I thought it was awesome. Plot twists on very chapter. The person that did it was not the person anyone would suspect at all. ( )

Ellery and Ezra move from California to Vermont to live with their grandmother, Nana, while their mother is in rehab. Nana lives only a short distance from the Fright Farm theme park, formerly known as Murderland, where 5 years ago, the homecoming queen was found dead. 20 years earlier, Ellery and Ezra's aunt disappeared on homecoming night. Now Ellery is on the ballot for homecoming queen and threats are being received telling everyone Murderland, Part 2 is coming. Now another girl on the ballot for homecoming is missing. Is history repeating itself? Is it the original killer? Is it a copycat?

There are so many twists and turns in this book. Ellery and Ezra become friends with Malcolm whose brother was the boyfriend of the girl murdered five years earlier. The town turned against him. He is now back in town. Ellery is into true crime and shares her theories of the past and the current happenings with Malcolm. I'm not saying whether she's right or wrong. Malcolm's stepsister, Katrine, is the girl expected to be this year's homecoming queen. Ellery has questions about Malcolm especially since he was the last person to see the missing girl.

I liked Malcolm, Ellery, and Ezra. I also liked Mia, Malcolm's friend. I did not like Katrine and her group. I liked Nana's worry about Ellery and homecoming. It was interesting how no one talked about Ellery's aunt, Sarah. The mystery was so good. I needed Ellery to show me the way to the murderer. I was shocked, especially with one of the last sentences in the book.

This book is worth the read. It is so good! ( )

I was going to give it a 3.5 because I wasn't satisfied with whatever was happening and I needed more. But then there was one sentence in the end - 6 words and my heart is still beating really fast, 30 mins after I've put down the book. That sentence made me rate the book 5. Brilliant writing. I wish Karen McManus never stops writing. ( )

After being really impressed by this author's debut ([b:One of Us Is Lying|32571395|One of Us Is Lying|Karen M. McManus|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1490084494s/32571395.jpg|49825436]), I've been eagerly awaiting TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET. YA Mystery/Thriller is probably my favorite type of book to read. There's something about following along on a high stakes mystery and trying to unravel all the clues that makes reading fun for me. I'm just really happy to have a new author come along and write YA Mysteries that weave a web like these ones have.

The story: When their mother goes to rehab, twins, Ellery & Ezra, return to the town she grew up in (and ran away from). Echo Ridge is a small town with a tragic history-- a tragic history that just happened to touch the twins' family. When their mother was a teen (right after she was crowned homecoming queen), her twin sister went missing and was never found. 5 years ago, the homecoming queen was killed. Now, another girl (one nominated for homecoming queen) is missing.

This book started out not that fun for me. There are a lot of characters and suspects that span 3 eras and I was having a hard time remembering who was who and sorting out if any of them were important. I guess having a large cast probably makes it harder to figure out the mystery in the long run, but there is definitely a thing as too many names being thrown at you.

Once I sorted out who exactly all these 999 people were and what they meant to the story, the book got good. Ellery wasn't my favorite main character, but she was the Nancy Drew of this story, so I was interested in how she was going to work the whole thing out. I liked her relationship with her brother and the friends she made when she moves into town.

My fave part: the Homecoming aspect!! It was straight out of a teen slasher movie, and I was all about it.

I definitely thought this was a stronger book than One of Us is Lying. It was a lot more complex, and the mystery was even tougher to figure out. This met my expectations (which were pretty large), therefore I will be recommending this book-- and reading all of McManus's books from here on out!!

OVERALL: A complex mystery in a genre that desperately needs them!! Once I sorted out who allllll the different people in this book were, it got addicting and TENSE. I loved the town of Echo Ridge and the homecoming queen angle. This book is just begging to be made into the next big teen slasher movie.

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I'm super picky about realistic crime/mystery, but I enjoyed this one, mainly because I felt like I got to know the characters really well. Ellery's fascination with true crime was a particular favourite aspect of mine. ( )