Scan barcode
A review by chrissie_whitley
The Secret Place by Tana French
5.0
The Secret Place has it all. I could not think of a single reason to grant this book any fewer than five stars. This was a stellar book.
Tana French has this thread that runs through her novels. Yes, her books are all separate beings, coming from separate voices forming words around separate plots. But, this thread is the awareness of a set and solid relationship that two (or more) have and share. That easily envied exclusiveness formed when people march along to the same drummer and share the same thoughts, know each other inside and out.
Cassie and Rob share that in [b:In the Woods|237209|In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348442606s/237209.jpg|3088141], the whole group living together in that house have it (and Cassie is able to slip right in; she knows the dance and she just needs to gain her footing on these new rhythms) in [b:The Likeness|1914973|The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad, #2)|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348934952s/1914973.jpg|6504351], a young Frank Mackey and Rosie Daley had it (or nearly so) in [b:Faithful Place|7093952|Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3)|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1291165900s/7093952.jpg|7350661], the Spain family had it (or the pack of friends before they grew up) in [b:Broken Harbour|10805160|Broken Harbour (Dublin Murder Squad, #4)|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1336120776s/10805160.jpg|15718578], and now that same golden thread is shared with Holly Mackey and her school friends in The Secret Place.
No matter how long that golden hour lasts with the characters who have it, it's the beauty of it, the shine, that turns someone else (and presumably the reader) into a magpie, searching for their own shininess. French is able to capture that envy through the exploration of human nature and the desire we all share to be one with others. It's not the ugliness of envy, if such a part of it exists, but the draw and pull towards the light, the puzzle pieces that fit with one another. Like Ebenezer Scrooge, standing outside Fezziwig's, wiping the grime and frost off the window with his sleeve, just to see inside. Just to watch the festivities of which he's not a participant. It's that glossy, candid togetherness that he watches from outside, knowing he won't ever be allowed in, with which we can identify.
French prepares the most lovely concoctions. Her words are dreamy and ever-moving, undulating out in space, lining up just for the moments they exist in this sentence, in this story, and then they become dust and fragments and whispers again.
The gem of this novel is Selena. She's so many things here. She's the moon goddess, alive and shimmery like no one else, this glowing orb awake and wise, speaking in riddles from another time. She's Luna Lovegood in real life without the encasement of magic and the bounce of Nargles or other doses of silliness for added humor. Selena's serious, but feathery and fragile. A soap bubble of ethereal beauty.
I really liked the greenness of Moran from [b:Faithful Place|7093952|Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3)|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1291165900s/7093952.jpg|7350661], but here French lets him be our eyes. We experience the unraveling of this mystery through him, he's the skin we slip into so we can be a part of this reality. So, we get our main narrator with Stephen Moran for the events of the present, and then alternating POVs from the four main girls, Holly and her roommates, for the episodic narratives leading up to the murder of Chris Harper. Honestly, the writing was still so perfect, the characterizations so brilliant and multifaceted, I really had no trouble with the multiple POVs and the nonlinear timeline. It was a fresh and interesting take on her typical story, while still being truly authentic for French.
French creates so much mood, like an eddying pool swirling with a depth made of light and darkness and all the inky shadows in between. I just cannot get enough of her books. The sixth one, [b:The Trespasser|29430013|The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad #6)|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462998307s/29430013.jpg|48321130] is looming ahead of me, and I simultaneously cannot wait to devour it and I also dread its finish, wanting to hold off and make it last, savor it longer.
Tana French has this thread that runs through her novels. Yes, her books are all separate beings, coming from separate voices forming words around separate plots. But, this thread is the awareness of a set and solid relationship that two (or more) have and share. That easily envied exclusiveness formed when people march along to the same drummer and share the same thoughts, know each other inside and out.
Cassie and Rob share that in [b:In the Woods|237209|In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348442606s/237209.jpg|3088141], the whole group living together in that house have it (and Cassie is able to slip right in; she knows the dance and she just needs to gain her footing on these new rhythms) in [b:The Likeness|1914973|The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad, #2)|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348934952s/1914973.jpg|6504351], a young Frank Mackey and Rosie Daley had it (or nearly so) in [b:Faithful Place|7093952|Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3)|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1291165900s/7093952.jpg|7350661], the Spain family had it (or the pack of friends before they grew up) in [b:Broken Harbour|10805160|Broken Harbour (Dublin Murder Squad, #4)|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1336120776s/10805160.jpg|15718578], and now that same golden thread is shared with Holly Mackey and her school friends in The Secret Place.
No matter how long that golden hour lasts with the characters who have it, it's the beauty of it, the shine, that turns someone else (and presumably the reader) into a magpie, searching for their own shininess. French is able to capture that envy through the exploration of human nature and the desire we all share to be one with others. It's not the ugliness of envy, if such a part of it exists, but the draw and pull towards the light, the puzzle pieces that fit with one another. Like Ebenezer Scrooge, standing outside Fezziwig's, wiping the grime and frost off the window with his sleeve, just to see inside. Just to watch the festivities of which he's not a participant. It's that glossy, candid togetherness that he watches from outside, knowing he won't ever be allowed in, with which we can identify.
French prepares the most lovely concoctions. Her words are dreamy and ever-moving, undulating out in space, lining up just for the moments they exist in this sentence, in this story, and then they become dust and fragments and whispers again.
The gem of this novel is Selena. She's so many things here. She's the moon goddess, alive and shimmery like no one else, this glowing orb awake and wise, speaking in riddles from another time. She's Luna Lovegood in real life without the encasement of magic and the bounce of Nargles or other doses of silliness for added humor. Selena's serious, but feathery and fragile. A soap bubble of ethereal beauty.
I really liked the greenness of Moran from [b:Faithful Place|7093952|Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3)|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1291165900s/7093952.jpg|7350661], but here French lets him be our eyes. We experience the unraveling of this mystery through him, he's the skin we slip into so we can be a part of this reality. So, we get our main narrator with Stephen Moran for the events of the present, and then alternating POVs from the four main girls, Holly and her roommates, for the episodic narratives leading up to the murder of Chris Harper. Honestly, the writing was still so perfect, the characterizations so brilliant and multifaceted, I really had no trouble with the multiple POVs and the nonlinear timeline. It was a fresh and interesting take on her typical story, while still being truly authentic for French.
French creates so much mood, like an eddying pool swirling with a depth made of light and darkness and all the inky shadows in between. I just cannot get enough of her books. The sixth one, [b:The Trespasser|29430013|The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad #6)|Tana French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462998307s/29430013.jpg|48321130] is looming ahead of me, and I simultaneously cannot wait to devour it and I also dread its finish, wanting to hold off and make it last, savor it longer.