Book giveaway: The Secret Place by Tana French

[TinaMumsnet]

'I know who killed him.'

Could these few words, posted on a notice board in an exclusive girls' boarding school, be Detective Stephen Moran's passport to the Murder Squad?

We’re really excited to be giving away 300 copies of The Secret Place this week. Beautifully written and drenched in suspense, we haven't been able to stop talking about this book here at MNHQ.

Click here to find out more, and apply for a copy.

This giveaway is sponsored by Hodder.

Tweet using #TheSecretPlace.

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.

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...

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/

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Marking place as I'm still reading!

I got the book and my initial thoughts were that it's a long read but it didn't put me off. However, I have only managed about 6 chapters of the book and I'm afraid that's as far as I'm going with it.

I don't like the main female character - it's as though she's trying too hard to fit into a man's world and it makes her unapproachable and I don't like her as a character. Put simply, I just don't want to read any more about her.

I didn't like the way the chapters jump from past to present to past to present etc. Once or twice is fine but every single alternate chapter is just too much - it's disjointed and just as I got into the flow of the story it jumps back to the past or present.

I really wanted to enjoy this book but there's nothing in it I liked and I won't be rushing out to buy any more of her books.

I would be happy to pass this book onto someone else if you'd like it as I won't be reading any further - sorry.

Hi had email on 11 August saying I was going to get a copy of this to review but haven't received it yet so can't review

You know as soon as you start reading whether a book is going to grab you or not and 'The Secret Place' by Tana French had me hooked from the beginning. I was probably pre-disposed to enjoy it, as I always enjoyed boarding school stories when I was young, but St. Kilda's is certainly no 'Malory Towers' with cardboard cut-out characterisation.
Both the teenagers and the detectives are well-drawn and fully developed. The language helps with this – the teenage idiomatic expressions are well caught – but it is the imaginative descriptive passages which really flesh out the book.
'..Becca knows what they're like when they're happy, and that's not it. Their faces on the way home afterwards look older and strained, smeared with the scraps of leftover expressions that were pressed on too hard and won't lift away.'
It is not just a story of murder, but the potential fracturing of an intense, idealised, relationship between four friends. There are mystical, poltergeist-type elements, which do serve to reinforce the almost unhealthy closeness between the four, although I did find these elements slightly annoying.
The two detectives are also well drawn and completely believable characters, whose investigation, compressed mainly into the space of twenty four hours, is painstakingly thorough and reveals as much about them as their suspects.
Stephen Moran, who would like to move on from his current work with Cold Cases, says - 'Your dream partner grows in the back of your mind, secret, like your dream girl. … Mine was everything that wasn't Conway, and I would've bet hers was everything that wasn't me. But the click was there' The click is certainly there, and his working relationship with the prickly, feisty, Antoinette Conway develops gradually out of a grudging mutual respect as the investigation proceeds.

The book involved me from beginning to end with its intelligent mix of descriptive and analytical writing, great characterisation and who-done-it style plot. I hadn't read any of Tana French's books before, but I will certainly make up for this remission. Thank you for the chance to read it.

I took mine on holiday last week and added it to the pile of reading, despite its size I read it in a day by the pool. I love crime fiction and although I liked this book I didn't love it.
For me it could have been condensed slightly and lost the 'magic' aspect and it would have been a stronger book. It did generally pull me through the book though, I enjoyed the descriptions of the girls, their changing relationships & the school itself. I've never read Tana French before and I would give her another go based on this book but it doesn't grab me as a must read book I'm afraid.

I have just finished reading this fabulous book. It was very well written, characters developed well along the way. The author was able to get into the mindset of young teenage girls, and boys for that matter, bringing out all their awkwardness and angst for the reader to enjoy. I was kept guessing until the very end - a great mystery novel, and one which I shall recommend to my friends. I shall look out for more books by Tana French!

I haven't read the thread because I don't want to be swayed by what other people have written or get into any barneys! Just wanted to check-in and give my views so far. I'm about 160 pages into the book and really don't care about any of the characters and don't find the plot sufficiently engaging to make me want to read on. I will read on, of course, because I'd feel like I was letting the side down if I didn't . Some of the mangled English is really annoying me. I suppose it's meant to be a bit 'stream of consciousness' but I just find it annoying.

I'll come and comment some more when I'm further in.

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of the book through the giveaway. Fantastically explores the facets of teenage friendships. Dark and thrilling!

i really enjoyed this, though i was curious that it was about relationships between women/girls but observed by a man (and written by a woman)

it was fairly clear whodunnit halfway through, but that wasn't the point

i loved that the main story spanned just 24 hours, very clever and intense

Finally finished the book whilst on holiday. I really liked it. It wasn't exactly a gripping thriller, but it did have a nice easy feel to it. Ideal for on holiday. I liked the way the friends all stick together. I would definately buy more of Tana's novels. Thanks. Mumsnet

hmm, this was a "curate's egg" sort of a book for me. Initially I was gripped and enjoyed the writing with a few minor quibbles (I found the language used mildly irritating - especially the teenage slang which seemed dated to me) but as the plot progressed I was a bit disappointed - not keen at all on the supernatural element and the girls, rather than developing their own characters, seemed to sink deeper into their stereotypes (the bitchy one, the dreamy one, the intense one etc etc). But that makes it sound dreadful and it wasn't at all, just not as good as I feel it could have been. Having said that I have passed it on to my daughter who I think will love it!