Kids Meet YA author Karen McManus

One of Us Is Lying was a great YA thriller set among a group of teenagers doing detention. In her second book, Two Can Keep A Secret, Karen McManus once again uses multiple points of view to create a rattling new mystery set in a not so perfect New England town. She tells us what it’s about

Two Can Keep A Secret is a story of a small town that has a tragic past where history might be repeating itself. The main character, Ellery, moves to the town where her aunt disappeared many years ago as a teen. She meets a boy named Malcolm whose older brother was suspected of killing his homecomingqueen girlfriend. Then, a third girl disappears and Ellery and Malcolm are the last people to see her so they are trying to gure out what is happening in this town and is it all connected? It was more di cult to write a second novel, de nitely other authors I spoke to agreed because typically, it’s a book where you know people are going to read it, you’re writing to a deadline and you have voices in your head like your editor, your readers and reviewers so sometimes it takes a while to get used to that new headspace and get back to just telling the story.

I grew up in New England and so I certainly know my share of beautiful little towns. I’ve always been interested in the notion of a pretty surface hiding a lot of intrigue, drama and secrets, so with this book, I started with the setting. I wanted it to feel like another character and then the story unfolded from there.

As a reader and a viewer, I like ensemble casts. I always enjoy getting to know multiple protagonists and getting di erent people’s perspectives on events, so I naturally gravitate towards that but as an author too, I think it gives you more opportunity to engage readers and for them to nd someone that they identify with. As a thriller writer, it’s a great tool, because you can take your reader right to the edge of something very interesting or a big discovery and then cut that o and skip over to your new person and make them wait. So hopefully, you keep those pages ipping!

Although I’m primarily writing for the YA age category, what is great about the genre now is that it is of interest to a much wider audience. We all still identify with that period in life, because it is when your world view is being shaped, when you are guring out who you are as a person and I don’t think those feelings ever go away entirely. There’s a 17-year-old in all of us, so we respond to those stories throughout life. My rst book, One of Us Is Lying is being developed for TV, but there’s not a whole lot that I can share right now. I am working with a wonderful production team and it’s really interesting to see that process of translating the written word to a visual medium. We’re hoping it will be a series of 10 or 12 episodes, so we can go into the story at greater depth than in the book. Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen McManus is published by Penguin Random House