Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Secret Place by Tana French

5 reviews

doublemegative's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this novel made me gasp audibly multiple times. i can’t decide who my favorite character is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Blood, and Bullying

Minor: Sexual assault

hdunscombe's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Child death, Gaslighting, Bullying, Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Body shaming

Minor: Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, and Alcohol

drbrizzlybear's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, and Murder

nixicat1's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Death

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Violence

sheryl_macca's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This was my first Tana French and I was immediately struck by the rich detail in her writing. She has a beautiful poetic turn of phrase with the perfect amount of crassness scattered around too.

The Secret Place is a murder mystery. A teenage boy is found dead in the grounds of a girl's boarding school and after a year without any leads a clue lands on Moran's desk. The two detectives are strangers to each other and as their working relationship develops so does the case.

There are two timelines in the book. The main timeline follows the detectives and 8 suspects today. When I say today, I really mean it. All 480 pages of this book only cover one single day. This slow pace allows for tense scrutiny, detailed description and strong character development on a truly luxurious level.

The second timeline is told in flashback from a few weeks prior to the boys death until the night of his murder. These chapters are little gifts left for the reader throughout. They are moments of mundane teenage drama, so realistic that you feel part of the in crowd. 

I was kept guessing until the final pages and ultimately the reveal was pretty anti climatic but not in a bad way. It worked. Who did it wasn't the point. What happened on the way to finding out was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Fatphobia, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, and Sexual content