Second books are hard in general, though. So it took me longer to finish than I would have liked. I did find myself struggling to clear all of that out of my head and just focus on the book. You’re realizing people are going to be reading this book and it was a little bit intimidating. I had all these new voices in my head, not only my agent and my editor’s voices, which are helpful, but also you have reader reactions in mind. I had a draft but I wasn’t happy with it and I was revising it.

On the other hand, I wasn’t very far into the book at the time. So I struggled with just finding some time, on the one hand. Then, after the book launched and it took off, suddenly those hours were eaten up with travel and promotion and other things that were wonderful, but they weren’t writing time. I wrote from nine o’clock at night until midnight when I wrote One of Us Is Lying, after my son went to bed. I was still working fulltime back then and I had always written at night. Did all of that attention affect your approach to your new book? Two Can Keep A Secret is available in bookstores now.Ī good book can do just about anything from taking you on a wild and fantastical adventure to making you feel like an all-knowing super sleuth (if you figure out the killer twist).Įvery week at #Bookmarked, we will be taking you through some of our all-time favourite books - as well as the newest novels hitting shelves in Ireland.Your debut novel, One of Us Is Lying, was such a great success. 'But if I found the right story for, then maybe - I wouldn't say never.' Once I conclude a character's arc, I want to get out of their heads. I don't think I'd revist Malcom or Ellery. 'But a lot of people have said that they love the character of Ezra, and that they want to see more of him. McManus added that the story of Echo Ridge 'feels done', although she wouldn't entirely rule out revisiting one of the characters down the line. 'Ellery is one of the characters who believes that secrets should be out, and there should be answers - but she suddenly gets confronted with the truth, which would destroy people she loves. 'A big theme of the book is secrets, and the power of secrets.

And soon after the siblings' arrival, another girl goes missing.Įllery becomes determined to find out the truth about what happened - although she ends up unraveling more of the town's past, and the secrets the residents have been hiding, than she expected. The opening pages of Two Can Keep A Secret introduce brother and sister Ezra and Ellery, and their heartbreaking family secret: their aunt, Sarah, went missing at the age of 17.įive years later, the homecoming queen was brutally murdered.

One of us can keep a secret