The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: McManus, Karen M. One of Us is Back. Delacorte Press, July 25, 2023. Kindle.

In the young adult thriller One of Us is Back by Karen M. McManus, the third book in the One of Us is Lying series, sometimes it seems like wealthy, powerful people, like Jake Riordan, never have to pay the consequences of the crimes they commit. Jake, who tried to kill Adelaide “Addy” Prentiss and frame four of his fellow students for another death, is out of jail and has been granted a new trial based on a technicality. It appears there is someone other than the Bayview crew who believes Jake should pay for what he has done when Jake becomes the third in a string of young adults kidnapped in the community.

Addy watches an interview given by Jake while he is still in prison to see if she can discern if he really feels as remorseful for what he did to her and her friends as he claims he is. When the camera focuses on his face, Addy sees a glint in Jake’s eyes that tells her the only thing Jake is sad about is the fact that he was caught.

Shortly before Jake is released from prison, a billboard in Bayview is hacked and the message changed to read: “Time for a New Game, Bayview” (23). The message reminds those who see it of a truth or dare game a few months prior in which a young man was in a revenge killing.

Next, Phoebe Lawton, one of Addy’s friends, disappears after a Fourth of July party. She is located unharmed, but has the word “practice” (113) written on her arm. Addy believes that Jake kidnapped Phoebe as a practice for kidnapping and killing her.

Days later, however, Reggie Crawley, a known sexual predator, disappears. He is found dead in the boys’ locker room at Bayview High. The word “makes” (184) is written on his arm. The Bayview crew has already been investigating why Phoebe and Reggie were targeted in an attempt to determine what might be coming next. In the meanwhile, Jake disappears.

Phoebe and her sister, Emma, find a necklace Reggie always wore in their brother’s Owen’s backpack and fear he might be involved in the kidnappings. Once they have determined that Owen is not involved and has never seen the necklace before, they infer that someone planted the necklace in Owen’s bag, probably while he was eating at Café Contigo, where Phoebe works as a waitress.

Hoping to find out who might have put the necklace in Owen’s bag, Phoebe visits Evie, a fellow waitress, at home to question her. Phoebe is shocked when she sees the wallpaper she remembers from when she was kidnapped in Evie’s apartment. Evie admits she is really Chelsea Alton, daughter of Alex Alton, who drowned six years prior. Chelsea did not believe her father had drowned, but that he was murdered.

Meanwhile, the Bayview crew had been investigating Alex’s death because it was rumored he was having an affair with Jake’s mother, Katherine. They wondered if Alex’s death was intentional and if one of his children was trying to get revenge. They realize that Chelsea has been stealing pictures from a similar-looking girl’s Instagram feed to make it appear she is in England.

Chelsea takes Phoebe to her childhood home where she and a friend, Gavin, have Jake tied up. Gavin arrives shortly after. He has Addy with him. Chelsea and Gavin take Addy upstairs to Jake where Chelsea tells Addy that Jake, who turns out to be Alex’s son, killed Alex. She received a letter from Simon Kelleher, sent after his death, describing the way that Simon and Jake witnessed an argument between Scott Riordan, the man Jake believed was his father, and Alex, when Scott learned that Katherine planned to leave him.

Scott pushed Alex, knocking him unconscious and leaving Scott to believe he was dead. When Scott left the room, Jake went to look at Alex’s body. When Alex twitched, Jake got a dishtowel and used it to suffocate Alex.

In the present, both Addy and Gavin try to stop Chelsea from shooting Jake, but she shoots him regardless. Gavin and Chelsea escape before the police have a chance to arrive.