City News

In the mystery book Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen M. McManus, the main characters, Ellery, Ezra, and Malcolm are all teenagers that join forces to try and find the murderer of their old friend Brooke. Ellery and Ezra are twins whose mom is suddenly put into rehab forcing them to live with their grandmother in a new city, Echo Ridge. Malcolm’s mother married one of the most trusted and most famous lawyers in all of Echo Ridge, Peter Nilsson. Malcolm on the other hand did not like living with the Nilsson’s because of Peter’s daughter Katrin, who was the same age as Malcolm.  Malcolm and his mom are not the most liked people in Echo Ridge because of Malcolm’s brother Declan, who was framed for killing his ex-girlfriend, Lacey. After a couple weeks in Echo Ridge, Ellery was nominated for homecoming queen along with their friend Brooke and Katrin. Nobody likes being nominated for homecoming queen because of what happened to Ellery and Ezra’s aunt, Sarah. Years ago, Sarah was in the same shoes as those three girls, nominated for homecoming queen, when an anonymous figure leaves messages around the town threatening to do something terrible at the big dance. That is the day when Sarah went missing. The same thing happened this year, Brooke went missing. Now Ellery, Ezra, and Malcolm were trying to solve the mystery of who took Brooke. Everyone in the town ends up to be a suspect, but there is one that stands out the most.

I really liked this book because of the suspense. For example, when Brooke is taken, you were not sure who did it. Whenever I thought I knew who the murderer was, my idea of who did it changed every chapter. There were so many different suspects that could have been the murderer, but one stood out above the rest. I also really liked how there are multiple different points of views that the story is told through, one from Malcolm’s perspective, and one from Ellery’s perspective. Even though I really like this book, there were still a couple parts I didn’t like as much. I wish the book included what happened to Malcolm's brother, Declan, after he was framed for taking and killing Brooke. I wanted to know more of his background and what his lifestyle was after he was framed and the mystery was solved. Another part of the book I didn’t like was how I wish it would have told me how the lifestyle of Katrin changed. I want to know if her relationship changed throughout the story with her father, Malcolm, and Malcolm’s mom.

Overall I really enjoyed Two Can Keep A Secret and would recommend it to any teenager who is looking for a good mystery book that has a lot of suspense and surprises. If you are looking for a book with good characters you get to know really well and how the people in this book develop over time, then this is the perfect story for you!

Check out Two Can Keep a Secret from NBPL!