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    The Secret Place: A Novel
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    The Secret Place: A Novel
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    The Secret Place: A Novel
    Audiobook20 hours

    The Secret Place: A Novel

    Written by Tana French

    Narrated by Stephen Hogan and Lara Hutchinson

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "An absolutely mesmerizing read. . . . Tana French is simply this: a truly great writer." -Gillian Flynn

    Read the New York Times bestseller by Tana French, "the most interesting, most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years" (The Washington Post)--and don't miss her newest, The Trespasser, now available

    In this "dizzyingly addictive"* novel, Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to join Dublin's Murder Squad when sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey arrives in his office with a photo of a popular boy whose body was found at a girls' boarding school a year earlier. The photo had been posted at "The Secret Place," the school's anonymous gossip board, and the caption says "I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM." Stephen joins with Detective Antoinette Conway to reopen the case-beneath the watchful eye of Holly's father, fellow detective Frank Mackey. With the clues leading back to Holly's close-knit group of friends, to their rival clique, and to the tangle of relationships that bound them all to the murdered boy, the private underworld of teenage girls turns out to be more mysterious and more dangerous than the detectives imagined.

    Shortlisted for the Anthony Award for Best Novel
    Shortlisted for Strand Magazine Award for Best Novel


    From the Trade Paperback edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 2, 2014
    ISBN9781101631034
    Unavailable
    The Secret Place: A Novel
    Author

    Tana French

    Tana French grew up in Ireland, Italy, the United States, and Malawi. She is the author of In the Woods (winner of the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and Barry awards), The Likeness, Faithful Place, Broken Harbor (winner of the LA Times prize for Best Mystery/Thriller) and The Secret Place. She lives in Dublin with her husband and two children.

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    Reviews for The Secret Place

    4/5

    853 ratings99 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Irish murder mystery set in private girl's boarding school. Wring style was jumpy and sentence structure awkward.
    • 4/5
      This is a solid mystery set a girl's boarding school. Who killed the handsome boy from the neighboring school on the property of the girl's school. A rookie investigator teams with a women homicide investigator to find the truth.
    • 4/5
      When the body of a young man from a private boy's school is found dead on the grounds of a nearby private girl's school, investigators find only dead ends and unanswered questions, and ultimately the murder goes to Cold Case status.

      Then, months later, a postcard turns up, carrying the message "I Know Who Killed Him" and the cold case is hot again.

      Tana French returns with another tightly-plotted mystery, bringing back some earlier characters from the series and introducing plenty of new ones to keep the kettle boiling. As usual, there are multiple twists and turns along the way before the answers begin to emerge.

