Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Two Can Keep a Secret

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Two Can Keep a Secret, by Karen M. McManus

36 reviews

just_a_bibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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

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agateg's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

“Welcome to life in a small town. You’re only as good as the best thing your family’s done. Or the worst.”

Echo Ridge is a small town in America. The town is picture-perfect, but it's hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone's declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she's in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous and most people aren't good at keeping them. This is why in Echo Ridge, it's safest to keep your secrets to yourself.
I flew through this book. I think it's a very well-written young adult mystery novel. I found both Ellery's and Malcolm's POVs exciting and engaging. The story hooked me from the first page and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout it. I did guess the culprit but it didn't take away from the joy I felt while reading it. I definitely will be checking out more of the author's works!

Spoiler

The ending?? What does that line even mean?? Are we just supposed to deal with that open-ended ending?? This is so confusing

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at806's review against another edition

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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

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typedtruths's review against another edition

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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

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ellereadsalot's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This novel is an extremely light murder mystery. You can skim whole chapters and still understand what's happening. Two of the twists were pretty dumb, but the last one (on the last page) was chilling and it made me wish that that had been the focus off the novel. Or at least part of the main plot.

The story is told from the prospective of two characters, which was refreshing because so many books these days include way too many points of view. I prefer books from one person's perspective, but two were okay.

I'd say that this is the okay-est book I read this year.

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bujo_bellel's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I really enjoyed this book, there were so many plot twists and I could not guess any of them. The vibes was really fun and I loved the romance side plot. The ending shocked me and what was revealed by Ellery at the end sent chills fr. The book was rather amusing at times and the plot got wilder and wilder. I was very entertained.

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thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

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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?

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