“Be scared you’re fat, be scared your boobs are too big and
be scared they’re too small. Be scared to walk on your own, specially anywhere
quiet enough that you can hear yourself think. Be scared of wearing the wrong
stuff, saying the wrong thing, having a stupid laugh, being uncool. Be scared
of guys not fancying you; be scared of guys, they’re animals, rabid, can’t stop
themselves. Be scared of girls, they’re all vicious, they’ll cut you down
before you can cut them. Be scared of strangers. Be scared you won’t do well
enough in your exams, be scared of getting in trouble. Be scared terrified
petrified that everything you are is every kind of wrong. Good girl.” Truth.
18.14 The Secret Place
I love Tana French’s books, I've read them all and preorder
them as soon as they have a release date.
I set aside everything else to read them as soon as they hit my hands,
but this was not great. In fact, my husband is now reading her first and I wish
I could trade places.
I liked the detectives as always, seeing Moran and Mackey
(or whomever) returns again is always a thrill in her books, but the mystery
was totally lacking. Maybe it was the fact that the entire book happens in the
course of one day - minus flashbacks - but it all seemed too easy. Too dumb
really. Usually I love the private school setting. I think taking kids away
from their parents to see how the truly act is generally a great writing device
but here it just seemed odd. The girls friendship was odd, the reasoning of
both the girls and the detectives was odd, the big reveal was a let down, and
the ending was unnecessary. The
questioning by police of these minors seemed like it shouldn’t be happening,
and the flashbacks were more tedious than insightful. And was that magic going
on or were they all delusional... I don’t even know.
