The Secret History mimics a Greek tragedy. Richard Papen, who is studying the Classics is an outsider at a prestigious American college. He manages to become the sixth student in an Ancient Greek class, whose charismatic teacher normally allows only five students to enrol each year. The other five students who have been studying together for some time come from a background of wealth and privilege - not at all like Richard's hard-scrabble upbringing. The murder of one of the members of the group is revealed on the first page. The first half of the book deals with the events leading up to the murder and the murder itself. In the second half, the remainder of the group must deal with the aftermath of the act. Their tightly-knit group swiftly declines into fear, recrimination and remorse.
This book could best be described as a psychological thriller. The unravelling of the group is suspenseful and Donna Tartt is such a good writer that I actually found myself caring about people who would normally cause me to raise my eyebrows at their arrogance and entitlement. My only complaint? I would have liked to find out more about their teacher. There are plenty of hints about his control over his students but ultimately he manages to remain at arms-length and walk away from the situation.
This is a first novel for the author who goes on to become a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. I'm not surprised - she is brilliant!
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