69 pages • 2 hours read
Karen M. McManusTwo Can Keep a Secret
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 6-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary: “Ellery—Monday, September 9”
On the first day of school, Ezra and Ellery bemoan the lack of diversity: Everyone looks like they belong in Children of the Corn, and Ezra worries that there aren’t any other out gay kids in school. When Ezra sees Mia, who has shaved hair and Doc Martens, he is determined to become her friend. Before he can do that, though, the twins are approached by Katrin, Brooke, and Viv, who invite them to sit at their table at lunch.
At lunch, Ellery is questioned by the girls, who haven’t met a new student in years. The girls are clearly popular—Brooke and Katrin are both cheerleaders, and their boyfriends both play football. Ellery notices that Viv seems to be lower status and pointedly doesn’t open up about not having a boyfriend. Viv perks up when they talk about Mr. Bowman’s death—she works for the school newspaper and is excited about the story. Brooke and Katrin want to talk about homecoming, as they’ll both be nominated, but Viv and Ellery have an animated discussion about the possibility of a killer being in town; Ellery realizes too late that her true-crime obsession has revealed that she isn’t suited to being one of the popular girls.
Malcolm shows up briefly, and Ellery notices that he goes to sit with Mia and Ezra. The girls at the table talk about Declan; they clearly think Declan killed Lacey Kilduff, and when Ellery protests that they also think the person leaving the graffiti around town is the killer, which means the killer can’t be Declan, Viv reveals that Declan Kelly is back in town.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Malcolm—Monday, September 9”
Malcolm meets Declan at Bukowski’s, the town’s only bar. Malcolm wants to know why Declan is back in town; when he asks if it’s because of Daisy, Declan becomes defensive, and he grows angry when Malcolm says it’s bad timing with everything going on in town. Declan thinks Mal might not believe that he has nothing to do with it, and he is both bitter and angry about his status as the town pariah. Declan would rather not show his ID than get another drink, and after a man recognizes him, Declan storms out, leaving Malcolm to think about how his brother’s life is a lot worse than he thought.
Walking home from the bar, Malcolm recognizes Ellery, who is bringing home her misplaced suitcase (which was delivered to a neighbor). Malcolm thanks her for not assuming he was the vandal, and they talk about Ellery’s mother, whom Malcolm met five years ago when she visited for Lacey’s funeral. While Ellery is explaining why she calls her mother by her first name, Katrin and Brooke pull up, interrupting them. Katrin offers Malcolm a ride home, and on the way, she asks why Declan is back in town. Malcolm realizes that he doesn’t know—Declan avoided all his questions.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Ellery—Monday, September 9”
Ellery gets home and goes through her recovered clothes, stopping to put on a necklace that her mother got her. The pendant on the necklace looks like a flower but is actually in the shape of a dagger; Sadie bought it for “her favorite murder addict” (75). Nana comes in and invites Ellery to come along to return the clothes they bought that Ellery no longer needs. On the drive, Ellery realizes she enjoys Nana’s routine life and may even like Echo Ridge, although she can understand why Sadie felt the need to leave. Nana asks Ellery about her college plans, and when Ellery reveals that she didn’t think she could afford to go, Nana says she intends to help her and her brother financially. Ellery has never felt close to her grandmother, but this generosity gives her the courage to ask about what Sarah was like. Nana is hesitant but reveals that Sarah was a brainy kid who liked Rob Reiner movies, and that even though she and Sadie were practically opposites, they loved to impersonate each other and were very close.
At the store, Ellery and Nana run into Melanie Kilduff and her daughters Julia and Caroline. Julia is trying on a dress for a dance recital, and seeing her, Ellery realized that she wants to do something to help “the missing girls, and the ones left behind” (82).
Chapter 9 Summary: “Malcolm—Thursday, September 19”
At school, Malcolm is being hassled by Kyle and Theo. Ellery intervenes, and Malcolm is grateful and a little embarrassed. The two of them go to the auditorium, where homecoming candidate announcements are about to be made. The two talk about why Kyle has such a problem with Malcolm, and Malcolm reveals that his brother dated Kyle’s older sister, Liz, right before dating Lacey; Liz took the breakup so badly that she ended up dropping out of school for a time. They talk for a bit more, and Malcolm realizes that they’re both caught up in the mysteries that have been dominating the town gossip.
Mia and Ezra arrive, and they talk about working at Fright Farm and speculate about who the homecoming nominees will be. Mia mentions that Sadie was homecoming queen, which she knows because Daisy keeps up with the town’s homecoming history. Coach Gagnon starts the assembly and reveals the homecoming court: Theo, Kyle, and Troy are the male nominees; for the women, it’s Katrin, Brooke, and, surprisingly, Ellery. Ellery is confused, as she has only lived in Echo Ridge for two weeks, and she suspects someone has tampered with the results. The next morning, Ellery’s locker has been vandalized with the words “REMEMBER MURDERLAND, PRINCESS? I DO” (92).
Chapters 6-9 Analysis
In these chapters, high school life in a small town comes into focus. Ellery is navigating her debut at Echo Ridge High, trying to feel out where she fits in while realizing that she is living in the shadow of her mother’s reputation and her aunt’s disappearance. Malcolm, meanwhile, is grappling with his strained relationship with Declan; many at school and in town can’t help but see him as an extension of his brother’s suspected crime.
The scenes in the cafeteria make use of tropes and stock characters that are frequently found in high school narratives, and the homecoming subplot is classic teenage drama. Katrin, Brooke, and Viv are the popular girls with their own internal social hierarchy; Theo and Kyle are the jocks with the powerful family connections; Mia, Ezra, and Malcolm are the social outcasts. Although all the bullying that takes place in the novel is tied to the belief that Malcolm may have done something criminal, there is an undertone that suggests that being queer or nonwhite in Echo Ridge is a markedly different, more negative experience than Ellery and Ezra are used to. Through all of this, the reader is presented with more information that reveals the tangled, generational history among the townspeople, and Declan’s reemergence in town drives the point home: These characters will have to reckon with their family histories, one way or another.
For Ellery, that reckoning means trying to understand her mother’s place as someone who left Echo Ridge but still carries around the baggage of her sister’s disappearance. The subtext to Ellery’s obsession with Lacey’s murder and Brooke’s eventual disappearance rises to the surface whenever she thinks of or talks to Sadie: She’s really trying to save her mother from the pain she’s witnessed her whole life. For Malcolm, it’s about coming to terms with his strained relationship with his brother, whom he initially sees as a mystery and a burden. In some sense, Malcolm believes the stories about Declan—as is made clear by his suspicion when Declan dodges his questions—but he is also beginning to see the burden his brother has been carrying all these years, and this empathy will motivate him as the mystery deepens.
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