Can You Keep a Secret? A Review of Karen M McManus’s Two Can Keep a Secret

Wowzers. What a book.

I want to start out by saying that I had my fingers super tightly crossed in hopes that I’d receive an ARC of Two Can Keep a Secret: I loved One of Us is Lying, so the idea of not having to wait to read Karen M. McManus’s next book was very exciting. When I got approved, I couldn’t wait to read this text, and I am so, so glad I got the chance. So thank you Net Galley for this thrilling ARC!

There is a lot going on in this book: absent parents, overall family disfunction, being the new kids, a teacher mysteriously killed in the opening.... a lot going on. At first, you kind of feel like it might be too much: how is this reasonably short YA book going to tackle all these themes and plot threads in this text? Well, it does. It’s a deeply satisfying book with a (sighhhhhhhh of delight) deeply satisfying ending. And I’m so glad because satisfying endings have really been missing from my life lately. 

Okay, so basically this is the book: Ellery and Ezra, fraternal twins, are sent to live with their grandma in their mom’s home town after their mom is sent to court ordered rehab; the night they arrive in their new town, they happen upon the town’s most popular teacher, killed by a hit and run. 

I will say the hit and run plot line is my least favorite because, while it is tied up eventually, it’s abandoned very early and not really mentioned. While I do get that this is addressed by the characters in the book and they discuss why it’s abandoned, it’s still lacks believability to me. Even after threatening messages show up throughout the town, I think a small town would still mourn/discuss/investigate the loss of a beloved teacher.

Don’t let that dissuade you from reading, though, because I think most things work. Ellery and Malcolm, a local teen, share the job of telling the story and both characters are likeable and have easy voices to read (even if Ellery does have that one annoying trait). My only complaint there is that, of the two twins, Ezra was much more interesting to me and I would have almost rather it be told from his perspective than Ellery’s, but I still think it was the right choice from a literary standpoint. Because of Ellery’s personality, her voice telling the story brings everything much more full circle.

Let me tell you about the ending without spoilers. Okay, I know I’ve touched on it already, but let me ask: any Gilmore Girls fans in the house? Remember all the build up over those “last four words?” And how disappointing they were? This book ends on a reveal and it’s not disappointing at all. It isn’t five words and they feels great to read. So read it!!

5/5

First and foremost, a huge thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this breathtaking novel.

Warning: this book is not for the faint of heart. As a mom, certain parts of this book broke my heart and took me to dark places I really didn’t want to think about. I cried while my husband grabbed my Starbucks. I cried on the way back from Target. It really got inside my heart and made me feel more than I wanted to feel.

The premise of the book was such that I knew there’d be very little chance of mediocrity with this book: it would either be insightful and lovely or stupid and ridiculous. Luckily, I found it more the former than the latter.

There were things I didn’t like: I thought Astrid’s boyfriend was a bit terrible, going back and forth between controlling and selfish. Actually, you know what? That’s the only thing.

One thing I don’t tend to focus on tons that really stood out to me on Kate McGovern’s Fear of Missing Out was pacing. I liked the way things built in intensity and then slowed down as we waited at the end. I liked how McGovern wasn’t scared to steer the text away from our expectations as she reached the end. I miss won’t go into that more because there’s no way to really explore what I’m saying without giving spoilers and it’s not exactly what you’d call a plot twist, but things definitely don’t end the way you expect they will. The book, to some extent, reads in a way that has you believing there are two possibilities for the ending and the actual ending was a third option.

None of this would work without Astrid. I really liked Astrid and I don’t mean liked her as in thought she was cool  and would like to be friends with her. I mean she was a really great character. Her voice felt so authentic; she had the snark of a witty, bright girl, but without that unrealistic precocious tone that some writers give their teens. The perfect mix of bright, but also deliciously imperfect. Stubborn and impetuous, she’s the perfect girl for what feels more like a Bildungsroman than just another YA cancer story.

This is a beautiful read that will stay with me for a long while. Read it.