Reviews

Keep This to Yourself by Tom Ryan

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itslucyamber's review

4.0

Ooh I loved this. Make a note that this is a crime/thriller novel that happens to have a queer MC, it is not a queer story (not an issue with me, just a note).

I loved the melancholy tone and mysterious story, the twists and turns, the unpredictable (yet foreshadowed) end, and the small-town mystery.

In its essence, this is just a well-written and very enjoyable small-town murder-mystery that will keep you guessing - and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Plus, half the issues are caused by people allowing men to be men and I love that.

foofers1622's review

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4.0

I read this book for my libraries young adult book club for adults.

I great thriller that had me guessing until the very end. It was also great to see parents that were accepting of their gay son dating a black man.

ameliapa's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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

Slow read to begin with but after around the 60ish page mark it picks right up!! Twist and turns in every chapter had me hooked!

booksnbeanies's review

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4.0

My first reaction after reading this book was definitely, “Wow, I did not see that coming.” As you read this book you’ll think you know who the killer is but I promise you that you’re wrong. When I started the book I immediately thought I knew what happened and while I wasn’t entirely wrong, I was still wrong. Which is what makes this such a great book. Unlike most mystery/thriller novels, you won’t know what really happened until the very end. It’ll definitely keep you on your toes.

anova's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

sleepysamreads's review

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4.0

You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy these type of thriller books, but they rarely take me by surprise. I almost always figure out the big twist or who the bad guy is. This book is extremely unique for me because it caught me completely off guard. I thought I was figuring everything out like always, but then the twist happened and blindsided me. I LOVED that. It doesn't happen nearly enough.

Keep This to Yourself is set in a coastal town in Oregon, which was honestly the perfect setting.

I loved the characters a lot. Mac, the main character, has lost his best friend a year before the story starts and you can still see how he's grieving and having a hard time moving on. I also like how Mac is gay, which I enjoyed because there's so few thriller books with a gay protagonist. Now if I could find one with a lesbian protagonist, we'd be set.

I thought that Mac and Quill's relationship was cute, though I wish we would have gotten to see more of it after Conner's murder was resolved. I feel like their relationship was based on their mutual interest in investigating Conner's murder and I wonder if they have anything in common other than that.

The only thing I didn't super love was the very ending. It was not believable at all and requires a suspension of disbelief that I just couldn't handle. I can do that with fantasy type novels, but with novels like this that are set in the 'actual' world, it's hard.

I really enjoyed Keep This to Yourself, even if the ending wasn't completely satisfactory.