A Look at Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad Series
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The Secret Place
Synopsis: Cassie Mackey, Frank’s daughter from Faithful Place is all grown up and attending an all girl’s boarding school, St. Kilda’s. She finds a note on the board known as “The Secret Place”, the place where students leave their gossip and school girl crushes. But this note says, “I Know Who Killed Him” referring to the death of a male student, Chris Harper, from the neighboring boys school who found dead on the St. Kilda’s grounds. Now Stephen Moran and his partner, Antoinette Conway have to reopen the murder case and navigate the cliques of teenage girls who may know the truth.
Why to read it: The Secret Place is about the scariest subject of all of French’s novels so far: teenage girls and their secrets. These young women are as cunning as any criminal, ready to lie and betray each other depending on their moods. The story is told in alternating chapters, Holly in the past experiencing the events and Stephen and Antoinette investigating them in the present. We are given a look into the complicated mind of a teenage girl, complete with American slang, heartbreaking crushes, and the strong bond of female friendship that is more of a sisterhood.
Friendship is at the heart of The Secret Place, not only between Holly and her friends at St. Kilda’s, but also between Stephen and Antoinette. French is so good at writing partners and these two are no exception. They don’t start out as friends, just two people working together, but their growing relationship soon becomes as interesting as the case itself. Antoinette is a woman working in a man’s world who has had to harden herself to the rude comments and condescending attitudes. Stephen is young and still trying to prove himself. They make a mismatched pair, but one that works all the same. They are perhaps the only two characters in any of French’s novels that are not left completely damaged and broken at the end of their story.
The Secret Place is about navigating the world between adulthood and childhood. It has the reliable feeling of being on the cusp and also being in free fall. Holly and her friends face perilous choices that will come to define and maybe haunt them in the years to come.