Book giveaway: The Secret Place by Tana French

Really pleased to be chosen to receive a copy. Just finished the book first one of Tana French that I have read. I found the plot really intriguing a very unusual story if a little unbelievable. I have no experience of teenage girls since I was one myself and that was a long time ago! They certainly seemed to have very intense relationships. I enjoyed the book although it took a few pages to hook me into the story, feel quite relieved that I never went to boarding school. I will certainly keep an eye out for the author in future.

Thanks again for sending me a copy. I have finally managed to finish it! It is an OK book. Some very good ideas. The language is somewhat irritating and I feel unnecessary. I couldn't feel that the characters were real at all. I found the all uneasily sexist too; may be it was on purpose to bring up the way the police and the boy/girl school system work, but still...

Good holiday read though.

Ok, so finished this over the week- I'm a huge Tana French fan and have read all of her novels. This, I'm sad to say, was the weakest- with In the Woods and Broken Harbour as my favourites.

The supernatural element wasn't needed- it felt a bit too 90s craft-esque. Rebecca's motive to kill Chris didn't need this earth power stuff with it.

Other than that I loved it- and great to have Frank reappear.

I did love the writing, but felt there was too much of the 'beautiful earth' witchy descriptions. It was great, but too much.

This is the first crime fiction book I've read in a long time. I enjoyed it after a slow start, I wasn't gripped initially but as the relationship between the different characters unfurled I started to care and wanted to read on. The

Like others have already mentioned, I didn't see the need for the supernatural element. I thought the descriptions of being out at night, with best friends and breaking the rules were very evocative, I could sense the power the girls felt without adding the magic.

I was initially irritated by the alternating time frame chapters but as the story unfurled, I came to appreciate the background we were being given, especially as it matched with the nonsense the detectives were being fed by the girls.

The relationship between the 2 detectives may have been a bit of a cliche but I did keep hoping that it would work out. It reflected the power struggles between the teenage girls in fitting in (or not) with the rest - should we conform or be our own person?

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed The Secret Place and I would recommend the book. I hope to be able read more by Tana French in the future.

This is the first Tana French novel that I have read. It took me a while to work out & remember all the characters. I found the language abit awkward & trying too hard to sound young, 'amazeballs' for instance.
It is a long novel & could have been shorter. But on the positive I like the alternating chapter point of views & that it was more than just a murder mystery in the way that it explored concepts of friendship in both the school & police.

There were several things I enjoyed about the book. The descriptions of time and place are extremely evocative and I liked the dual aspect narrative. Also the characters of the detectives and the relationship between them was, I thought, very well written and believable.

Unlike other reviewers I don't feel I need to know if Chris was truly in love with Selena, it isn't necessary to the conclusion and as Selena says "he was lots of things" so quite probably he didn't know himself.

The book is very long and at times rather slow, particularly for a 'thriller'. I feel it could have been condensed considerably, for a start by leaving out the 'supernatural' element which I didn't feel added anything to the plot and only served to further slow things down.

I didn't really find the plot particularly plausible - if the girls are so close why do they all suddenly start keeping secrets, why does Becca (and to a lesser extent Julia) take such a drastic course of action to events that are not that big a deal - or are we supposed to believe that they are such a big deal to teenage girls? Nor was I convinced by the dialogue between and attitudes of the girls, particularly towards adults and particularly from Joanne's gang.

Although I read almost exclusively Crime Fiction this is the first Tana French I have read and whilst I would read one of her others I won't be going out of my way to get hold of one.

SPOILER Agree with pilch, I wasn't sure at the end if Chris and Selena were true love or if he was just using her and wish we'd been guided a bit more firmly in one or the other direction.

Finished my copy the other night.

I don't tend to read crime thrillers too often - usually only Mark Billingham when it comes to crime - but I found this gripping. I'm not sure if the way the girls talked to each other - OMG/Amazeballs etc - is a fair reflection of how modern teenage girls talk or is just how older people from the modern generation think they talk, so I reserve judgement on that. But you get a very real sense of the intense friendship between the girls, in tatters as we reach the climax of the book, and it's certainly evocative. A reminder of the teenage days when your friends and impressing the opposite sex by any means were the only two things that mattered in life. Some of the girls' actions seemed bizarre until you suddenly remember: it's exactly the sort of crazy logic that applied when you were that kind of age.

The dynamic between the two detectives was interesting, if perhaps on the formulaic side: good up-and-coming cop/bad uncompromising higher-ranked cop. Yet at the end I did find myself thinking I'd like to read more stories featuring them. Although it takes a little while to really get going and is perhaps a little overlong, the ending zipped along at a fair old pace. I read the last 100 or so pages on the train, willing the train to be delayed or held-up so I could finish the story before I got off.

