The Secret Place
2014 • 529 pages
Ratings33
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings33
Average rating3.8
The photo on the card shows a boy who was found murdered, a year ago, on the grounds of a girls' boarding school in the leafy suburbs of Dublin. The caption says I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM. Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to get a foot in the door of Dublin's Murder Squad -- and one morning, sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey brings him this photo. "The Secret Place," a board where the girls at St. Kilda's School can pin up their secrets anonymously, is normally a mishmash of gossip and covert cruelty, but today someone has used it to reignite the stalled investigation into the murder of handsome, popular Chris Harper. Stephen joins forces with the abrasive Detective Antoinette Conway to find out who and why. But everything they discover leads them back to Holly's close-knit group of friends and their fierce enemies, a rival clique -- and to the tangled web of relationships that bound all the girls to Chris Harper. Every step in their direction turns up the pressure. Antoinette Conway is already suspicious of Stephen's links to the Mackey family. St. Kilda's will go a long way to keep murder outside their walls. Holly's father, Detective Frank Mackey, is circling, ready to pounce if any of the new evidence points toward his daughter. And the private underworld of teenage girls can be more mysterious and more dangerous than either of the detectives imagined.
Series
6 primary booksDublin Murder Squad is a 6-book series with 6 primary works first released in 2007 with contributions by Tana French.
Reviews with the most likes.
I almost gave up on this book when I realized that there was magic. It seemed like cheating – I loved [b:Broken Harbor 13123877 Broken Harbor (Dublin Murder Squad, #4) Tana French https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330675374s/13123877.jpg 15718578] for its grittiness and realness and I was worried that would be lost in The Secret Place. But it turned out that for me, the key to really getting Tana French books was embracing the magical realism here. The mental gymnastics I had to do to reach a place where magical realism was okay for me in her books led me to realize that there's a flavor of magical realism in all her books. Not literally, of course, but her books are to traditional murder mysteries the way that magical realism is to traditional fantasy: they aren't about murder, they use crimes as a lens to reflect upon the traits in real life that are difficult to explore in pure “literary” fiction.And in that context, French is a genius. The Secret Place uses its central mystery to explore the tight friendships of teenage years, and how empowering and close they can be. The four main characters are depicted perfectly, achingly nuanced – almost like someone that I've known and drifted away from myself. The overall effect was one of extreme, almost overwhelming nostalgia, so much so that the
Originally posted on bluchickenninja.com.
I've always just assumed that I don't like crime novels, apart from the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith I haven't found any crime books I've liked. But I think the problem is I've been reading bad crime books. Because I really enjoyed this. It was less CSI-ey and more people talking to people trying to work out what happened. It was more a book about problem solving and I really liked that.
The only thing I noticed (and this may just be me and not a problem with the editing) was towards the beginning of the book someone mentions the fact that the girls in this school are not allowed to have phones with them. However the girls having phones is a large part of this mystery. In fact the girls having phones is an extremely important part of this novel. I can't tell if I misread something or if this was a plot bunny that the editors missed.
The only other tiny thing that annoyed me was with all the references to Facebook and WTF amazeballs not to mention Voldemort this felt like a very modern book, so the fact that these girls were using flip phones felt very out of place. I realise I'm getting picky here but it's been at least 10 years since I saw someone use a flip phone. However apart from those little problems I really enjoyed this book. In fact I enjoyed it so much I think I'm going to read Tana French's other books.
A bit too much Valley Girl with an Irish accent for my taste.
The Secret Place- It's been a while since I spent time with The Dublin Murder Squad. I returned with this title mainly b/c it was St. Patrick's Day and I wanted to hear an audiobook with authentic Irish accents. I was not disappointed as the story telling used two diffent voices and thus a male and female narrator. The male was first person and amazing! The vocalization opened the character up so much. A great plot about friendship, loyality and trust. The plot moved slowly in places as there was much space and time to develop how the characters interacted and the lush setting. A most satisfying ending - even if one not insignificant aspect of the story wasn't resolved.
