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#The Secret Place
traitofsleep · 3 months
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one thing about Stephen and Conway is that they’re gonna fake fight
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the Secret Place
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kaiju-wolfdragon · 1 year
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The soul wisp had a hideout in willow's secret stomach to keep soul wisp hidden from beetle
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The Secret Place by Tana French
"You forget what it was like. You'd swear on your life you never will, but year by year it falls away. How your temperature ran off the mercury, your heart galloped flat-out and never needed to rest, everything was pitched on the edge of shattering glass. How wanting something was like dying of thirst. How your skin was too fine to keep out any of the million things flooding by; every color boiled bright enough to scald you, any second of any day could send you soaring or rip you to bloody shreds."
Year Read: 2022
Rating: 3/5
About: At an elite girls' boarding school, there's a bulletin board called The Secret Place where girls are encouraged to anonymously put up postcards of their secrets. A year ago, Chris Harper was found murdered on school grounds, and the case was never solved. When sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey discovers a photo of Chris with the caption 'I know who killed him,' she brings it to Detective Stephen Moran in Cold Cases. Moran has always wanted a shot at Murder Squad, and teaming up with Antoinette Conway, the last detective on Chris's case, may finally give him his chance. But the world of teenage girls is more dangerous and brutal than they ever could have imagined, and every clue they uncover brings them back to Holly's group of friends and their rival clique. Trigger warnings: child death, sexual harassment/assault, slut-shaming, bullying, sexism.
Thoughts: It was so lovely to come back to the Dublin Murder Squad after an unintentionally long break. Whatever my quibbles about the individual books, I absolutely love this series, and French is undoubtedly one of the most talented crime fiction writers out there (as well as my favorite, and that's high praise because I usually have issues with adult crime thrillers). It's hard to describe how it feels to sink into one of her books because no other writer really sounds like her. The lush prose, the sense of place, the astute, often wrenching character studies, the sense of something almost magical lurking around the next corner that somehow isn't at odds with the gritty realities, the way each book somehow comes with the same overwhelming revelation that the mystery is far less important than the people involved in it. The murders are at the heart of each novel, but they’re almost incidental to it under the complicated web of characters and motivations.
Okay, I think I'm done waxing poetic about Tana French's writing in general, and I'm ready to look at things I liked about this novel specifically. First and always, it's the characters. I was looking forward to seeing Stephen Moran's perspective after his appearances in previous books, and he doesn't disappoint. He's young and generally likeable, with a fascinating ability to figure out what people want and give that personality back to them, and I enjoyed the contrast to Conway's take-no-shit approach. It's fascinating to watch them work through a tentative partnership and figure out the ways they can trust and work with each other. I also really enjoyed the varied personalities in Holly Mackey's group of friends and how that friendship is a kind of magic, fragile and temporary but unforgettable. Holly is a powerhouse like her dad, and I'm half-hoping she'll grow up and join the Murder Squad so we can have a book from her perspective.
The rest of the characters, namely Joanne and her group of friends, are frankly hard to read at times. I read more YA than anything else, and for as good at French usually is at capturing voice, I think it goes a little overboard on the OMG like smh teen portrayal. While the themes about male gazes, slut-shaming, and the brutal pecking order of high school are well-developed, I found my interest flagging in most of the chapters that take place in the past with the girls. They drag at the pace of the novel, and I'm not sure we needed quite so much detail on how these friendships functioned a year ago. The present chapters are frequently compelling, as Moran and Conway's interviews with each of the girls turn over new pieces of the mystery and present insights into the characters. The reveal, as always, is less a surprise than a grim, inevitable conclusion. While The Secret Place is probably my least favorite book since In the Woods, it didn't diminish my love for the series at all.
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sophielovesbooks · 2 years
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One thing about me (and this will make a lot of people very angry) is that if only six books could survive in the whole entire world, out of all the books that currently exist, and I was given the enormous responsibility to wisely choose which six works should be preserved while all others are destroyed...
I would choose the six Dublin Murder Squad books by Tana French.
