Detective Stephen Moran is trapped in the dregs of Cold
Cases until the day he sees Holly Mackey walk through his
door with a photo of a murdered young man and an anonymous
note she found on the school's message board, entitled THE
SECRET PLACE. The murder case is still open with Antoinette
Conway serving as the lead detective. Stephen knows this may
be his only shot to make it onto Dublin's Murder Squad but
will he and Conway manage to navigate through the politics
of the wealthy girls' school? And will any of the girls
break their silence and reveal what they know about murdered
Chris Harper?
THE SECRET PLACE is the fifth book in The Dublin Murder
Squad series but can easily be read as a standalone.
Frank Mackey, from the third book, and his daughter, Holly,
play key roles in THE SECRET PLACE but it is not necessary
to know their prior history in order to fully appreciate
Tana French's latest novel. Ironically, the third book is
the only Tana French I haven't previously read- an oversight
I will soon be correcting!
Tana French has quickly catapulted to the top of my list for
mystery writers who are a must-read. THE SECRET PLACE is a
bit different than the prior books as the point of view and
time frame shift. A large portion of the story is told from
the flashbacks of the various girls at St. Kilda's as Tana
French delves into the murky, sometimes quite nasty gossip
of teenage girls. The current day events all occur in the
span of one day, an amazing feat considering the wealth of
character development and plot that Tana French conveys to
the reader. Sorting through what is fact and what is
fiction presents a challenge for Conway and Moran and the
flashbacks aid the reader in grasping the overall plot.
Character development is crucial to the success of THE
SECRET PLACE as Tana French fleshes out even minor secondary
characters quite thoroughly. It is easy to get caught up in
the storyline as Tana French transports the readers back to
both the magic and the heartache of being a teenage girl.
The conniving, the manipulation, and the oh-so-loyal bonds
of friendship are on clear display for the reader to see as
Tana French does a magnificent job at bringing the world to
vivid life.
THE SECRET PLACE is yet another hit from the talented Tana
French. If you love detective mysteries where the focus is
on the psychological, then do not miss a single one of
French's books. Tana French is absolutely stellar once again
as I cannot recommend THE SECRET PLACE highly enough!
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.
The Secret Place is a powerful, haunting exploration of
friendship and loyalty, and a gripping addition to the
Dublin Murder Squad series.
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