Comments (43)

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Feb 29, 2024mljackroyd rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Part of the Dublin Murder squad series, The Secret Place is set at the fictional St. Kilda’s School. Tana French is skilled at crafting moody, slightly gloomy stories. It’s intriguing to read about detectives working together for the first…
Mar 22, 2023tjdickey rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Arguably the best yet of French's Dublin Murder Squad series - a tangle of office politics and (worse) squabbling cliques in an elite prep school, leaving the reader to wonder at every moment where any truth can be found.
Feb 24, 2023busymom51 rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
Tana French likes to go down dark and sinister paths. I have enjoyed those journeys in the past. This time not so much. Focussing on two teenage social cliques who despise each other in a posh Irish boarding school felt more reminiscent of…
May 25, 2022BARosen1112 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
In this brilliant mystery series featuring the Dublin Murder Squad, a supporting character from the previous novel takes center stage as narrator of the next one. This time out, Detective Stephen Moran, who was a young detective under…
Mar 17, 2022JGFistere rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
It went on way too long and in the end, she never does tell us what happened to Holly when she was a child that made her search out the particular detective she chose to restart the investigation.
Feb 08, 2022Rogerhockett rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
Too long for the fairly simple plot. The plot is interesting but it drags on and I gave up just past halfway. She needs to write fewer books and spend more time refining each one.
Oct 11, 2021gloryb rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
French uses alternate chapters to tell a story about the murder of a teen boy on the grounds of an elite girls' boarding school in Dublin. The teen girls in 2 different friendship groups tell their side of the story about what happened and…
Sep 04, 2021SidheWrites rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I don't recall how I came to find this author, but I found three of their books at the local library and took them all out at once. I was eager to dig in, not realizing this was the fifth in a series. The good news is that I didn't realize…
May 06, 2021hazelwilli rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
i like this book. read it very fast
Apr 30, 2021AnnSkye rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
A great read. Kept you guessing and the story didn’t fizzle out towards the end like some novels do.
Apr 07, 2021wkhansen rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Reading the comments to this and her other books it is clear there are two distinct reactions - one either is enthralled with the worlds she creates or finds the plot too slow moving and the prose too self-consciously poetic. Me, I’m in…
Jan 03, 2021janerf rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
Geeze luhweeze. A whole LOT of words about such a little bit of action.. Bored to death. Engaging characters - just too many words.Clever storylines - one from the girls, starting a year ago, the other from the detectives today…
Oct 04, 2020JamesMallory rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
I've loved her Dublin Murder Squad series but this is the first one I couldn't finish. The writing is good, but after 276 pages I lost interest in the small-time intrigue involving adolescent girls and supernatural nonsense. Pity. I'll…
Mar 07, 2020Yamahachick14 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Really interesting read. Pretty long winded though. Overall I enjoyed it and didn't want to put it down. I did not think it was predictable.
Feb 08, 2019ellenmargaret1953 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Always good for an intriguing read, Tana French delivers in The Secret Place unravelling the secrets and relationships at an exclusive school. You will find the detectives to be full blown characters worth knowing as well. Love the lead…
Jan 17, 2019goddessbeth rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Here's another great murder mystery by Tana French, with plenty of atmosphere, a tense and fast pace, and beautifully layered elements. You don't have to have read any of the other books in the series (although this one does slightly…
Dec 24, 2018
Not her best story. It seems as if she's trying to hard to be poetic and capture the feel of adolescence - uncertainty, distrust of adults and petty rivalry. The story gets lost.
Sep 05, 2017sandfordross rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
French is a talented writer, no doubt, but this novel is not one of her finest. It starts off OK but quickly becomes tedious and predictable. The characters are unappealing and exceptionally long winded. The main detectives are…
Dec 30, 2016toby65 rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
The Guardian reviewer noted "It's on the long side, and could have benefited from some editorial fat-trimming in places". OMG, like how true?! At times, quite interesting, but way too long and sometimes needlessly complicated. Not…
Nov 26, 2016SunnybrookFarm rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. Starting the book, the extra modern slang of the teens put me off and I thought, "Oh boy, it's like that, is it?" But then I got into the story and couldn't put the book down. I was…
Nov 25, 2016
Not a favorite and I did not even want to finish the book. Poorly written through out. I have never been so disappointed in a Novel. I thought for sure I would have loved this read. But even trying to force myself to carry on in hopes it…
Aug 08, 2016uncommonreader rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
This novel is less of a mystery and more an exploration of the lives of teenage girls, which was quite well done. However, there were a few missteps, such as the ghost, and the book was repetitive and overly long. For a book set near…
Jun 02, 2016bdunton rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
Extra twists and turns
Mar 29, 2016multcolib_susannel rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Can Detectives Conway and Moran tell truth from lies when they investigate a cold case murder at a private girl's school? Mesmerizing Read!
Mar 09, 2016Candaceb108 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is my first book by Tana French and I loved it. I could not put it down. I had no trouble interpreting it, nor did I think it too lengthy. The best part I felt was the expression of a female life from adolescence through adulthood. It…