebe, Maeve and Knox, all of whom have rather complicated personal histories and messy family dramas happening outside of school.

The official synopsis has a few more details.

"A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one’s been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts. Until now. This time it’s not an app, though—it’s a game. Truth or Dare. Phoebe’s the first target. If you choose not to play, it’s a truth. And hers is dark. Then comes Maeve and she should know better—always choose the dare. But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it’s that they can’t count on the police for help. Or protection. Simon’s gone, but someone’s determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there’s a whole new set of rules."

One of Us Is Next is available January 7.