      The only quibble I have with the novel is French's unexpected and largely unnecessary jaunt through the occult, with teen girls playing at poltergeist-type pranks and the usage of the dead boy's ghost for a crucial plot point.
    • 4/5
      As much of a character study as a mystery, French can really get inside the heads of both detectives and schoolgirls. The silent interpersonal skirmishes between detectives Stephen Moran and Antoinette Conroy are as eloquent as the over-the-top rivalry among attention-seeking teen suspects. Although the investigation takes place at a girls boarding school in a single day, with some flashbacks, it's a doorstop of a book and could have done with some trimming. French has proved herself to be an excellent writer but parts of this book didn't win my heart: I didn't see the point in the supernatural elements and the "teenspeak" was just too prolific. Still, even with those criticisms this was another great novel from Tana French.
    • 3/5
      Given that French tries something new/different with each of her books, it was not surprising that she makes use of a different narrative strategy with this one. This time, the story alternates between two different chronological timelines: events leading up to the murder and the ramp up of a year old investigation when new evidence suddenly crops up. The big question is: does this narrative strategy work? Answer: kind of does. The reader is slowly exposed to pre-murder events and the post-murder questioning, allowing French latitude to make the reader privy to more information than any single character has access to. French has brought back Frank Mackey (Frank now holds the record as the character to crop up the most frequently of all of the characters in the Dublin Murder Squad series), but the investigation team is a interesting mix: Cold Case detective Stephen Moran and Murder Squad detective Antoinette Conway. Both want desperately to prove themselves - Moran wants out of Cold Case and into Murder and Conway is still new to the Murder squad and has yet to prove herself - so this case means A LOT to both of them. French is really good at interpersonal dynamics so not surprisingly, there is a fair bit of focus on the Moran/Conway team as they learn, over the course of one day, how to work together effectively. The case is a good one but this story really dragged for me. I am just not that interested in teenage group dynamics, especially when your line of suspects is a group of girls with posh, private school attitudes (some with more attitude than others, but still, not something easy for the detectives to investigate). Added wild card is Frank Mackey's daughter Holly, the one who brought the new evidence to Moran's attention but I just wasn't that interested in the whole teenage social cliques, boy/girl and peer group dynamics. Overall, the weakest book in the Dublin Murder Squad series so far, for me, but I would definitely read another book with the Moran/Conway detective team. I like their interpersonal dynamics.
    • 4/5
      My first Tana French, and I'll do at least one more! I love the Dublin slang and idioms, her pinpoint accuracy of the lives of privileged teenagers, flooded with money but with souls that cry out in vain for substance and sustenance. This story of a boarding school murder case gone cold for a year features Cold Case Detective Stephen Moran and Murder Squad Detective Antoinette Conway. She's about as abrasive and defensive as they come, partly justified by the blatant sexism she faces and partially just her own prickly personality. Moran's self-knowledge and internal brooding (it's his PoV) are really absorbing. The 450 pages are filled with writing that is dense, packed with detail, and not all is wrapped up neatly at the end. Quotes: "It was beautiful. I love beautiful; always have. I never saw why I should hate what I wish I had.""A smart-arse. That can work for us, work nicely. Smart-arses talk when they shouldn't, say anything as long as it'll come out good and snappy."
    • 3/5
      As much as I truly enjoyed Tana French's previous entry in this series (Broken Harbor) which made me want to like this one as much, it just wasn't possible.This story centered around a near Cold Case of the murder of a teenage boy at a girl's boarding school. The characters of the girls in attendance lack dimension and made it very difficult to plow through the story. The pace was too slow in spots which made me as the reader want to say "Get on with it" and the high school girls just were too over the top caricatures of what I suppose boarding school girls are believed to be. Sadly disappointed.
    • 3/5
      I Received this book in first reads give away and really enjoyed it.It was the first book i had read by this author and definitely wont be the last.The secret place was well written and kept my interest until the very end, a thoroughly enjoyable read and a big thumbs up from me.
    • 3/5
      Teeters on 4 stars...will be interesting to see just *how* annoying the teenaged voices are in 10 years (quite so now).
      I sometimes need to muscle through parts of her books, but always at least satisfied, if not pleased. Characters in this story are not deep - just Steven & Holly, really - but the story, takes place in 12 hours, with flashbacks, is very tight.
    • 5/5
      After a hesitant start (it goes back and forth between POVs- 1st and 3rd- and this doesn't always work for me), I fell in love with French's 5th book like I assumed I would. French's writing is always so lush and vibrant, painting pictures with her words in a way I've rarely seen another author be able to do. Her plots are also thick with intrigue and suspense and The Secret Place fortified that. She captured the world of teenage girls so perfectly it was scary. The cliques, the lies and half-truths, the manipulation; all were present and then some and it added to the twists and suspense. Of course, it wouldn't be a Murder Squad read without a detective MC and French did not let me down with Moran's character. I loved the way he and Detective Conway gelled (even if she refuses to admit it!). As a bonus, Frank Mackey makes a reappearance, and his character is as amazing as I remember. Now, I must impatiently wait for the next book to come out, which I recently discovered will be Conway's. I can't wait to get inside her head!
    • 3/5
      Much too long!
    • 4/5
      Another solid entry in the Dublin Murder Squad series. I liked that all the characters, including the teenage girls, were multi-dimensional people with their own distinct personalities, motivations, and growth. The alternation between present and past chapters worked well -- we learned something on one timeline just in time for it to come up or explain something on the other timeline.
    • 4/5
      These books are like crack. Well thought out characters and complex mysteries. I couldn't put it down. Some witchcrafts elements of this one baffled me (certainly did not fit in to her writing profile), but nonetheless I still found it addicting.
