Keep This to Yourself by Tom Ryan

Keep This to Yourself by Tom Ryan

My Rating: ★★½

A year after a serial killer breezed through Camera Cove, Mac and his small group of friends are trying to recover from the murder of one their friends and move on with their lives. Unfortunately for Mac, he discovers a note indicating that his late best friend, Connor, stumbled upon something major about the murders. He can’t move on with his life until he gets to the bottom of this note. What did Connor know, and would he have survived if Mac discovered the note sooner?

Told in the first person, we follow Mac Bell at the end of his senior year. Mac is a self-conscious, quiet, kid who has lived in a small town his whole life. After his best friend was murdered, is small group of friends barely talk anymore and he coasts along the social sidelines. I understand why he’s having difficulty figuring out his life when the story picks up. Entering adulthood can be overwhelming as it is, but he’s still reeling from the murder of his best friend and he’s having trouble starting the next phase of his life because his closest friend will never have that opportunity.

I think this would’ve made a better story if the characters were better developed. Majority of the characters are stereotypical, and we don’t get to see anything past the surface on those characters. Mac is very one dimensional and never seems to grow as a character in any direction in addition to being pretty dense for someone who finds clues the police missed. Quill and Connor are the most developed characters and I found myself wishing that we were following Quill. He splashed some life into the story the moment he appeared and is definitely the brain of this investigating duo.

I think the mystery itself was great and it took some interesting turns. I thought it was great some of the characters turned out to be much different than we were initially led to think. It’s always interesting when characters have a persona that is very different from who they really are, so it was interesting to see that one of the characters fell under this umbrella. While I think Mac should’ve been better developed, especially as our narrator, I did enjoy the book and couldn’t tear myself away from it.

The book was a fun read, but the conclusion left my jaw hanging. The detective on the case made a decision that is so off the wall unrealistic that I’m honestly dumbfounded. I would give this book a solid three stars if it wasn’t for that decision, so I’m giving this book a 2.5 because there is no way that decision would’ve ever been made. Otherwise, this was a fun read and I enjoyed some of the twists and turns it takes.