The Secret Place

By Tana French

Completed on November 24, 2017

After the tough, almost business-like “Broken Harbor,” this book had a trance-like feel to it. The premise could sound like your run-of-the-mill high school crime/drama, but “The Secret Place” is more about friendship than anything else.

Stephen Moran is a likeable, if not very dynamic, narrator. Conway comes across as a little stiff, but the pair complement each other well. What works is that French avoids any cliched sexual tension between the pair, although the same worked well for her in her first book. Of course, given that Holly is in the picture, it was only a matter of time till Frank Mackey made an appearance, and Mackey has always been my favorite Undercover detective.

Without giving anything away, I would applaud French on the courageous choice of going for some unbelievable elements to add that extra touch of dreaminess to the book. There is a sharp contrast between the alternating Moran’s narration and the flashbacks. The choice of a present tense narrative for the latter, while not something I usually love, adds to the contrast.

I usually pride myself on being able to spot the murderer almost three-quarters into a crime story. With “Faithful Place” and “Broken Harbor,” I could guess the murderer and flesh out a near-perfect motive. This book caught me like a deer in headlamps, though! Perhaps in the words of Stephen Moran, “If I’ve learned one thing today, it’s that teenage girls make Moriarty look like a babe in the woods.”