A review by solitaint
Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

5.0

There was no way I was ever going guess that ending.
This is my second Karen M. McManus book and I am really impressed. I really loved One of Us is Lying, but I did guess the murderer and I feel like I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t. (My review for One of Us is Lying-> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3641715169)

Basically the plot:
Ellery and Ezra Corcoran are twins and are sent to live with their only living relation, (their grandmother) in a small and suspicious town called Echo Ridge after their Mother, Sadie, is sent to a rehab facility.
Ellery is the first POV you get.
The other POV belongs to Malcolm Kelly. Let us completely change the topic. Five years ago, a teenage girl called Lacey Kilduff was strangled in a Halloween theme park called Murderland (they re-named it Fright Farm) The killer was never caught, but most people were sure that Declan Kelly, Lacey’s boyfriend, and Malcolm’s older brother, was the one who killed her. Let us skip back another 20 years to when Sadie lived in Echo Ridge with her twin sister. Sadie’s twin sister, Sarah, vanished (presumably kidnapped and killed) while walking home from the library.
Now we’re back in present-day and another girl has gone missing. Both Lacey and this girl were/are homecoming queens.
Ellery and Ezra soon become friends with Malcolm and Mia. Mia is the younger sister of Daisy, who was Lacey’s best friend. They try to figure out all these strange happenings in a town that keeps losing its homecoming queens. (Yes I stole that off the back cover) That wasn’t very ‘basic’ but ah well.

The characters!!!

ELLERY
I think she was my favourite? I just really liked the way she loved true crime and was so suspicious of everyone and everything.

EZRA
Ellery’s twin brother! I loved Ezra, and his relationship with his sister.

MALCOLM
I loved his characters too, and I really like how he was still kind of like ‘in his brother’s shadow’ because of Lacey’s death.

MIA
She doesn’t play a huge role, but I did really enjoy reading about her.

The ending hits you out of nowhere though. It really shocked me because I was sure it was a certain person. But it wasn’t??? The last line actually gave me chills.
I really loved it and I think it’ll stay one of my favourite murder mysteries for a very long time!
Also, if anyone has any small-town mystery recommendations, please comment them!