Review: Two Can Keep a Secret

Title: Two Can Keep a Secret

Author: Karen M. McManus

Rating: 5 Stars

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Date Published: 8 January 2019

Goodreads Description: Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.

The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone’s declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.

Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she’s in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous–and most people aren’t good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it’s safest to keep your secrets to yourself.

Thank you to Penguin Random House South Africa for my review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

General Thoughts

Man, I love a good mystery/thriller. Two Can Keep a Secret is technically the sequel to One of Us is Lying. I haven’t read One of Us is Lying yet, but I never felt lost in the story. As far as I know, it’s a whole new set of characters taking the lead, even though there are some familiar ones.

The story was easy to follow and McManus’ writing flowed smoothly. There’s enough action to keep you interested and enough clues to keep you guessing. I had no idea who the killer was until the last few chapters, and the last words of the story chilled me to the bone.

I love it when books get that sort of reaction from me. Two Can Keep a Secret wasn’t overly thrilling (such as my favourite thriller of all time, Small Spaces), but it still kept me intrigued and wanting more. I look forward to more of McManus’ works, and I will definitely be reading One of Us is Lying.

Characters

The story is told from the POV of two characters, Ellery and Malcolm.

Ellery is definitely a girl close to my heart. She loves true crime and reads way too many true crime novels. She also works at a horror/murder type theme park. She’s very down to earth and I love her relationship with her mother, Sadie. She also has a twin brother named Ezra, who’s awesome. I wished we could have seen a bit more of their relationship, but it’s definitely clear that they would do anything for each other.

Malcolm is the town outcast and honestly, he’s such a cutie pie. He has a bad habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, making him seem suspect, but in the end, everything works out.

I really loved all of the characters we got to meet in Echo Ridge.

Let’s Chat

Have you read Two Can Keep a Secret? What did you think?

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