Reviews with content warning for Violence - Two Can Keep a Secret

As much as I love McManus's usual books, this one sort of fell a little flat for me. Two Can Keep a Secret follows twins Ellery and Ezra, who move to small-town Echo Ridge. Echo Ridge has a track record of unusual cases, with a girl being found murdered in recent years, and even the twins' own aunt mysteriously going missing when she was growing up as a teenager there. The story is set up for more bizarre events unfolding as the twins arrive, with Ellery - a true crime addict - already invested in the town's many mysteries.

I really liked the characters in this, with the relationships between all of the characters being particularly nice to read about. While I thought some of the characters could have done with a little more fleshing out, I thought Malcolm's character was probably the most developed of them all, and was definitely interesting to read about. I did think that there was a lot of name dropping at the start, and I know I got seriously confused trying to remember who everyone was and how they linked to the story for the first 25% of the book. Not all of these characters were even particularly relevant, I thought it could have done with a little less minor characters who contributed nothing to the actual plot, and a little more development for the main characters. There were so many characters that I really liked the sound of (Mia being a particular favourite of mine), but I just didn't feel they'd been developed enough for me to be able to properly understand them on the level I'd have liked.

It felt very cliche. From the dialogue to the plot and the characters, it felt very YA-typical. It also seemed incredibly similar to many other of the author's books and other YA murder mysteries out there (we're talking small town 'cursed' with lots of cases of disappearing or murdered teenagers, until our MC teenager who just so happens to be really into true crime comes along to solve the mystery). And I mean, that can be quite enjoyable - I've always really enjoyed the rest of McManus's books. I don't think this book is necessarily any worse than her others, it just came across as a little repetitive and honestly kind of dull to me personally - potentially because I've read so many of the author's books by now. I just feel like I've read this book before, as there simply wasn't enough to set it apart from the many, many other YA mysteries out there.

There were some aspects that I did just have to sit and go oh come on, as parts of the plot were quite frankly ridiculously unbelievable, which took away from the usual effect these plot twists have on me. In all honesty, some of the dialogue nearer to the end of the story just made me cringe, it felt so young adult stereotyped and even slightly childish in parts.

Saying this, no, I didn't see what was coming or who was behind it all, and it still had the usual shock factor that I'd expect from one of these books. Undoubtedly worth a read for any McManus fans (although I do think there are better books of hers out there) or murder mystery lovers in general, but maybe not the best for anyone who's read way too many of these sorts of books already.

Rating: 3 stars

Content Warnings

itsbumley's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Content Warnings

typedtruths's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Content Warnings

thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

A fast paced YA mystery crime thriller that makes you second guessing until the end.

A prom queen goes missing in 1995, then a second get killed just 5yrs ago, now threats are being made against this year's prom queen in Echo Ridge. Can Ellery and Ezra figure out what happened to their missing aunt, and will Ellery be the next victim?

Content Warnings

esterslibrary's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

hi_there's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Content Warnings

More...