The Cousins, Karen M McManus | Book Review

I love Karen M McManus’ writing, she has some fantastic thriller/mystery books so I was expecting high things from her latest release, The Cousins. Here is my book review of her 2020 novel.

The Cousins, Karen M McManus

Themes: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

Reading Format: Paperback

4 STARS // 7.7 CAWPILE

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AD • Review Copy, I received a free copy of this book from Penguin in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

This book follows Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah Story who are cousins in a family torn in many different directions. They each receive a strange invitation to work for the summer at their grandmother’s island resort… a grandmother they haven’t met after she banished the rest of the family from the island. Immediately I was intrigued as to what unspoken thing that tore this family apart was.

McManus’ previous YA works have been set in schools so I enjoyed reading about the island resort location. It felt like we stepped away from the cliques of McManus’ past books and were put into a work situation instead. Milly, Aubrey and Jonah are all quite different and we really get to know them as each chapter changes the narrator between the three of them. This also means we’re being told the story from three perspectives and therefore seeing how different events are playing out.

For me, a thriller doesn’t truly achieve greatness unless it gives me the goosebumps feeling that this book gave me twice! So it won on that front. There are discoveries and key moments that will have you hooked when reading this. The pacing is certainly slower than McManus’ other books, but it feels there is more of a build-up. The growing suspense works with the isolation the characters are feeling and the strange scenario they have found themselves in. You can definitely see the growth in the author’s writing in this book as it feels like we get more depth in our characters and more hidden plotlines to explore.

This book will shock you and then shock you a bit more and most importantly, it will keep you entertained! I would highly recommend it if you’re a fan of young adult thriller/mystery books.

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