The Secret Place

Dublin Murder Squad: 5

By: Tana French

Narrated by: Lara Hutchinson, Stephen Hogan

'A gripping read for those still pining for GONE GIRL' Elle's top five beach reads

The photo shows a boy who was murdered a year ago.
The caption says, 'I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM'.

Detective Stephen Moran hasn't seen Holly Mackey since she was a nine-year-old witness to the events of Faithful Place. Now she's sixteen and she's shown up outside his squad room, with a photograph and a story.

Even in her exclusive boarding school, in the graceful golden world that Stephen has always longed for, bad things happen and people have secrets. The previous year, Christopher Harper, from the neighbouring boys' school, was found murdered on the grounds. And today, in the Secret Place - the school noticeboard where girls can pin up their secrets anonymously - Holly found the card.

Solving this case could take Stephen onto the Murder squad. But to get it solved, he will have to work with Detective Antoinette Conway - tough, prickly, an outsider, everything Stephen doesn't want in a partner. And he will have to find a way into the strange, charged, mysterious world that Holly and her three closest friends inhabit and disentangle the truth from their knot of secrets, even as he starts to suspect that the truth might be something he doesn't want to hear.

From the multi-award-winning author of Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller In the Woods, The Secret Place is a searing novel of psychological suspense.

(P)2014 Hodder & Stoughton©2014 Tana French

Critic reviews

An absolutely mesmerizing read (Gillian Flynn, author of GONE GIRL)

I've been enthusiastically telling everyone who will listen to read Tana French (Harlan Coben)

The thing Tana French does better than almost any living crime writer is create suspense. She makes you feel as if you're the detective, and your whole future career, not to mention your mental equilibrium, depends upon working out the solution to the puzzle. The Secret Place is another nail-biting ordeal of mysteriousness that will have readers frantically turning pages in their eagerness to discover the truth (Sophie Hannah, bestselling author of The Carrier)

A gripping read for those still pining for Gone Girl

A wonderfully tender and savage thriller about loyalty, teenage friendship and first loves. Gripping and ingenious (Kate Mosse, bestselling author of Labyrinth)

She's a seriously talented writer and I love her Dublin Murder Squad series. I've been eagerly awaiting this one for ages. (Stephanie Merritt)

It's terrific - terrifying, amazing, and the prose is incandescent (Stephen King, No. 1 bestselling author)

Tana French is amazing!!!

All her books have been hard to put down but the secret place has been riveting. I have literally done nothing but listen to it for 2 days. I've even missed my TV shows & cancelled coffee with a friend just to keep listening. I totally recommend her books to everyone, especially The Secret Place. Each book is better than the last. Tana French is truely a storyteller - she joins the ranks of other great storytellers such as Jodi Piccoult & Stephen King.

Better and better

The very fact that I’m leaving this review means this book is exceptional. Of the tens of detective and crime books I listen to, only Tana French’s creations weaves sublimely beautiful language with gritty and real characters. I think she was very close to her father because the deep insight into male characters is wonderful and accurate. I love love love her books. I wish they’d never end.