The only downer for me was the supernatural element in the middle of the book; it comes from nowhere, doesn't go anywhere and doesn't add anything, and the story would easily have survived without it. The bond between the girls already appears strong and nothing but plausible - so much so that in a way you do kind of sympathise with the killer, her reasons for doing it have a weird logic - so not sure what the supernatural section added. Also I'm still not entirely sure if the Chris-Selena relationship was genuine or if he was using her/saw her as a challenge - if he really was deep & different with her and just wanted to talk, why did they start sneaking off to snog?

On the whole though I really enjoyed The Secret Place. Its well written, with a great mix of characters and with a real sense of atmosphere, and indeed on the back of this have already got myself another of Tana French's books.

I was thrilled to be selected as a recipient for this book giveaway and even more thrilled when the exciting parcel, complete with matching bookmark, arrived on my doormat.

My comments echo many of those already made by others. On the whole, I found the book very enjoyable. It is long however and at one point I feared that the plot was going to become overly complicated and that I might lose interest. I think this reflects the views of others that the book could have been shorter without losing anything.

Again, the supernatural elements didn't do that much for me and I think these could have been scaled down or lost without any overall loss to my enjoyment of the book.

On the plus side, I truly applaud the ability of the author to create atmosphere. At some points, I felt very drawn into the school environment and very aware of the intensity of the relationships between the girls.

The detectives' partnership was also well-written and provided a nice contrast to all the teenage angst and complexities.

I would recommend the book to others - and I really enjoyed the chance to read and review it.

I haven't read a whodunnit in ages so was very pleased to receive a copy of The Secret Place. I haven't read any of Tana French's other books so didn't know what to expect but I love a good mystery.

I enjoyed the book and found it gripping. I preferred the chapters that focused on the detectives trying to figure things out and would occasionally feel a bit irked at being taken back into the past to goings on at the school - like those bits were something I had to get through before I could return to where I wanted to be. That said, it wasn't like that for me at the beginning of the book, just towards the end really.

I think there was a good level of suspense and the characters were richly drawn, but as some others have said, the identity of the killer wasn't a huge surprise.

Possible spoilers coming

I didn't like the supernatural element weaved into the story, I don't think it was necessary for the plot and think that, if it was included to demonstrate the strength of the bond the girls shared and the power of their relationships with one another, it wasn't needed. I think it would have been a better story without it, particularly as they never seemed to use the powers to do anything that drove the story forward. I'd be intrigued to know when Tana French had the idea to include that element in the book, whether it was there from the beginning or added later on and whether I'm missing something in what it was intended to do.

I agree with others who have said that the book is a bit on the long side. The zig-zagging back and forth got a bit annoying towards the end and I would have preferred it to cut to the chase.

Nevertheless, this was a good book and I enjoyed reading it and seeing its portrayal of teenage years - the description of Conway as being on the other side of what the girls were on the cusp of, as a fully fledged woman, really struck a chord with me.

I think the social media campaign is a great idea and will be checking out the hashtag with interest - word of mouth is a great way to sell a book and I think the "I know something you don't know" element will get lots of people joining in.

Looking forward to reading more reviews and hearing what others thought.

When I first started reading the book, it took a while for me to get into it, but once I started to enjoy it, I could hardly put it down. There is intrigue, mystery, supernatural and tension, it all cranks up to a really good thriller. I did guess who early on but thought it was a very good read.

The characters are a good mix, the atmosphere certainly builds and you want to know more. I would recommend this. I have never read her books before but will do so again.

Yes, I have received, read and reviewed my copy of Tana French's The Secret Place. No spoilers but there is the review.....mylittlecuteface.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/book-review-the-secret-place-by-tana-french/

Hi thanks for the book - really pleased to have been one of the lucky ones :-).
I'm only about a third of the way through the book but so far I'm finding it very good. Rare for me to bring a book to work to read at lunchtime but this one is with me every day at the moment.
I hate spoilers so will only read the rest of the thread and post again after I've finished the book. I think the alternate chapters works very well, and that the 'character introduction' device of the individual interviews is quite clever.
anyway, on with the book...

Thank you for the book, I was delighted to receive it, I've heard loads of good things about Tana French, in fact I own Silent Harbour, just haven't got round to reading it yet.
My feelings are - a) I think the marketing campaign is 0tt and risks backfiring, I was expecting to read the greatest novel of my life and was inevitably disappointed Less build up would have meant more enjoyment.

Spoiler time -
I am with everyone that I didn't like the supernatural bits AT ALL. Totally unnecessary and took me out of the story.

I thought the book was too long and could have been pruned by about one fifth with no loss.

