I loved One of Us is Lying and could not wait to get my hands on this book, and it was worth it!

While I didn’t like Two Can Keep a Secret as much, it was still an enjoyable, hard-to-put-down read! The mystery unfolds in an unpredictable way, and the setting is richly described (so much so that you feel like you’re there). The only thing I wasn’t over the moon about with this book was the character development; I felt more could have been done to paint the characters and their interactions with each other to really bring this to five stars. Nevertheless, I’ll definitely be purchasing this title for my library and hand selling it to my teen patrons; I’m sure it will be just as difficult to keep it on shelves as One of Us is Lying has been!

Two Can Keep a Secret is an amazing, fast-paced YA mystery. Great pacing, awesome character development, and a fantastic twist. McManus is a terrific storyteller, and students will be rapt while reading this.

A YA thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. Ellery and her twin brother move to Echo Ridge with their grandmother after their mother goes to rehab. Her mother's twin sister, Ellery's aunt, went missing years ago after homecoming. Five years ago, the homecoming queen was murdered. And now, one of the girls on the homecoming court is missing. Family, mysteries, secrets, and a little romance make this a standout novel. From the author of One of Us is Lying.

Karen M. McManus does it again, even better if that was possible! Two Can Keep a Secret is written in an elegant prose. It's the can't-put-down type that makes you keep reading. It's a well-paced novel with characters so wonderfully crafted. She brings them to life on the pages. She stays true to the teens of today, presenting issues and ideas that they face on a daily basis. She does a fantastic job of taking the reader right into Echo Ridge with Ellery and Malcolm. It's spooky and quiet. A nail-biter for sure.

This is a great murder mystery YA novel. Definitely one of the best of its kind. Can't wait to hold a hardcover copy in my hands!

Another winner from Karen McManus! I always pride myself in being able figure out the endings to books before the readers do but this one completely blew me away. All the way to the killer final sentence! I finished this book and needed a minute to be with my thoughts before I could even talk to anyone else. It is twisting and so fast paced that the pages just flew by. Plus it has a definite ring to all those teen horrors from the early 90's (think RL Stine) which has always been a favorite of mine. I will definitely be on the lookout for another one of her books in the future.

This is a hard review to write based solely on the fact that I liked but didn't like the book. The plot pulled me since I'm an ID addict, but the way the story and characters were portrayed was a disappointment. Connections weren't established with anyone since the chapters alternated points of views between Ellery and Malcolm, and they each dealt with a range of different people. The personalities were bland and it was hard to distinguish what view point I was reading from since Ellery and Malcolm were written the same.

Next we have Ellery who has a true crime passion and despite all the secrets and mysteries embedded around her, she only made assumptions. There wasn't any recon, sleuthing, problem solving, rationality, etc. That isn't to say I expected a spy novel, but the way Ellery went on and on regarding her crime research and obsession didn't correlate with her actions and thought process when contemplating the missing and murdered girls.

The instant love with barely any dialogue exchanged between Ellery and Malcolm was eye rolling and there are lots of errors in the beginning chapters. The first is when Ellery's luggage is lost. She approaches a random stand in the airport and talks with a teenager (what teen works at an airport?) about the mysteries surrounding Echo Ridge and she fills out a paper in hopes her luggage is found. My luggage has been lost twice and the process described is inaccurate. Your luggage is tracked through a computer and the employees know where it is instantly based on the tracking number. You describe your luggage, answer questions, fill out papers, and it's put on the next plane out and delivered free of charge.

The second error is describing the weather of upstate Vermont around midnight when Ellery and her brother Ezra are waiting for their grandmother to pick them up from the airport. Ellery makes a comment on how it's so muggy and hot outside for the summer. As someone who spends her summers in New England (MA, NY, CT, RI, VT), I can verify that it is NOT muggy and hot in the middle of the night. Also, the grandmother explains the formation of hail wrong (source: my meteorology degree).

So when you look past these unrealistic scenarios and monotone characters, there is an appeal to the story regarding missing and murdered teenage girls in a small town atmosphere where everybody knows everybody. There weren't any clues leading to the killer and there was SO much telling instead of showing, but this is mildly entertaining for an easy read.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

The works of Karen McManus first appeared on my radar when one of my student's eagerly shoved her first novel into my hands. Fans of McManus's debut novel ONE OF US IS LYING will not be disappointed by her latest addition to the young adult mystery genre. In fact, McManus improves on her original, quickly distinguishing herself as a master of the genre. TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET is fast-paced and atmospheric, set in the New England town of Echo Ridge. As in ONE OF US IS LYING, all of the clues are there, but the novel keeps the reader guessing with a plethora of red herrings right up until the end. Maybe it's my weakness for true crime podcasts speaking, but I couldn't put this book down. It was everything I could do to keep from flipping to the end. This is perfect for fans of Maureen Johnson's TRULY DEVIOUS, and I cannot wait for McManus's next project.

I liked McManus' One of Us is Lying but I like this title even more for its traditional hard-core mystery cred. There are red herrings galore and I was as confused as Ellery as to the identity of the villain but the story itself is not confusing, just a fun ride. What's more, I thought I had guessed a plot twist but I was wrong! That hardly ever happens so it is delightful and a mark of some unique plotting when I am fooled. All the characters were fleshed out enough for me to invest in them and to feel mad when they were treated/treated others poorly. If I were to make one complaint it would be that there could've been more breadcrumbs dropped to lead me to the killer's identity. I've read mysteries where the criminal shows up out of the blue having barely even been introduced and that is just unfair to the reader who has no chance to solve the crime. This was not that low, but I did stop for a minute to think about whether I should be angry about the lack of foreshadowing. Instead, I just kept reading because I was so wrapped up in the story that I wanted to see what happened next. But if there are revisions to be done, I'd suggest more hints along the way for the sleuthing readers.

A small town has its own secrets. Twins Ellery and Ezra have shown up here to live with their grandma while their mother is in rehab across the country. Their first night turns up the body of a loved teacher who is found lying in the middle of the road. Homecoming is coming and now the real threats begin. How can these new threats be tied to the murder of another girl 5 years ago? And, how does the disappearance and death of the twins' aunt years before they were born tie into this mystery? A dark and twisty tale that has Ellery and the brother of a former murder suspect combining resources to figure out the secrets. But, as the title reminds us, two can keep a secret-but only if one is dead.