    • 5/5
      A tour de force, this one. French goes inside a Catholic girls' school in Ireland, and inside the heads of the teenaged women coming of age there, as one of students from the brother school across the way is found murdered in the grounds. Back and forth in time and perspective, from the revival of the cold investigation a year after the murder, to the events leading up to and immediately following the death; from the detectives trying to work out the crime to the young women trying to work out Life itself, it takes close attention from the reader, and must have been the divil to plot and present, but it's beautifully done. The exploration of friendship, loyalty, deviousness, and deception is brilliant. If you're not dead in your soul, it's likely to wreck you, especially if you were once a teenaged girl.Review written in March 2015
    • 4/5
      A friend who shares the same taste for mysteries as me told me about Tana French's books and said she was sure I would like them. Just a few days later I was going through the list of Book Club Kits that our library offers and I saw a kit for this book was available. I suggested to my book club that it would be a possibility for us in February and all the members agreed. Now that I have read it I wonder how the rest of the group are going to like it. The Dublin Murder Squad were not able to solve the murder of Christopher Harper who was found dead on the grounds of an exclusive girls' school, St. Kilda's, a year ago. Christopher went to the adjacent boys' school but both the boys and girls were supposed to inside at night. Obviously Christopher found a way to get out and he paid with his life for the transgression. Now Holly Mackey, a St. Kilda's student, has come to Detective Stephen Moran with a card that she found on the bulletin board called "The Secret Place". It shows a picture of Christopher and has cut out letters that say "I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM". Holly knew Stephen from a previous case which is the reason she came to him but Stephen works in Cold Cases. He has to take the card to the Murder Squad Detective who was in charge of the case, Antoinette Conway. The thing is Stephen wants to get out of Cold Cases and onto the Murder Squad and he sees this as his ticket in. He convinces Detective Conway to let him come along to St. Kilda's and he proves his worth to her. Stephen can talk to these young girls and get them to open up. They first focus on finding out who put up the card. Eight girls had access to the bulletin board in two separate groups of four. Holly and her three best friends were in the area last but it could have been the other group of four, who are rivals of Holly's group, who put up the card. Between the slang and the lies the girls spout it takes a long time to get to the truth. In fact, Moran and Conway never do find out who put up the card but they do find the killer before the day is over. The reader does get to learn who put up the card because alternate chapters in the book are told from the girls' point of view leading up to the murder and after. I was able to figure out the murderer but the creator of the card took me by surprise.It's been a long time since I was a teenage girl and I never went to a private school and certainly not a boarding school. However, I do remember some of the emotions (and we were all emotion at that age) from that time. Friends are everything, whether a boy likes you can overwhelm your thinking, blows to your ego devastate you for days and so on. I am just amazed that Ms French can portray that stage so accurately. Her short bio does say she has two children so maybe one is a teenage girl and this book helped her get through the drama.
    • 4/5
      I'm still liking Tana French and the Dublin Murder Squad, but I got awfully tired of the teenage girl histrionics by the end of this book. And what's with all the paranormal stuff? I'm still a fan, but this book was my least favorite.
    • 4/5
      A modern day murder mystery set in a girls' boarding school in Dublin. By switching the narration between the present-day detectives and flashbacks leading up to the crime, the author doles out bits of information that keep the reader guessing, and constantly changing their suspicions on the identify of the murderer and motive. A thoroughly enjoyable read, and the best offering yet from this author.
    • 4/5
      Excellent, excellent read: it grips you and you gulp every page, savouring each fresh and tasty page until it is all done. The only thing I did not get - what was the purpose of lighting up bulbs? That little path was left untended and was an absolutely unneccesary diversion. The characters were absolutely real and the readers could very well experience their teenage crazyness, strength and their unique bond. There was no need to even mention witches and moving objects. Luckily, that was quickly forgotten.
    • 4/5
      I'm actually a big fan of the Dublin Murder Squad, but this time I wasn't really warm with the story.The story switches between then and now. A boy was murdered. At the girls' boarding school, a note suddenly appears' I know who did it '. The investigators are dealing with eight pubescent girls. Not easy, because there is a big cat fight among the young women. On the one hand there is a group of four who want to protect each other and on the other hand there is a group of four with a boss and three who only say what their boss wants. Investigators try bad cops good cops and so get the girls out of their secrets.
    • 2/5
      Although the writing style is very similar to French's other novels—indeed, all of her narrators sound basically identical—the focus of this story is quite different. The Secret Place focuses more on the witnesses, a clique of teenage girls, than on the investigators. I found them quite uninteresting.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this much more than The Likeness or Faithful Place; this was Stephen Moran catching a murder case involving an all-girls school and wow, what wickedness! Some of these teenage girls were quite awful. Even his temporary partner was a bit tough getting used to. Moran, however, is very committed to getting a boost up into the Murder Squad some day. We meet again with Frank and Holly Mackey, joy! A great book! ( Oh, and someone dies).
    • 4/5
      The main detective stayed pretty likable throughout, rather than starting to become unstitched like several of the previous detectives in this series. The blurb makes it sound like Frank Mackey is more involved than he actually ended up being, but I enjoyed his cameo. The story goes back and forth between current events, where the detectives are interviewing the girls and trying to solve the murder, and past events with the girls, that led up to it. Lots on clique dynamics. I wasn't on the edge of my seat or buzzing with possible theories, but I was entertained.
    • 4/5
      Boarding school. Murder. Mystery. Crazy teenage girls.

