Two can keep a secret by Karen Mc. Manus

Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery's never been there, but she's heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.

The town is picture-perfect, but it's hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone's declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.

Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she's in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous--and most people aren't good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it's safest to keep your secrets to yourself.

Two can keep a secret

My Thoughts:

I can not even begin to put down words for this book. Lets say, I bought this one under the wrong impression. I though this is the third installment to "One of us is lying" series. However, it turned out as a stand alone young adult thriller/mystery/crime book. When I started reading the book, I kept on waiting till a few chapters for the link to form between past books and this one. When that did not happen, I googled to confirm that the book is indeed a stand alone and was published after "One of us is lying" and has no connection with the series. 

Coming to the book, the book starts off with Ellery and Ezra, twin sister and brother leaving their home in California and moving to a small town - Echo Ridge with their maternal grand mother as their mother is admitted into a rehab. The twins off course are not happy with the move but have no choice but to move to the small town, which they have never visited before even though their mother grew up here. The town has a gruesome history of murdering their home coming queens. Ellery and Ezra's mother was also a home coming queen, however the same night their aunt, Saddy's sister, Sarah disappeared only to never be heard or seen again. Five years ago, Lacy Kilduff was crowned the home coming queen and was murdered shortly afterwards. Both these cases were never solved and Echo Ridge earned a reputation for being a murder town. 

Ellery is a mystery/crime/thriller reader and is drawn to mysteries. She is fascinated by Echo Ridge's history and is inquisitive to find out as to what happened to her aunt, Sarah. She wants to understand why her mother never talks about her missing twin and why they have been kept away from Echo Ridge to an extent they haven't met their grand mother in a long while. Upon their ride home from the airport they witness a dead body in the middle of the road which their grand mother reports to the police. Next day, the police comes to their grand mother's home for questioning. From here onwards things are set in motion and strange things begin happening in Echo Ridge once again. From threatening graffities on walls to disappearances, the town screams text book crime/mystery novel. Off course Ellery is taken by all this and her detective instincts which are a second nature to her are triggered. She starts questioning around to find out more about her aunt's disappearance and Lacey Kilduff's murder. She can feel that both are somehow connected. And the killer is back again in town and has started off with his shenanigans again. Between trying to resolve the mysteries and fitting in the new town, she also gets involved in the drama and receives death threat to being murdered on prom night. Things take turn for the worse when one of their class fellow disappears the night of prom. 

Ellery and Ezra befriend new people in school, one of them being Malcolm. Malcolm is a good kid with a dysfunctional family. His mother is married to hot shot lawyer of the town who has mean girl for a daughter - now, Malcolm's step sister. Malcolm's elder brother was a prime suspect during Lacey's murder investigations five years back as both of them were dating back then and this tainted the family's reputation. Malcolm's mother's marriage to Peter, the lawyer came up with benefits of its own like money and somewhat of a respectable reputation. When Malcolm and Ellery's class fellow disappears, Malcolm lands in hot waters and becomes the prime suspect as he was the last person she was seen with. Its like history is repeating itself. However, Ellery takes it in her own hands to uncover the truth as she is sure Malcolm is not the one involved in the girl's disappearance. The incessant prying lands Malcolm and Ellery into a life threatening situation which reveals the actual perpetrator. 

Who is the actual killer? Is he the one involved in Sarah's disappearance? You'll have to read the book to find out answers to these questions. This book is more suited to teenage audience and not adult audience due to its simplistic writing and story. I found the book to be interesting enough to finish it off within days as opposed to One of us is lying's second installment, which I literally dragged. 

Hope you liked the review. Stay healthy and beautiful. xoxo!!!