Donna Tartt - The Secret History

It has taken me absolutely ages to read this book, not because I didn't enjoy it, but because it is a bit of a tome at over 600 pages and is quite an intense story to follow.

The story is written from the perspective of a Californian student transferring to an East Coast College and integrating with a crowd of eccentric students in his exclusive Greek class. The characterisation is strong, and the eccentric students make quite a bunch as a series of odd events lead to a mysterious death and then a murder within their group. Although some of the Greek references are lost on me, this does not take up much of the book, and does not detract from the story.

It is hard to say more without spoiling the book, as every intense detail of the characters (as this is a character led novel) is important and adds to your impression of them and your perspective of events, which, of course, is not always as it seems.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it is worth investing the time to read it.