[2] The novel explores the circumstances and lasting effects of Bunny's death on the academically and socially isolated group of classics students of which he was a part.

Richard enjoys his new status as a member of the clique, but notices several odd behaviors from the others: they seem to constantly suffer small injuries, boil strange plants on the stove, and attempt to hide bloody clothing.

Though the police presence eventually dies down, the group begins to crack under the strain: Francis's hypochondria worsens, Charles descends into alcoholism and abuses Camilla, Richard becomes addicted to pills, and Henry realizes he has no moral objections to murder.

Kakutani, writing for the New York Times, said "in The Secret History, Ms. Tartt manages to make...melodramatic and bizarre events (involving Dionysian rites and intimations of satanic power) seem entirely plausible.

"[10] The main characters' romantic and sometimes hedonistic lifestyles spiraling into moral ruin has prompted questions surrounding the portrayal of the Classics discipline.

It is Julian's teachings of the Classics, ethics, and aesthetic philosophy that influence Henry, Camilla, Charles, and Francis to commit an act of Dionysian revelry, which ends with the murder of a farmer and their spiral into moral ruin.

Richard is drawn to the five Classics students due to their air of mystique, exclusivity, and aesthetic appeal, but, by the end of the novel, he has realized their true natures.

Initially portrayed as an arcane yet assuring mentor figure with a wide breadth of knowledge, after learning his students were responsible for Bunny's murder, he flees the country without warning.

Michiko Kakutani called the novel "ferociously well-paced entertainment", which "succeeds magnificently" and heavily attributed the success of the book to Tartt's well-developed writing skills.

[8] Sophie McKenzie, writing for The Independent, called it "the book of a lifetime", stating that it was "perfectly paced" and the characters are "fascinating and powerfully drawn".

"[14] Critic Ted Gioia wrote:There is much to admire in Tartt's novel, but it is especially laudable for how persuasively she chronicles the steps from studying classics to committing murder.

Her story could easily come across as implausible—or even risible—in its recreation of Dionysian rites on a Vermont college campus, and its attempt to convince us that a mild-mannered transfer student with a taste for ancient languages can evolve, through a series of almost random events, into a killer.

He returned to The Secret History in autumn 1998, with Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne hired to write the screenplay, and Scott Hicks to direct.

A new adaptation was announced by Miramax Films, to be produced by Harvey Weinstein and headed by Jake and Gwyneth Paltrow, who hoped to star as the characters Charles and Camilla Macaulay respectively.

The unexpected death of the siblings' father Bruce Paltrow in October of that year caused the project to be shelved again, and the rights were reinstated to Tartt.

[16] Tartt's unhappiness with the 2019 film version of The Goldfinch caused some to speculate she would not allow further screen adaptations of any of her novels, making a future project based on The Secret History unlikely.

Tartt fired her longtime agent Amanda Urban over the film and stated, "Once the book is out there, it's not really mine anymore, and my own idea isn't any more valid than yours.

"[19] At 1980s Bennington, there were students playing at the aesthetic of Granada Television's 1981 TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, which the book also draws upon.