Book Review: Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen McManus
My rating: 3 of 5 Stars
<Three missing girls, gone several years apart. An attack on a small town's homecoming court. Falsely accused killers, broken relationships, and a mission to find the truth about the murders of the girls who went away. Ellery is searching. Malcom is trying to escape. Two Can Keep A Secret is a novel jam-packed with tension and mystery. Plot twists lurk behind every corner. Each new revelation adds to the conflict of the plot. A bone-rattling storyline, tantalizing characters, and a richly-painted world are there to explore. This novel by Karen M McManus is the third I have read by the author. She improved vastly since her last story and made a much more compelling novel than the first two from the One Of Us is Lying duology. However, not every story is perfect. I found it difficult to follow the "big reveal" at the end of the book. Why did the killer do what they did? How was it them? There was almost no foreshadowing for the killer's reveal. I never went "ah, yes. This makes perfect sense." I was more prone to thoughts like: "what in the world? What do they have to do with this?" Readers do not get a good explanation of their motive or their methods. On top of this, the main characters meet anti-climactic situation after anti-climactic situation in the story. Theory after theory, they make the story seem almost redundant, especially by the end with their connection [or lack thereof] to what happens. I would also note that the perspective characters seemed to have only one interest or "big personality" trait: being gay, liking true crime, etc. They were almost flat to me. Not well described. Additionally, their motives for being involved with the investigation of the three murders were unclear for most of the novel. Especially the recent murders, which were then taking place within the story. I would also point out that the title of the novel is hard to associate with the book. There is no "aha!" moment, where everything connects to the title. Even the people on the cover of the book are confusing: who is the blonde girl if the black-haired girl is Ellery? Finally, I would say that there is not much in the way of physical character description for anyone except Ellery. Readers will have to almost guess what the cast looks like. Otherwise, the story was fresh and a step up from the first series Karen McManus wrote.>
Read in 3 days.
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