Maybe it was because of his clothes, which were like one of those lame but curiously impenetrable disguises from a comic book (why does no one ever see that ‘bookish’ Clark Kent, without his glasses, is Superman?). “…people never seemed to notice at first how big Henry was. A great, dense, disturbing story, wonderfully told." - Cosmopolitan "The great pleasure of the novel is the wonderful complexity and the remarkable skill with which this first novelist spins the tale. The Secret History is a wonderfully beguiling book, a journey backward to the fierce and heady friendships of our school days, when all of us believed in our power to conjure up divinity and to be forgiven any sin." -The Philadelphia Inquirer "A long tale of friendship, arrogance, and murder knit together with the finesse that many writers will never have. Her beautiful language, intricate plotting, fascinating characters, and intellectual energy make her debut by far the most interesting work yet from her generation." - The Boston Globe "Tartt's voice is unlike that of any of her contemporaries. Les Nerds du Mal-and about as deep (if not nearly as involving) as a TV movie." - Kirkus This ersatz-Fitzgerald mix of moralizing and mirror-looking (Jay McInerney shook and poured the shaker first) is very 80's-and in Tartt's strenuous version already seems dated, formulaic. By telegraphing the murders, Tartt wants us to be continually horrified at these kids-while inviting us to semi-enjoy their manneristic fetishes and refined tastes. First-novelist Tartt goes muzzy when she has to describe human confrontations (the murder, or sex, or even the ping-ponging of fear), and is much more comfortable in transcribing aimless dorm-room paranoia or the TV shows that the malefactors anesthetize themselves with as fate ticks down. A bunch of ever-so-mandarin college kids in a small Vermont school are the eager epigones of an aloof classics professor, and in their exclusivity and snobbishness and eagerness to please their teacher, they are moved to try to enact Dionysian frenzies in the woods. "The Brat Pack meets The Bacchae in this precious, way-too- long, and utterly unsuspenseful town-and-gown murder tale. Ultimately, it works best as a psychological thriller." - Library Journal "This well-written first novel attempts to be several things: a psychological suspense thriller, a satire of collegiate mores and popular culture, and a philosophical bildungsroman. In the final analysis, however, readers may enjoy the pull of a mysterious, richly detailed story told by a talented writer." - Publishers Weekly Part psychological thriller, part chronicle of debauched, wasted youth, it suffers from a basically improbable plot, a fault Tartt often redeems through the bravado of her execution. "Tartt's much bruited first novel is a huge rambling story that is sometimes ponderous, sometimes highly entertaining.
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