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scentedsstuff · 1 year
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The Secret Place
by Tana French
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Rating: 2/5 ⭐️
Last night, I finished 'The Secret Place' by Tana French. I had been meaning to read something else centered on mysteries and crime solving after finishing 'The Red Palace,' so I figured Tana French was the way to go (And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is there but I'll make my way to it eventually).
Synopsis had me intrigued, the first couple of chapters were fine but the characters..........
I loved Detective Conway, I was rooting for her. Her no-bs attitude and the dynamic she had with Detective Moran was enjoyable but anyone else..........no. I ended up liking and looking forward to the detectives chapters a lot more than I did reading about the girls and their backstories. Listen, I'm not 16 but I don't recall using so many 'OMGs' in between sentences, and sometimes the language felt a little over the top, but my experience dosen't speak for everyone else's so I'll leave it at that.
This is my blog so I'm just going to be upfront with my thoughts but some of the stuff mentioned.........completely cringe for me. The whole Selena and Chris thing, fine by me, an interesting part of the story, but once Moran sees the video, man starts going on and on AND ON about how these two kids 'found the real thing' and 'what they had was special or deep' any and every chance he gets. He mentions how Conway ignored the sentimental moment between Selena and Chris when forming thoughts and theories and I've never loved her more because SAME. I was seriously considering to DNF the book at that point but I was already 300 and something pages in and I figured why not just complete the whole thing.
The reveal at the end was fine but it couldn't save the book for me. As for the girls (the main 4).......didn't like them, didn't care what happened to them or their little friendship circle, by the end the only friendship I cared for was the one forming between Detective Conway and Detective Moran, so that's that.
I'm still going to check out another Tana French book, 'The Likeness' to be specific, because I like the premise, so hopefully that turns out better.
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karlmarxverstappen · 2 years
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There's nothing like girls reclaiming their minds and bodies back when they realise they don't owe boys shit. The powerful bond of friendship between these girls, the atmosphere, the complex characters, Miss Tana French did it again and I'm sobbing over a crime novel.
The Secret Place - Tana French
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tealeavesand-roses · 1 year
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The Secret Place by Tana French 
Rating: 4.5/5
It’s been nearly three years and I'm still thinking of The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad #5). I found this book at a thrift store in 2019. It took me a little while to finish due to a global pandemic, online school + its time-consuming obligations, and my ✨deteriorating mental health✨, but I finished it sometime during the pandemic in 2020. It was an enthralling read and I didn’t want it to be over. It left an impression on me and I’ve been meaning to finish the rest of the series but my endless TBR prevented this lol. However, my goal this year is to finish the entire series. The Dublin Murder Squad series is at the top of my TBR for the year 2023. On another note, I also watched the show Dublin Murders on Starz in 2020 and loved it. Dublin Murders is based off of the first two books of Tana French's book series, Dublin Murder Squad. The Secret Place is book 5 in the series. I really hope the show gets renewed for more seasons because it's incredible. Ultimately, I want to see The Secret Place brought to life. I’m envisioning complete boarding school / dark academia / gothic horror visuals with neutral color palettes and a kind of ominous+alluring ambiance.
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Conversation
Joanne: Do you know what it's like to be the only one without a boyfriend?!
Joanne: Even when I get one, I'll still be the girl who got a date after JULIA!
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kimmy2364 · 1 year
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David McCallum as Mike Wilson in "The Secret Place" (1957) [3/3]
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cha0screat0r · 2 months
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Lol
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vicbella-toria · 3 months
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“Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and slipped out to a solitary place to pray.”
Mark 1:35 BSB
Today is a good day to run towards intimacy with God.
Today is a good day to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
We are made for the Secret Place.
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dappermouth · 1 year
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Strange roadside buildings where you shouldn’t ever go.
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kaiju-wolfdragon · 1 year
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Welcome...
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To kaiju city
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rastronomicals · 4 months
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7:59 AM EST November 19, 2023:
Darxtar - "The Secret Place" From the album   A Tribute to the Music & Works of Brian Eno (1997)
Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm
File under: Oblique Strategies
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coolcatsbookshelf · 6 months
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Get to know us! We cool cats always have new interests and new favs, but for a limited time (with the exception of Emily Henry—our love for her is eternal).
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