Two Can Keep a Secret
2019
Karen M McManus
Penguin
pp. 317
I picked up the book under the impression that it is a sequel to One of us is Next, but I was wrong. I read One of us is lying and One of us is Next in quick succession and I thought the same events will be referred to in this one. This turned out to be a different plot although within the same, high school murder mystery genre. For the first half, I kept waiting for the stories to somehow connect so I actually immersed in the book only in the second half. I also found that in this book, I was more involved in the mystery than the previous two where I was preoccupied with looking at identity issues of the various characters. The plot of this book covers the same high school issues but the murder mystery is more movie like than in the other two books. The stories in both the ‘One of us…” books was more realistic and believable than it is in this one. Although, to think of it, it could totally be true. Truth is often stranger than fiction and if I were to stretch it, then all of the bizarre cheating, vandalism, murders, etc. in this book can very well happen. I would hope not, since many people die and others have terrible lives in this book.
Since I have read three books by McManus in a fairly short duration, I am now getting a bit bored of the writing style and the genre. So I might take a break from reading more from her. But overall, this book was also gripping, kept me on tenterhooks and was a good mystery. Worth reading.