Two Can Keep A Secret
by Karen M. McManus
Publisher – Penguin Books UK
Release Date – January 10th 2019
Buy – Amazon | Book DepositoryEllery’s never been to Echo Ridge, but she’s heard all about it. It’s where her aunt went missing at age sixteen, never to return. Where a Homecoming Queen’s murder five years ago made national news. And where Ellery now has to live with a grandmother she barely knows, after her failed-actress mother lands in rehab. No one knows what happened to either girl, and Ellery’s family is still haunted by their loss.
Malcolm grew up in the shadow of the Homecoming Queen’s death. His older brother was the prime suspect and left Echo Ridge in disgrace. His mother’s remarriage vaulted her and Malcolm into Echo Ridge’s upper crust, but their new status grows shaky when mysterious threats around town hint that a killer plans to strike again. No one has forgotten Malcolm’s brother-and nobody trusts him when he suddenly returns to town.
Ellery and Malcolm both know it’s hard to let go when you don’t have closure. Then another girl disappears, and Ellery and Malcolm were the last people to see her alive. As they race to unravel what happened, they realize every secret has layers in Echo Ridge. The truth might be closer to home than either of them want to believe.
And somebody would kill to keep it hidden.
One of Us is Lying is one of my favourite YA mysteries of 2017. But would you believe me if I said that her latest book, Two Can Keep a Secret and one of my most anticpated reads is her best yet? Well it is…!
We return to Echo Ridge, the most popular town for mysterius homecoming murders, and Ellery and Erza are no exception to that fact. Years ago, Ellery’s mum was one of those victims when she lost her twin sister, their aunt, Sadie. Five years ago, another homecoming queen is murdered on Halloween in the local theme park Murderland. Now Ellery’s mum is sent to rehab, twins, Ellery and Erza stay with their grandmother back in Echo Ridge. With the theme park set to reopen, history starts to repeat itself with Homecoming round the corner, three potential homecoming queens fall victim to threats and one is voilently murdered. Told in two perspectives, Ellery and Malcolm, his brother accused of killing the homecoming queen 5 years ago now faces the same fate. Ellery and Erza are the last ones to see her alive.
You know what they say, curiosity killed the cat, well that’s Ellery down to a tea. I love how she can’t help but be involved, I loved how her brother knows every twitch or movement that signals that she getting close, or want to get that bit closer to who done it. She is the modern Agatha Christie, which is fairly accurate representation of her as she loves those novels and she’s a total bookworm. She is a dectective in the making, it’s like she had a sixth sense for it especially judging characters like Malcolm. Malcolm is misunderstood, just becuase his brother was the likely suspect to a murder 5 years ago, people in Echo Ridge think he’s following his brothers footsteps and Ellery seems to be the only one that believes in him.
In the beginning I wasn’t sure how this was going to follow on, was it going to be directly a sequel, another character spective, maybe from one of the others in the group of victims in One of Us is Lying? It was essentially a mystery to me… but it surprised me in the best way possible, I was guessing right to the end and that’s what I love about her book. You don’t know until the very end. A true mystery writer. What I enjoyed a lot more in this, was how there was less POVs in the storyline. I’ll be honest I feel that multiple perspectives work, but they can be quite overwhelming. So in TKCAS, I found I enjoyed it a lot more between Ellery and Malcolm, the thrilling nature of the story was dramatic and you couldn’t put it down. Karen McManus’s writing/books remind me of a great mystery dramas, like Midsummer Murders, Morse – if you live in the UK you know what these programmes are. So I can’t wait where Echo Ridge and the corridors of Echo High will take us next.
Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you to Penguin Random House for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
