Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep a Secret

By Amy Doak
Reviewed by Lucille Rose

Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep a Secret is the sequel to Amy Doak’s Eleanor Jones is Not a Murderer. This is the story of sixteen-year-old amateur detective, Eleanor Jones, as she continues to uncover the mysteries slithering around in the country town of Cooinda. It begins with a startling encounter with a dementia-riddled senior citizen, who begs Eleanor to keep the secret about a murder involving two of Cooinda’s long-lost citizens. This lead is too good for Eleanor to forget, the mystery too intriguing for her to let go, despite the protests of her friends, the town’s police Sargent, and her eccentric mother. Eleanor vows to solve the mystery of Laura Laprete and Victor Sharp, all the while suppressing her feelings for a close friend and trying not to be too intimidated by his recently reappeared ex-girlfriend. But as Eleanor gets closer to the truth, she begins to realise that this mystery may involve a little more than murder…

Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep a Secret is an enjoyable YA novel. While it is a worthwhile book, there are parts of the novel that could have been changed to make it a more satisfying read. Sadly, this book fell victim to the ‘I want to relate to teenage audiences so I’m going to talk about pop culture’ trap. The instances of ‘teenage slang’ and ‘mainstream’ terminology made the read awkward, and at times, frustrating. I’ve noticed that many authors use whatever they hear on tick tock as a basis for their understanding of adolescent audiences. This, as a teen reader, is frustrating and the novel would have been more enjoyable with more relatable and realistic teen characters.This being said, the inner monologue of the main character (being a teenage girl myself) is accurate and relatable, and made seeing the world through her eyes comforting. The absence of overall description, especially physical, made distinguishing who the characters were, what they looked like, or how they related to the story difficult.

The best stories, I have found, are the ones with clear villains. It’s become too much of a trend to forgive the negative actions of an antagonist, on account of them having a tragic backstory. Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep a Secret is not one of these books. All readers love to hate certain characters, to be given someone to root for and root against. Amy Doak  successfully villainised two characters and did not ask the reader to forgive their bad behavior with a ‘but they had a sad childhood’ excuse. It allowed me to sympathise with the main character, as I think many female readers will do.

This last criticism is not just a reflection of this book, but many like it. For years authors have got away with writing simplistic, insubstantial female protagonists, believing that making her smart, or well-read, or stubborn, equates to an actual personality with depth beyond ‘not being like other girls’. Most of Eleanor Jones’s persona revolves around reading niche, old-timey books, and readers are expected to see her as ‘different’ because she doesn’t go on her phone and likes the library. I find her hard to connect to at times, because she can be unkind. She complains that her friends, who go to gunpoint for her, text too much, and that they’re rude cows for expressing opinions about her welfare.

The most enjoyable part of this book was the romance between Troy and Eleanor (though I often think the romance subplot is the best part of any book). Troy is a swoon-worthy love interest, and their little moments together gave me butterflies. Their romance made the ending very satisfying. So while I have reservations about this title, I can see potential in the series. I’ll be looking out for the next one Eleanor on Fire.

I rate this book 3\5 and suggest it for readers aged 13 to 14.

Penguin 2024

Amy Doak