I didn't find the prose incandescent, I found it a bit overwrought. and if I had my copy to hand would quote some examples

But I did really enjoy the boarding school element and I thought the psychology of the teenage girls was bang on, it brought back a lot of (not always pleasant) memories for me. The dialogue didn't bother me, my pre-teens speak a bit like that so it rang true. I was gripped to know whodunnit to a certain point but, like lots of others, I guessed quite early - and it seemed so obvious to me, that I thought I must have it wrong (I thought we were being misdirected and it would turn out to be someone like redhead Finn) and so obviously the reveal was a huge let down. I didn't believe the motive, I know teenage girls are intense but not to that extent.

I very much liked the relationship between the cops, though again I thought some of the language used was a bit ott.

So good, but not brilliant was my verdict. But I'd read more Tana French and am looking forward to eventually getting stuck in to Silent Harbour.

I read the book very quickly on holiday and really enjoyed it. Tana French's description of the girls and school took me back to my teenage years in an all girls school. I found it wonderfully evocative.

I knew who the killer was long before the reveal but it didn't spoil the story. Agree with previous comments about the woo storyline. Perhaps it was included to make the sacrifice motive more realistic?

I'll be reading more of the author's books now. Thanks Mumsnet for sending me a copy.

Brilliant cover though the book was a bit bulky to read comfortably in bed.
Being well out of my teens I thought at first I would find the language of the girls irritating but I soon got gripped by all the intrigues of the plot and had to keep finding time to get on with the story. I think the magicy element had to be in there to make the final confession after seeing Chris's ghost more realistic. I shall now seek out other books by this author and look forward to reading more of the same

I was very pleased to receive this on my return from holiday and dutifully waded through to the end but have just ended up resentful that that is a week of my life I'm never getting back... Despite Stephen King's assertion otherwise, the prose was in no way "incandescent" - leaden more like (and with a lot of typos which I assume would be removed in the final sale version of the book). I found it impossible to empathise with any of the characters, though was slightly more interested in the story from the detective's point of view. The girls all just needed to get over themselves, and the few parts of their side of the story that I thought could go somewhere seem to be glossed over - for example much was made of their supernatural abilities initially to no real purpose. If like wilf83 you are about to start reading again I really wouldn't recommend this as the one to get you back in the saddle.

I really enjoyed this book.It was like a grown up Malory Towers, with a whodunit twisted into the story.Yes, sometimes the 'OMG amazeballs' seemed a bit OTT, but it didn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the book.It was an ideal poolside read.

I really enjoyed it got immersed in it very quickly i have enjoyed all her books that i have read i look forward to the next one hint hint

NOTE _ SPOLIERS

Well I finished this last night and I suppose I feel a little mixed about it overall.

I would def pass it on and recommend it but probably feel a bit 'cheated' by the hype /packaging/marketing campaign etc which feels a bit over the top for the book as it doesn't feel that good for me.

Overall as others have already mentioned it was too long and at times I just wished it would all just hurry up, however I loved the interaction between the detectives and that was the relationship I enjoyed the most. The whole 'woo' element with Joanne, holly, selena and Becca I just didn't get - it seemed a bit of a bolt on and didn't add anything to the story which couldn't have been achieved in other ways.

I ended up confused about how I felt about Chris and his relationship with Selena - was it actually just a fling for him? I don't think I felt that Julia actually would have gone and shagged him, so the whole element of the girl group relationship breaking down and them all wildly taking different directions to resolve an issue relatively minor, seemed unrealistic given the earlier descriptions.

So I guess I enjoyed the book, i found it pretty compelling but didn't get that utter immersion that normally spells a really magical book for me - but would readily pass it on with good reviews.

But thank you for selecting me and for getting a copy!

I've just sat down to start reading my free copy (thanks very much!) and I've only the first chapter and I don't like the way the sentences are constructed. It doesn't flow well.
I'm tired following a night shift so it might be me.
I'll try again tomorrow but if it carries on like that I won't be reading it!

Seems to be running out of steam in the middle, the story is not gripping enough after a while, and the "woo" bit is unnecessary IMO. Will try to finish it ASP and comment on the overall.
I think it is a book to read quickly otherwise it is quite difficult to pick up again as you don't really want to know what happened.

Thank you for my free copy, I'm only a few chapters in and hooked already! I daren't read any of the other posts on the thread yet for fear of spoilers, so I'll pop back when I'm finished - I doubt it'll take me long!

Got the book and it is really good cant put it down at all.
Never read this author and this book has definelty made me look for other books from her

Right finished and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the descriptions both the tangible and the intangible, they really helped me to immerse myself in the story and not just read the words but imagine it actually happening.

I enjoyed the alternating chapters which gave insight into the strength of the friendship between the four girls, nicely contrasted against the other four, as well as showing the events that led up to the murder. I also enjoyed the actual investigation 'watching' them put the pieces together. I do think the supernatural element could have been restricted to the 'magical' feeling that they got on their nights out that strengthened the bond they shared rather then them turning lights on and off etc, that wasn't really necessary.

Tana French is a name I'll be adding to my list of authors to look out for.