Tolog Review: The Secret Place

The Secret Place 
by Tana French
reviewed by Ellie Stone

Tana French’s novel, The Secret Place, is a suspenseful story surrounding the murder of a 16-year old boy at an exclusive boarding school. The murder of the boy, Christopher Harper, is an unsolved mystery at the beginning of the book. One student, Holly Mackey, renews interest in the case when she highlights a new piece of possible evidence. Two detectives are assigned to the case and find themselves desperate for any clue that might lead to the solving of the case. Conway, who has previously worked on the case, and Stephens, an inexperienced investigator, find themselves conducting tense interviews, searching every inch of the school, and scrutinizing the school’s rumor board. They meticulously and relentlessly work to eliminate as suspects eight different girls possibly involved in the case. Surely, one must be involved. 

Tana French writes The Secret Place in an engaging and picturesque style. French holds the reader’s attention by artfully painting the settings and characters. Additionally, the narration switches between two points of view and two different points in time. French cleverly uses this dual narration, one narration before the murder and one after the murder, to grab and intrigue the reader. Moreover, the novel addresses several positive themes such as the importance of honesty, determination, and consequences for wrongdoing. French highlights the importance of honesty through the students, determination through the investigators, and consequences for wrongdoing. 

I would recommend this book to all teens looking for an enthralling and engrossing mystery novel. However, they should be prepared to stay up all night to finish reading. I would suggest an age range of 13 and older as there are several instances of crude language and sexual themes. Personally, I enjoyed the many different turns the plot took. It kept the novel entertaining and dynamic, although at some points the plot was a little confusing. Overall, I enjoyed the novel because of French’s captivating writing style, her ever-evolving characters and plot, and the on-going mysterious tone. Even the last page does not fully solve the murder. 

Tolog Review: In the Secret Place

In the Secret Place
by Tana French
reviewed by Cate Ziegler

In the mystery novel, The Secret Place, by Tana French, the reader gets a run-through of a cold case concerning the murder of a popular teenage boy name Chris Harper. French structures the novel with chapters that alternate between detective Stephen Moran’s point of view and Holly Mackey’s point of view. The structure of this book allows the reader to see both sides of the story, the accused and the accuser. 

French includes a lot of important characters in her novel, most of them being suspects in Chris Harper’s murder. The two most important characters are Stephen Moran and Holly Mackey. Stephen Moran is the leading detective that can put on a pretty good act to convince people to trust him and give him what he wants. The second most important person, Holly Mackey, is in one of the groups that is indicted with Chris Harper’s murder. Stephen Moran’s partner, ruthless detective Antoinette Conway, is contacted to assist Moran in his investigation. Detective Conway and Moran investigate two groups of girls, the popular girls, and the “weird” girls.

The story begins when Holly Mackey brings a piece of evidence relating to the murder of Chris Harper to detective Stephan Moran. Since detective Moran wasn’t the lead on the case of Chris Harper, he contacts the new head of the murder department, detective Conway, to assist him. The continue their investigation at St. Kilda’s, an exclusive all-girls, private, boarding school. Apon arriving at St. Kilda’s, the detectives start to interrogate two the main cliques, the popular girls group, and the “weird” girls group, which includes Chris’ girlfriend and Holly Mackey. As the book progresses and the incriminating evidence accumulates, the book takes a twist giving the reader a whole new view of the plot and Holly Mackey’s friends. 

I would highly recommend The Secret Place for any reader that likes a mystery, fantasy, or romance because the reader can find many relationships between the boy’s and girl’s schools, a murder on a campus, and a magical twist within the story.