Reviews

The Secret Place by Tana French

groenling's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

beingfacetious's review against another edition

5.0

This might be The Book for me, the once-in-a-lifetime, everything-designed-just-for-you book. I loved the structure (HTGAWM-style literally flashing back to get you to murder night), I loved the adult detectives, I loved the doomed high school best friends - both groups. As a standalone, a pretty perfect novel. As the fifth in her series, I can't believe Tana French finally gave me what I'd wanted for two previous books WHILE ALSO hitting me right where my heart hurts the most so I couldn't even be happy. I hate that. I love that. I read the majority of this book on 1/1/17 and it was the best way to start the reading year.

simcha13's review against another edition

4.0

This one was a little slower start than some of her others, but once I got into it I couldn't put it down. A fast-paced ending that still has me reeling a little. Definitely up there with one of my favorite Tana French books!

brg1998's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

pretentiousbreadcrumbs's review against another edition

3.0

Not my favourite from the Dublin Murder Squad series, the characters and setting didn't jive with me the same way the earlier books did. Still a very immersing read though.

kat_ellison's review against another edition

4.0

This remains in my top five crime fic books. The adolescent girl thing is done so well ... every teenage girl does indeed lose the plot at 16 while thinking they are the most sane person in the world. I liked the story and the characters (partially) but absolutely read it more for the suspects (the teenagers) than the detectives.

Also I feel like crime fic authors cop it for not being 'literary' enough but Tana French is a fantastic writer, I'd read her writing any day of the week!

laurenmckane's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

2.75

gigua's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

megwoman25's review against another edition

5.0

I had this magnificent review written about the lives of teenage girls etc etc and then I pushed submit and the laptop froze n I lost my review. Seriously? It was my best review. :(

So here’s my now lame review.

Love Tana French, loved this book. I enjoyed the back story, the present story of the detectives working the case. The boarding school reminded me of MY high school experience as I went to an all girl school minus boarding. (In my magnificent review, I went into detail about this n made parallels between the characters n what the atmosphere was)

I had NO idea who did it and it was such a senseless crime. It didn’t have to happen. I grew to like Chris a lot and thought the irony was incredible.


I loved what “the secret place” actually was although I think it had tons of other meanings. There were a lot of “secret places” in this book.

The supernatural part was weird but teenagers feel things differently and I could believe that they believed if that makes sense. (I went into more detail here n gave examples)

Blah Blah Blah

Then I recommended reading her books in order because you meet each detective beforehand in the books n so I knew all about Mackey and what to expect. You can read them out of order but there’s just magic to reading them as intended.

I wish I hadn’t lost my original review. The pain. #firstworldproblems

milen's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5