Review | Two Of Us Can Keep A Secret by Karen McManus

Image of the front cover of Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen McManus. This is the Kindle Ebook version of the novel displayed on a kindle paperwhite and laid on a rich coloured background that looks like a bookshelf holding vintage books. The ebook cover features the title and author as well as two pairs of legs that resemble the legs of teenage girls. To the left is a title that reads 'review, Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen McManus, www.chatterfox.co.uk'

Having read 'One Of Us Is Lying' by Karen McManus I was under the impression that this is the second book in a series but it's actually an entirely separate story. Two Of Us Can Keep A Secret focuses on a pair of twins sent to live with their grandmother in the eerie town of Echo Ridge. A town famous for disappearing teens and dead homecoming queens. Will history repeat itself or will Ellery and Ezra's arrival unveil the secrets this town has kept hidden all these years? 

I wanted to like this book. I really did. I enjoyed 'One Of Us Is Lying' despite my reservations about it being overly American and 'teen boppy' and I figured this second book would be the same- it was not. This is pure American Teen Fiction. 

The setting is as cheesy as 'Echo Ridge' makes it sound. The book is predominately set in the 'Fright Farm' fairground and it reads like a 90s Goosebumps television episode (no shade being thrown at Goosebumps books, I loved them but focus on the TV show,  the leering jack in the box, the hysterically laughing clowns and the distorted halls of mirrors and you'll be somewhere close to imagining Fright Farm). It just felt a bit of a dated, unrealistic atmosphere. 

The characters felt like they were straight out of a low budget teen movie. There was the rich girl and her Daddy, the skulking bad boy that wasn't really bad and the good girl next door. It was all very cliched in a way that the first book had managed to avoid. 

In terms of the plot, it sounded better than it played out. It lacked a sense of jeopardy and the overall conclusion was a bit 'meh'. I didn't find myself eager to get to bed to find out what happened next. I just ambled along waiting for it to end. Overall this book has left me in a neutral position regarding Karen McManus work. I enjoyed her first one but found this one like nails on a chalkboard. I suppose I'll have to read another one to draw a more accurate conclusion of her work but for this particular novel, it's a no from me. 

Thanks For Reading 

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