      What's not to love!? Give me all of French's oeuvre, please.
    • 5/5
      As evidenced by the fact that this is the fourth book of hers I've read this year, I just love Tana French. This one has a slightly different structure, as it shares the first-person perspective of a detective, as usual, as well as third-person narratives from four teenage girls. At first, I missed getting in depth psychologically with just one character, but it was worth it to see French describe the inner lives and friendships of teenage girls. She captures a strange time that I remember well, when you're starting to grow up but things like magic and ghosts still feel just as real as anything else.
    • 3/5
      Hmm, it started out as an interesting and intriguing read but I just felt it dragged on for maybe 50 pages longer than necessary. It seemed as if the author were trying to keep us guessing but honestly, every single character was put up as the potential criminal and each time it felt like a stretch.

      A couple of aspects had me scratching my head and I'd love to know why the author didn't have the police triangulate on the mystery phone, since it was obviously switched on and in use periodically. Also, the victim was depicted initially as an unpopular nerd then somehow became the muscular, tall hearthrob in the space of a few months.


    • 4/5
      I received an advanced galley of this through Penguin's First to Read program.

      If you were disappointed by "Broken Harbor" and hoping this one would be better...Tana French is back.
    • 4/5
      Two Irish detectives are visited by a teen girl with a new clue from a yr long unsolved murder: a boy from the nearby boys' prep school was found dead in a secret glade on the grounds of the all girls boarding school. And thus the story launches, moving back in time to the year past, via multiple narrators & then coming back to the present, via the viewpt of the young detective. Really interesting insights - at times - in the character's thoughts, motivations. I had to stop sometimes and re-read her lines, they were so striking. And while the teens' internal thoughts, conversations, were sometimes uncomfortably cruel or manipulative, sometimes poignant and heartbreaking - yeah, she captured the teen girl mindset for sure. I do agree with other reader commentators - it was a bit long, & the back & forth became a bit wearisome.
    • 4/5
      These books are just so, so, so readable. Layers and layers of narrative, here interspersed between past and present, with up-and-coming detective Stephen Moran and Frank Mackey's daughter Holly as the focal points. I found myself reading more slowly than I have with some of the earlier books, but that may have been just because I only have a couple books left before I'm caught up.
    • 3/5
      I didn't like this one as much as The Trespasser by French. Some of the teen girls seemed to be more caricatures. Seeing the first time Conway and Moran work together was helpful. Unsure why there was a bit of paranormal included.
    • 3/5
      It was fine. Ms. French can certainly write the pants off almost every other crime writer, and the Secret Place is no exception. The set up was compelling enough, if a bit pedestrian (boarding school boy is found dead, cold case, a year later a note is left anonymously from a student in the neighboring girl's school: "I know who did it".)The hyperreality where character A shrugs and character B notices the shrug and ascribes all sorts of emotions, motivations, thoughts, etc. into that shrug veered close to melodrama territory at times. The denouement had a couple decent semi-twists but was pretty low key overall, and this novel is probably French's least emotionally compelling In the Woods and Faithful Place are shattering). Still, it is a fine work of crime fiction. And it has Frank Mackey in it! The book became much more compelling upon the entrance of Ms. French's most compelling character.