Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus is a 99.9% typical young adult mystery story. Due to my having read a lot of YA mystery (as a physical and mental pre-teen and teenager) I knew the clues to look for. I know red herrings will be obvious (they are called red herrings for a reason). There will be a romance, at least one triangle (be it a love triangle or friendship triangle), if there are siblings/friends their role comes out quickly enough (either they believe a mystery is afoot, or they are the biggest hurdle), teen cliques, either clueless or extremely over-protective adults and the killer is the one they will not have been pushing, but is somewhat obvious if you think about it. And a oh-so-convenient it hurts escape for our heroes.
At first, I thought, “This is slow. Maybe it will pick up.” Second, I thought, “Not really picking up. Just a lot of typical build up. Oh, well. Maybe it will turn out to be a good “beach read” for teens.” Nothing wrong with that. Books should be fun and not work. And since it was proving to have all the earmarking’s of a typical teen mystery/beach read at least I knew it was a good one.
I figured out the killer early on. All the clichés are there (both the over-protective and the clueless adults; cliques so obvious the cheesy line of “On Wednesdays they wear pink” was not out of place if not a bit dated, innocent romance, both types of siblings/friends and the escape in all its perfect conveniences).
Two things that make this an interesting read is first, it is told in alternating chapters from the two main characters. This shows how events are connected, how different people have different takes and how each person has a piece of the puzzle. However, it was the second thing with the last page that threw in a small twist I did not see coming.
This last page put not a monkey wrench into the works, but a gorilla wrench! It was, cheesy and out of the blue and a smidgen forced but lends itself at the same time to not being overly obvious. Overall, teens will enjoy this book and most adults will see it as light reading.
This is not going to be a “classic” but one you remember reading as a teen when you find a similar book years later read by your teen. It also made me want to read her One of Us Is Lying, though I have read it is not a strong as her second book.
