Lies, innuendo and mean girls liven up this mystery
Tana French explores the complex world of female friendships
Teenage girls. Those of us who have been one, know how scary they can be. Those who haven’t been one, likely also know how terrifying they can be. Teenage girls with secrets are even more intense, more intimidating. Readers of Tana French know how scary her stories are. Put Tana French, teenage girls, secrets and murder together in a book and oh, yeah, it’s scary all right.
The Secret Place is a public notice board for secrets in a posh girls’ boarding school in Ireland. Girls are encouraged to anonymously post their secrets on the board, which allows them to vent their feelings, but which also allows the teachers to see the secrets and take care of any that cause concern.
Tana French is the author of In The Woods, The Likeness, Faithful Place, Broken Harbor and now, The Secret Place. Her novels have won many awards, including the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, the Anthony Award for best first novel and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Broken Harbor.
She’s well known for creating detectives that readers come to know and love, only to abandon them for her next book, and replace them with a bit player from the book before.
This time, we return to Stephen Moran, who we last met in Faithful Place, which focused mainly on detective Frank Mackey. Mackey was in The Likeness as well as Faithful Place, and he returns this time as the father of one of the private school girls. Holly Mackey, who readers might remember from Faithful Place, when she was a much younger girl, and a witness, is back as one of the teenage girls.
There is a murder at the private school, gone unsolved for nearly a year. Holly Mackey finds a card posted on the secret place with a photo of the murdered boy and the words, I know who killed him. Holly remembers Stephen Moran as a friendly policeman, so when she finds the card, she goes to him for help. Moran, a lone wolf policeman working cold cases, is dying to get onto the murder squad. He questions Holly and then takes the card to the detective who had the case originally, the abrasive Antoinette Conway.
And that’s where the fun begins. The pair heads off to St. Kilda’s, the posh boarding school, where they begin questioning the previously mentioned scary teenage girls. The rest of the present-day action takes place all in a single, crazy day of lies, innuendo and mean girls.
This is my favourite Tana French mystery yet. She captures the intensity of teenage female friendships so well — the betrayals, the loyalty, the secrets, the lies. Teenage boys play a role here too, but they are completely a supporting character, there only to showcase the behaviour of the girls.
French’s literary skills explore the theme of friendship here, as she also did in In The Woods. Friendship is definitely the founding principle of the story of the young girls, but it’s also crucial to understanding the two detectives who are both sort of outcasts, but who find the beginnings of friendship, or at least grudging respect, with each other.
Even at more than 450 pages, this book left me wanting more. I saved the last 50 pages, reading them slowly just so I wouldn’t be finished. Tana French is so good at that — she creates these intricate relationships between complex characters involved in tricky stories — readers are always left wanting more.