You're Next

Tate James’s You’re Next (2025) is a suspenseful dark romance novel and the third installment in the Devil’s Backbone series. It incorporates the “reverse harem” trope, or a plot structure wherein three or more men become romantically involved with the female protagonist simultaneously. The story follows university student Ashley Layne, who is in a polyamorous relationship with four wealthy and powerful men. After Ashley is abducted and involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital by a manipulative enemy, her four partners must save her and combat numerous subsequent attempts on all of their lives. The novel explores themes including The Impact of Abuse on Mental Health, The Corrosive Power of Secrets in Relationships, and Redefining Love and Security Beyond Monogamy.

Tate James is a USA Today bestselling author from New Zealand known for her work in the dark romance and reverse harem genres, which have a significant following in online book communities. She has written several other popular series in the same niche, including the Madison Kate and Hades collections. You’re Next continues the story established in the first two books of the series, Dear Reader and Watch Your Back, and employs many of the conventions of its subgenres. The plot features morally ambiguous characters, high-stakes suspense, and mature themes such as psychological abuse and captivity, blending an intense, plot-driven thriller with complex and evolving romantic dynamics.

This guide is based on the 2025 Bloom Books edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide feature depictions of graphic violence, sexual content, cursing, physical abuse, medical abuse, mental illness, substance use, death, and death by suicide.

Plot Summary

Six days after her estranged love interest Nate’s birthday party, Ashley Layne has not been seen in person by her polyamorous boyfriends, Royce, Heath, and Carter. All four men are best friends, and she previously lived with them. She has supposedly moved out to get space, as she attempted to include Nate in her polyamorous relationship with the other three and was rejected at his party. A series of clues from texts and Ashley’s best friend, Carly, makes the group suspicious. Suspecting an imposter is using her phone, several characters goad the imposter into responding in ways Ashley never would, confirming their fears. They confront Nate, who has been distant since arguing with Ashley at his party, but he remains secretive about their conversation.

Ashley awakens to find herself involuntarily committed to Mallard Psychiatric Hospital in Montana. The staff attempts to gaslight her while led by “Dr. Russo,” who is actually Nate’s mother, Jocelyn Reynard. They claim that Heath died by suicide and that Ashley’s mother, Carina, died in a plane crash, insisting Ashley’s recent life has been a delusion. In the hospital garden, Ashley meets a borderline-catatonic woman revealed to be Abigail, the author of a diary connected to the Devil’s Backbone Society. This dangerous secret society at the university Ashley attends has guided the plot of the previous two books. It includes rich and powerful members, including Ashley’s boyfriends, but the previous novel included a revelation that its members were committing violent acts because they were hypnotized. Abigail’s diary drove the first book’s plot by providing clues of the Society’s dangerous activities, but she was believed to be dead.

Desperate to escape, Ashley convinces a sympathetic nurse to call Nate, who is listed as her medical power of attorney. This is because of a plot point from the previous novel wherein Ashley and Nate staged a fake engagement to provide further protection from external threats through Nate’s affluence and social power; she signed a prenup agreement to certify the details of the arrangement, which included the medical document. The nurse leaves a voicemail with Ashley’s name and location. Nate, however, sees the call from an unknown number and deletes the notification without listening. Meanwhile, Carter’s private investigator reports that a military medical transport was seen near the party venue the night Ashley disappeared.

While hiding in the garden, Ashley overhears Jocelyn talking to Abigail. Jocelyn reveals details of her mind-control experiments, outing herself as the primary antagonist behind the hypnotism of the Devil’s Backbone Society members. She has military funding for her research, but the military is threatening to pull funds. She also makes a comment that reveals she stalked Ashley’s mother Carina—who is still alive—in an earlier novel, as she is jealous her husband Max left her for Carina. Jocelyn’s statements to Abigail lead Ashley to realize that her experiences were real; she’s being lied to. Enraged, Ashley attacks her. Hospital orderlies intervene and inject Ashley with sedatives.

Four days later, Nate finally listens to the voicemail and, consumed by guilt, drives to Montana. He uses the medical power of attorney clause to demand Ashley’s release. A heavily sedated Ashley is brought out. At a hotel, Nate cares for her as she recovers, though she claims to hate him. She believes he is the one who had her committed, as he has medical control over her and is Jocelyn’s son. However, she is still attracted to him. Convinced she is hallucinating from the lingering medication, Ashley engages in rough, dominant sex with him. The next morning, a bruise on Nate’s cheek confirms the encounter was real, leading to a tense drive back home. Nate explains the power of attorney is a reciprocal part of the prenup, and she has the same control over his medical treatment, confirming it wasn’t part of a plot to have her committed.

