The Secret Place

The Secret Place by Tana French

Chris Harper is young and self-assured with mesmerizing hazel eyes that make the girls swoon behind his back.  Such a pity they won't enjoy his beguiling charms much longer. "He has eight months and two weeks left to live".

The investigators at the grizzly crime scene believe the weapon of choice had a long handle with a razor sharp blade. One shattering blow to the skull and a promising life ends. Chris Harper is dead.  Who could be so calculating and ruthless to carry out this deed?

"A kid could have done it, easy, if she got a good swing".

It is now a year later. The girls at the exclusive boarding school, St. Kilda's, have a bulletin board called The Secret Place. Shy and timid students have an opportunity to post notes they otherwise would never have the courage to say out loud. Sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey finds a photo of the deceased Chris Harper on the board with the words, "I know who killed him" plastered across his picture. With a little luck, perhaps Detective Stephen Moran can finally make a name for himself and be a part of the Murder Squad by solving this case. It won't be easy.

Moran and his partner find themselves engulfed in a maze of intricate and disturbing adolescent friendships. There are two factions of girls at St. Kilda's who intensely dislike one another. Yet their loyalty to those in their "gang" is unsurpassed. Clandestine meetings with boys from a neighboring school, secret text messages, and unexplained supernatural sightings of a ghost, challenge these veteran police officers to delve into new territory.  Somehow they must sift through the lies and deceit penetrating this picture-perfect setting to uncover the truth about what happened the night of the murder.

This is the fifth installment of Tana French's Detective Murder Squad Mysteries. It isn't necessary to be familiar with the characters from her previous books, although you will find references to them periodically
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It's a superbly written crime novel about the inner workings of teenage relationships. Gritty, perplexing, tantalizing, and somewhat complicated, you'll need to pay close attention to all the details up until the last page. Then, and only then, are the answers revealed.

This is my first time reading Tana French. Author Harlan Coben writes, "she is, without a doubt, my favorite new mystery writer."

I wholeheartedly agree.