2014 book 142

Tana French's The Secret Place
AHHH AHH new Tana French and I LOVED it! Once again, she turns a minor character from a previous book into her protagonist--only here, it's Holly Mackey, Frank Mackey's daughter, in a book about a murder at her elite boarding school. A year after the body of a boy from a neighboring school was found on the grounds at Holly's school (and the murder went unsolved), she brings new evidence to a detective she knows, Stephen Moran (there are some references to his past with Detective Kennedy, but I don't remember him from past books). Moran, desperate for a shot at working on the murder squad, worms his way into working with the prickly (but awesome) lead detective, a woman who's sort of ostracized from her peers. Interestingly, the murder investigation itself takes place over just one day--a long, slow, crazy day--interspersed with flashbacks to Holly and her friends at school in the days leading up to the murder. It's kind of beautiful and sad--not words I normally use when discussing mysteries, but Tana French is really doing something special here, especially with Holly and the other girls. She nails teenage friendships in a big way, but the mystery is satisfying too (even if there are some weird elements). Seriously, I loved this. A.

__
A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in September.