The first novel by Donna Tartt, author of the National Bestseller The Goldfinch, The Secret History is a contemporary classic.
Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and forever, and they discover how hard it can be to truly live and how easy it is to kill.
《校园秘史》的讲述者理查德来自加州一个缺乏温暖的底层家庭,他在位于佛蒙特州的一所与世隔绝的汉普顿大学念书。很容易地,他加入了一个由5人组织的校园精英社团——这群聪明而与社会格格不入的年轻人受到一位行为古怪而魅力非凡的古典学教授的影响,发现了一种绝然迥异于同时代的芸芸众生的思考与生活方式。不幸的是,成员们在一次古希腊式的狂欢酒会中,意外地发生了一起命案,当他们中的邦尼准备泄露这个秘密时,其他成员便威胁下一个将要杀的便是他。这时,理查德必须做出决定,是否站在圈子一边,谋杀邦尼,使其闭上嘴。
《校园秘史》心理描写手法独特,节奏时缓时紧,略带惊悚。书中将死亡对于一个团体所造成的影响,对家庭的瓦解和当事人情绪心理的影响刻画得令人毛骨悚然而又充满感伤,并巧妙地融合了智慧、娱乐以及令人脉搏加快的悬念。