The Secret History

Synopsis: A misfit at an exclusive New England college, Richard finds kindred spirits in the five eccentric students of his ancient Greek class. But his new friends have a horrific secret. When blackmail and violence threaten to blow their privileged lives apart, they drag Richard into the nightmare that engulfs them. And soon they enter a terrifying heart of darkness from which they may never return.

Review: Now this one I really enjoyed, very creepy, unsettling and totally gripping. The book rather cleverly begins with a prologue telling the reader of the murder of Bunny Corcoran, moreover it's clear that he has been murdered by his friends. This made me positively itch to get going with the story. Our narrator Richard Papen then takes us back and recounts his lifestory .. or at least the most recent parts that have led him here.

Richard had to fight tooth and nail (and tell a number of untruths, which is something Richard is rather practised at) to gain a place at New Hampshire College. He's not absolutely sure what he wants to study but he has more than an interest in the Greek classics and a meeting with the erudite classics teacher, Julian, settles it. It's here that he meets the five other students in Julian's class, Henry, Francis, Bunny, and twins Charles and Camilla. They're a bit of a supercilious bunch really, inclined to think highly of themselves and lowly of others. They're all fairly well connected (unlike Richard) and have the habit of littering their conversations with Greek literary and philosophical quotations often intentionally to exclude those around them. On the whole they're viewed as weirdo's by the rest of the students.

As Richard recalls his first few weeks at New Hampshire we get to see a close-up of Bunny's behaviour (he is the first of the group to really extend the hand of friendship to Richard - the others seem a little reluctant to let him in) and it's easy to see that a little of Bunny goes a long, long, way. He's what you might call parasitic. Although his parents have wealth they are not inclined to share any of it with their offspring and actively encourage them to sponge off others. Bunny is a master at it. Richard can't help noticing that the others, Henry in particular, are surprisingly financially generous to Bunny even though they seem also to be irritated by him. Bunny also lets slip certain comments and remarks about his friends which seem to hint at his knowing something that they would prefer he kept hidden. As Richard gets to know his friends more the secrets come spilling out and eventually he finds himself inextricably caught up in their deception.

Tartt's really good at scene setting, college life is headily depicted with student angst mixed with apathy, loose morals and plenty of drugs and booze (goodness, it's a wonder any of them could button up their shirt in the morning!) I actually felt like I needed a de-tox after reading it. The friendship of the group is claustrophobic and guarded, especially between Henry, Francis, Camilla and Charles, outsiders are unwelcome and discouraged. There is a menace in this book that just builds and builds, you already know who murdered Bunny, but as time goes on, and the group's normal calm facade begins to disintegrate, you're not sure what they may do as a consequence, you're not even sure who they actually are, the plot really does thicken.

I liked it a lot and although it's a fairly hefty book and quite slow paced the pages flew by. The only one tiny criticism is that I don't think she fully realised the character of Julian, we know how clever he was but we never really saw any evidence as to why he was so loved and admired by his students. All in all though it was totally compelling.