Review: Keep This to Yourself by Tom Ryan

Title: Keep This to Yourself

Author: Tom Ryan

Publisher: AW Teen

Publishing Date: May 21, 2019

Pages: 320
Audio Length: 8 Hours and 40 Minutes

Genre: YA Mystery Thriller
TW: Murder

Series:  Standalone

Source: Audio

 

It's been a year since the Catalog Killer terrorized the sleepy seaside town of Camera Cove, killing four people before disappearing without a trace. Like everyone else in town, eighteen-year-old Mac Bell is trying to put that horrible summer behind him—easier said than done since Mac's best friend Connor was the murderer's final victim. But when he finds a cryptic message from Connor, he's drawn back into the search for the killer—who might not have been a random drifter after all. Now nobody—friends, neighbors, or even the sexy stranger with his own connection to the case—is beyond suspicion. Sensing that someone is following his every move, Mac struggles to come to terms with his true feelings towards Connor while scrambling to uncover the truth.

This was my first read of April and let me tell you that it started everything off with a bang. I was really excited to read this and I feel like it set the mood for the rest of the month.

The cover feels very ominous to me, I feel like it's creepy and matches the book well. 



I think it's a really interesting story, even if not very unique. I almost always love serial killer books, because it keeps me on my toes and the edge of the seat, gives me a creepy crawly feeling, makes me hold me breath, clench my jaw while reading. 
As I said this one isn't very unique, the MC's best friend is killed by a serial killer and a year later he's trying to figure out who and why. 
But there was something that was unique about this story all the same, I just can't exactly put my finger on what it is. 



The pace was done pretty well in this one. It had a lot of build up, but not the slow kind of grueling kind of build up. It had the right amount of build up that had me just wanting to read more and more and not at all put it down. 
Then once it got going it really got going. It was a constant that made me want even more than I already wanted. 



Keep This to Yourself is really well written. As I said above it had a great build up. I felt myself really getting into this book. I could see myself there with the characters. Which I will talk more about in the world building. Oops.

Either way. Tom did a great job with the thrill part of this book, and not only the thrill, but the twist! Oh that twist! I thought I saw it coming and then I doubted myself and then it was so much more than I ever thought it would be. So I feel like he did a great job in leading up to it, and making you think it was one thing and then BAM it was something else. 

I did feel like the romance part of this was forced and a bit rushed. I didn't find it to be a cute romance, kind of an awkward one. And not because it's a M/M one, I feel like the characters didn't connect together. 



I liked the characters I think, for the most part. I've read a lot of books between this one and when I'm writing this. But I can't think of anything huge I didn't like.

Mac's obsession was a bit much. I feel like if it was dialed down just a bit that it would have still been a great book with the same result. I feel like it was just a bit... over the top. And weird.

And I did NOT like Connor. Man he got on my nerves. And the more I read about him I just hated him. I didn't see why Mac liked him so much. 



So I rated this one a three for a couple reasons. I did feel like the author did a good job in the description of the characters and I could picture myself there with them, as I said above.
But at the same time, I wish there was a bit more description of the area they were in. While I could picture myself talking among the characters I couldn't picture the area they were in, or their surroundings and I feel that would've bumped the book to a 5 star, because I feel like that really makes or breaks a thriller. 



As I said the twist was amazing. Well written and crazy and just whoooa. So the ending was a good one, it was satisfactory and I was okay with the book ending. 






Overall everything I hoped it would be and more. This was one of my most anticipated of 2019 and it did not disappoint. 

Tom Ryan is the author of several books for young readers. He has been nominated for several awards, and two of his young adult novels, Way to Go and Tag Along, were chosen for the ALA Rainbow List, in 2013 and 2014. He was a 2017 Lambda Literary Fellow in Young Adult Fiction. Tom, his husband, and their dog currently divide their time between Toronto and Nova Scotia.