They arrive at Carina and Max’s house, where Ashley has an emotional reunion with her mother, relieved she is alive. Royce, Heath, and Carter soon arrive, and Ashley is overjoyed to see Heath is also alive. She reveals to everyone that Jocelyn is the mastermind behind the hypnosis, manipulations, and threats against Society members and herself. Max confirms Jocelyn’s history of mental instability and theorizes she must be using her scientific research on hypnosis to satisfy her need for revenge. Ashley also calls back to a plot point from an earlier novel, wherein Royce explained his mother, Katie, was imprisoned for murdering several people. Due to Jocelyn’s previous relationship with Katie, Ashley theorizes that Jocelyn was also responsible for the crimes committed by hypnotizing Katie. 

In the following days, Ashley has sex with Carter, Royce, and Heath, as they are all content in their polyamorous relationship. Nate, however, maintains his reservations about joining the group, and he and Ashley struggle to reconcile their conflicts and lack of trust with their mutual attraction. Meanwhile, the group decides to seek help from Royce’s estranged father, Colonel Mike D’Arenberg, who has high-level military connections.

Colonel Mike is condescending but reveals that Jocelyn’s military funding is being cut off. He dismisses many of their concerns until Royce suggests his mother was one of Jocelyn’s early victims, and the Colonel agrees to investigate. The group then attends a Society “wilderness weekend.” Ashley, Nate, and Royce are teamed together for Society games and assigned a cabin with only one bed. This forces a confrontation where Nate apologizes for rejecting her, and the three have sex, marking Nate’s acceptance into the polyamorous relationship. The next day, a hidden bomb detonates and kills six people at a camp game. Ashley realizes the bomb was planted by Jocelyn to murder her, Royce, and her own son.

Weeks later, they try to attend another Society event—a car race in Alaska—to have fun, thinking they are far beyond Jocelyn’s reach there, but she orchestrates a car crash that nearly kills them. They agree to do no more events until Jocelyn is captured. However, the four men are later summoned to the secret Society meeting chamber, as they’re group members. They are restrained by guards as three hypnotized Society elders reveal Ashley, bound and gagged, and threaten to kill her to ensure the group’s silence about Jocelyn. Enraged, the men break free from their guards and kill everyone in the room. Heath contacts his grandfather, a high-ranking member, who arranges for a special team to clean up the massacre. 

In the following weeks, Colonel Mike confirms that Jocelyn has been captured and imprisoned, and Ashley’s boyfriends and the Society plan a laser tag game to blow off steam. However, Ashley has a paranoid vision of Jocelyn in the woods. Afterward, they discover Nate is missing. Royce’s uncle, Henry, calls to inform them that Jocelyn has escaped from prison during a staged riot. Jocelyn then texts Ashley, offering to trade Nate for her. Against the others’ wishes, Ashley agrees.

Nate awakens tied to a chair in his childhood home. Ashley arrives and uses a hidden microphone in her sleeve to signal for backup. Jocelyn places Ashley in a deep hypnotic trance and orders her to shoot Nate. Ashley visibly fights the command. Resigned to his fate, Nate tells her he loves her, which breaks the hypnotic hold. Ashley turns and shoots Jocelyn just as the other men burst into the room.

Jocelyn survives but is left in a coma with severe brain damage. Nate and Ashley visit her at Orpington Psychiatric Detention Center, where she is now detached from reality, obsessed with feeding imaginary ducks. Max reveals that Mallard hospital burned down in an electrical fire, with all patients, including Abigail, missing. Ashley then receives a text from a lucid Abigail, who is now working as a guard at Orpington. Abigail assures Ashley that she will watch over Jocelyn and that Ashley’s part in the ordeal is over.

Two years later, the group is on vacation to celebrate Ashley and Royce’s graduation. Jocelyn remains in a catatonic state under Abigail’s watch, and Royce’s mother has been released from prison. As a graduation gift, Ashley has chosen for all five of them to go skydiving together. They jump from the plane, holding hands, and embrace their future.