The Secret Place

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 New York Times bestseller IN THE WOODS, THE SECRET PLACE is a searing novel of psychological suspense.

“The new Tartt - the thriller that's every bit as good as The Secret History . . . Classic in the making .”

Read THE SECRET PLACE, by Tana French, when it comes out. You'll understand then. Great book. - Stephen King - Twitter

THE SECRET PLACE is a fascinating little world, with dark truths at its heart - Time Australia, Number One in Best Fiction of 2014

...one of the most distinctive voices in literary mystery fiction... sparkling, endlessly inventive prose - Kirsten Tranter, Weekend Australian

There's lots to like about this novel. The dialogue...rings true, and the terrifying hothouse atmosphere of a girls school is well-drawn. - The Daily Telegraph - Sydney

French writes superior mysteries with brilliantly observed dialogue and characters. - Canberra Times

A gripping read for those still pining for Gone Girl

- ELLE s Top Five Beach Reads

Tana French always delivers - Guardian

Tana French grew up in Ireland, Italy, the United States and Malawi. She is the author of In the Woods (winner of the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and Barry awards for Best First Novel), The Likeness, Faithful Place and Broken Harbour (winner of the LA Times prize for Best Mystery/Thriller). She lives in Dublin with her husband and two children. She keeps a website at

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 New York Times bestseller IN THE WOODS, THE SECRET PLACE is a searing novel of psychological suspense.

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