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A review by libraryofdreaming
The Secret Place by Tana French
2.0
Tana French books can be rather hit or miss, I've found. The Secret Place was mostly a miss. Taking place in a girl's school, the characters are not nearly so compelling as usual. Unlike in The Likeness, the friendship between the four main teenagers was not at all appealing to me. I'm so over teenage drama, apparently.
I figured out the murderer quite early and enjoyed reading the flashbacks in order to confirm my suspicious. However, there was a bizarre element of fantasy/magic that felt distinctly out of place with French's gritty, modern, and realistic genre. She has flirted with fantasy in her previous books, but for the first time she openly made the connection. I really didn't like it, especially since it jolts the reader out of her carefully constructed world. I did like the two detective characters including the narrator. The writing, as ever, had moments of beauty. All together though, it just wasn't that good.
I figured out the murderer quite early and enjoyed reading the flashbacks in order to confirm my suspicious. However, there was a bizarre element of fantasy/magic that felt distinctly out of place with French's gritty, modern, and realistic genre. She has flirted with fantasy in her previous books, but for the first time she openly made the connection. I really didn't like it, especially since it jolts the reader out of her carefully constructed world. I did like the two detective characters including the narrator. The writing, as ever, had moments of beauty. All together though, it just wasn't that good.