‘Two Can Keep a Secret’ By Karen M. McManus: Book Review

Two Can Keep A Secret (2019) is a young adult thriller mystery written by Karen M. McManus. It follows Ellery Concoran, a teenage true crime enthusiast, as she arrives in Echo Ridge with her twin brother to live with their estranged grandmother. For a long time now, Ellery has heard about the picturesque small town and it’s dark history. Several years ago, Ellery’s aunt Sarah disappeared when she was only seventeen years old and five years before Ellery’s arrival, tragedy struck again, this time, Echo Ridge’s homecoming queen was murdered. Now, someone in Echo Ridge is threatening to repeat history when another girl goes missing. Echo Ridge is full of secrets and with the help of Malcom Kelly, the town’s pariah, and their friends, they work together to uncover the truth before it’s too late.

McManus does a great job with the story’s mystery. It unfolds at a satisfying pace as hints and clues are unearthed the more the characters dig. The payoffs are satisfying, too, because, even though your suspicions are confirmed, your expectations are subverted. The story flows well, too, in part to the narration. It’s a two-person POV (Ellery and Malcom) narrated in first person. McManus does a good job to make their voices distinct, which makes each of our narrators feel like real teenagers. I couldn’t put this book down because it was that exciting, intriguing and entertaining. I always wanted to know what happened next.

This book is also very Twin Peaks-esque. From the small town with big secrets to the mysterious death of its homecoming queen, Two Can Keep A Secret pulls some of the same elements from the show. It’s so similar to Twin Peaks that it even has the same character archetypes. Like Declan Kelly (Malcom’s brother) is Bobby Briggs to a T. And, Lacey Kilduff, the Echo Ridge’s dead homecoming queen with a shadow life, is reminiscent of Twin Peak’s Laura Palmer.

There are a couple of shortcomings to this book. For instance, some resolutions remained too ambiguous, when more clarity would have made for a more satisfying conclusion. There are also characters of color in the cast who don’t really feel like characters of color, if that makes sense. For instance, officer Rodriguez is hispanic, but it is never specified where his family is from, and there’s no reference to culture, either. The same goes for Mia and Daisy who are of Asian decent, but it is not specified where their family is from and what cultural elements play a role in their lives.

Overall, this book was such a fun read. If you enjoy thrillers and mysteries, if you like young adult fiction, I definitely recommend that you read Two Can Keep A Secret.