Reviews

Keep This to Yourself by Tom Ryan

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blake_persephone's review against another edition

2.0

This book isn’t amazing on a technical aspect, and lots of half baked ideas. But I’m not gonna lie, I had a blast lol. There’s nothing terribly offensive in here so if you want a thriller with a queer protag, go at it.

magsisreadingagain's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jolietjane's review against another edition

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4.0

A lot of thrillers tackle that subject of "what do you really know about the people from your town?" Your friends? Your neighbors? Who are they when nobody else is around to judge them? What secrets to they keep close to their hearts?

TLDR TROPES:

- Own voices queer thriller
- Who done it style
- Easy read
- Soft boy MC
- M/M romance
- tons of twists and turns.

Keep This to Yourself is a YA mystery thriller that takes place a year after an unknown serial killer has taken the lives of several people in a small town. Mac's close friend Connor was one of them. When Mac finds an old letter from his friend, he realizes that he may have been close to catching the killer before his death. Mac decides to pick up where Connor left off and uncover the identity of the killer.

I fell for the tricks of "Keep This to Yourself" a few times. Tom Ryan drops a ton of macguffins and some of them really did a number on me when I experienced this book- so right there, this is a great mystery. Its twisty, turny, and atmospheric, an adventure through a small town left damaged by a painful past.

The characters were all decent and defined if not a bit stereotypical- but I do think they existed primarily to drive home a mystery. There s a bit of romance as well, but the book mostly veers away from teen drama to focus very specifically on solving the mystery. If you like your teen thrillers more investigatory and less about the character drama, I think this is a great pick.

My single issue with Keep this to Yourself is that it takes a second to take off- there's a little bit of time taken at the beginning to establish a setting, and while it isn't inherently boring, I wasn't as interested in the day to day lives of Mac or his friends. Once we get past this though, the book really takes off and focuses on what it does best- being a spooky and intriguing mystery.

This is a great book for fans of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and similar more mature-themed mature sleuth stories, and its a very quick read.

nmathias01's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5 stars! As a total wimp, I'm just getting into thrillers and I LOVED this. Mac was a great narrator, the cast of characters in his small town were compelling, and I liked that the murder mystery was a bit of a slow burn that really sped up to a heart-pounding ending. Also really enjoyed the love interest sub-plot that added to the story but didn't take away from the thriller-ness at all. Can't wait to read Ryan's new book soon.

starrwad's review against another edition

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5.0

Red herrings galore! And that twist. My god, I don't think I've ever seen that done in a thriller.

I am very surprised that this book has not gotten more traction. Uhhhh, wow. This is how you do a thriller. There were so many red herrings that I was guessing the entire time. The audiobook narrator did a really good job too. Also, it was refreshing to see a main character who is gay, but the book is not about him being gay... it's just a regular story, a thriller like any other.

Thanks so much to the author, Albert Whitman & Company, and NetGalley for a copy of the ARC.