"The thing is, secrets are dangerous—and most people aren't good at keeping them." That line hit me right as I was merging onto the freeway after a particularly brutal shift. Look, I work in a trauma center. I know secrets. I know the "I slipped in the shower" stories that are clearly something else. So Echo Ridge? This "picture-perfect" town where homecoming queens keep dropping dead? It felt way too real.
The 3 AM Drowsiness Factor
Here's the deal with the audio. It's split between Sophie Amoss (Ellery) and Kirby Heyborne (Malcolm). Sophie? She's fantastic. She nails that specific frequency of "anxious teenage girl who reads too many true crime books." (Which, frankly, is a survival skill). She kept me awake.
But we need to talk about Kirby.
I had a similar “is this voice calming me or clinically sedating me?” reaction to Kirby Heyborne in Have a New Teenager by Friday, though there it almost fits the parenting-advice vibe.I looked up some reviews after I finished, and apparently people are torn on him. Honestly? I get it. His voice is... smooth. Very smooth. Like, "lull you to sleep while you're trying to stay alive on the highway" smooth. For a character dealing with murder accusations, he sounded pretty chill. Too chill? Maybe. If you're listening during a workout, you might zone out. For my post-shift decompression, it was borderline dangerous—I had to crank the AC to stay alert during his chapters. Just a heads up if you need high energy.
Why Small Towns Are Terrifying
McManus knows how to write a mess. And I mean that as a compliment.
Totally different species, but Darkstalker gave me that same family-secrets-turn-toxic feeling, just with dragons instead of homecoming corsages.The plot is basically One of Us Is Lying's darker cousin. You've got the twins, the creepy grandmother, the dead aunts. It's a lot. But it moves. Usually, I can spot the "medical mystery" or the killer from a mile away. (Occupational hazard—you get good at reading people). But this one actually threw me a curveball. There were moments I was shouting at my dashboard, "DON'T GO IN THE BASEMENT, ELLERY!" because apparently common sense is not a genetic trait in this family.
The pacing drags a little in the middle—classic "sagging middle" syndrome—but once the bodies (and the clues) started stacking up, I sat in my driveway for ten minutes just to hear the end. Carlos came out to check if the car broke down. I just waved him off. "Five more minutes, I need to know who killed the homecoming queen."
Who's This For (And Who Should Skip)
If you liked One of Us Is Lying and want something darker, this is your next listen. Skip it if mellow male narration puts you to sleep—or bump it to 1.25x speed when Kirby's talking. Trust me on that one.
Charting Out
Is it perfect? No. The male narration is a bit of a sedative, and some of the teenage decision-making made me want to triage their brains. But for a YA thriller? It's solid. It's got enough twists to keep a cynical nurse guessing, and that's saying something. My mom would probably say it's too dark, but she watches Dateline, so she can't talk.
