Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to get a foot in the door of Dublin’s murder squad. One random morning his chance arrives in the form of 16 year old Holly Mackey. She brings him a photo of Chris Harper who was found murdered one year ago on the grounds of her boarding school. Chris’ murder has remained unsolved. The photo was pinned to ‘The Secret Place’, a board where the girl’s of St Kilda’s can pin up their secrets. The photo was pinned anonymously, with the caption “I know who killed him”. Stephen joins Detective Antoinette Conway to find out who murdered handsome and popular Chris Harper and why.
The Secret Place takes place over a single day with flashbacks to the events counting down to Chris Harper’s death. The story is told from Moran’s and Holly’s point of view, and as all evidence leads back to Holly’s close-knit group of friends and their rival clique; a tangled web of relationships is revealed that bound each girl to Chris Harper.
Review
Every book in Tana French’s murder squad series has a different protagonist, one we’ve been introduced to in her previous books – Stephen Moran was previously seen in ‘Faithful Place’.
I’ve loved every book in Tana’s French’s Dublin murder squad series but this one fell a little flat for me – definitely my least favourite. I found the language from the girl’s really annoying and quite distracting; all the ‘likes, hello’s and omg’s” grated on me after awhile, though it does tone down in the last half of the book. There is also a small supernatural element that really bothered me and that’s when the book lost me. It was too much of a stretch and I felt the book was enough without it. The main theme was friendship in the screwed up girl’s teenage way of thinking; though all have secrets from one another – their loyalty is unwavering in thought, not actions.
Maybe because the character’s only cover a short period of time – but I didn’t feel as invested with Moran and Conway as I have for her other detectives. Though I did like to have the narration flick from detective’s point of view in the present to the girl’s in the past.
VERDICT
Two pegs
Read her other’s! Skip this one.
If you like it though read Dare Me by Megan Abbott – another novel about dark twisty secrets. Check out my review here
