Donna Tartt does not disappoint- author of the Pulitzer Prize winner, The Gold Finch, continues to revel in her success with her novel, The Secret History. The paperback weighing in at approximately five hundred and eighty pages holds a top spot on my favorite book list. 

The protagonist, a not so lovable Richard Papen describes his experience at a picturesque Vermont college where he meets his unusually reclusive Greek professor, Julian Morrow, and is introduced to his isolated academic and social life. As his curiosity grows about the elusive classic department at Hampden College, he meets, envies, and eventually befriends the tight group of Greek and Roman classics students. They take a unique course load with one professor and all of their classes revolve around the art, literature, and language of the ancient cultures and the classics they produced. The students include Camilla and Charles Macaulay, Francis Abernathy, Edmund (Bunny) Corcoran, and Henry Winter, the de facto “leader” of the clan, who gains his prowess and appeal with his mysterious nature and closeness with Professor Morrow. 

Extremely well written, the reader and the characters follow the same emotions. The reader weaves themselves into the world of this thrilling, mysterious, desirable, academic, and classic novel. Never has a book left me so astonished. The life-like descriptions of both the setting and characters set Donna Tartt’s The Secret History apart for the crowd.

 A fantastically written mystery leaves you enveloped in the lives of the overly realistic characters. Although not a fast-paced book, the world-building and charismatic characters pull you into their world from start to finish. 

As Papen’s world fills with the upper-class lives of his new peers, he begins to live their lifestyle, filled with high-end weekend getaways and getting involved in the growing tension between the group. He slides slowly into the world, so much so, he feels justified in the murder of one of his peers.

 The book highlights the intense isolation of this group, their incredibly privileged and unhealthy lifestyle, with an incredibly enviable facade and the ability to mesmerize both the protagonist and the reader.  Dealing with the grief and guilt after the death of their close friend, Bunny, the characters are left to clean up the mess of murder while each was internally spiraling until the point of extreme aggression.

 The book takes the reader into the minds of Papen while still creating the illusion that they themselves are present alongside the plot of the book and can observe the going on’s of the pretentious college life and the admirable closeness of his friend groups.  The overall relaxed energy of the book allows readers to invest themselves in the lives of the characters and feel as though they have lived the story alongside the characters. 

The ending, however, was wonderfully twisted as it left me stunned and engulfed my mind in the world for hours after closing the back cover.