The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
📚 The Little Friend by Donna Tartt — Review & Full Spoiler Summary
⚠️ Trigger Warnings
The Little Friend contains:
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Child death & murder (off-page but discussed)
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Drug use & methamphetamine trafficking
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Attempted murder & violence
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Animal death (including a cat) 🐈
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Snakes 🐍 (poisonous ones!)
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Racism & classism
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Grief & family dysfunction
🤔 My Overall Take
Well… I’m glad it’s over.
This is a big book — the kind you could use as a doorstop and a self-defense weapon. Donna Tartt writes beautifully, sure, but she also writes on…and on…and on….
It’s sold as a murder mystery. But by the end?
We still don’t know who killed Robin. That’s a lot of pages for…not knowing.
⭐ My rating: 1.5/5 stars.
The prose? Gorgeous. The premise? Fantastic. The actual mystery payoff? Nonexistent.
🕵️♀️ Spoiler Warning:
The following section spills all the plot beans. I’m talking full spoilers, ending included.
📖 The Little Friend — Full Plot Summary (With Ending)
🌸 Prologue: The Hook
Twelve years before our story starts, Robin Dufresnes — age nine — is found hanging from a tree during the family’s Mother’s Day party. The police believes the killer is a random stranger and quickly stopped investigating. The Dufresnes don’t talk about it.
👩👧 Harriet & the Dysfunctional Dufresnes
We meet Harriet, 12, and her older sister Allison (16). Mom (Charlotte) is depressed and distracted. Dad (Dix) moved away but is still technically married to Charlotte. The girls are partly raised by long-time housekeeper Ida Rhew, grandma Edie, and the great-aunts (Libby, Tat, Adelaide).
Harriet becomes obsessed with solving Robin’s murder — partly because the grown-ups won’t talk about it.
🕵️ Harriet’s Prime Suspects: The Ratliffs
Through digging (library archives, pestering relatives, pestering friends), Harriet zeroes in on Danny Ratliff, a local troublemaker who used to hang out with Robin. The Ratliffs — Danny, Farish, Eugene, and disabled younger brother Curtis — have a criminal streak, a lot of guns, and a hatred for snitches.
🐍 Snake Plans Gone Wrong
Harriet and her friend Hely hatch a genius plan: catch a poisonous snake, drop it on Danny, and call it justice. Unfortunately:
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They catch no snake.
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Then they find some in the Ratliffs’ place (belonging to preacher Loyal).
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They do end up with one…and drop it onto a car they think is Danny’s but is actually driven by his grandma Gum. Oops.
🌀 Family Tragedy (That’s Not the Murder)
Ida gets fired. Harriet sulks. A church trip goes horribly wrong: Aunt Libby has a fatal stroke.
💊 The Meth Plot
Farish hides a stash of meth in a water tower to keep Danny from stealing it. Danny wants to steal it and start over somewhere else. Harriet, not realizing it’s drugs, dumps the stash into the water supply.
🔫 Showdown at the Water Tower
Danny kills Farish (gunshot). He climbs the water tower for the drugs. Harriet, armed with her dad’s gun, shoots and misses. She falls into the water. Danny tries to drown her. She fakes death. He slips into the water — his fate uncertain — while Harriet escapes.
🚨 Aftermath
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Harriet gets violently ill from the meth-tainted water.
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Farish survives the gunshot briefly but is dying.
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Danny is caught and jailed…for killing Farish, not Robin.
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The murder of Robin remains unsolved.
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Harriet and Hely drift apart. Life moves on.
💬 Final Thoughts
If you go into The Little Friend expecting a murder mystery with a satisfying whodunnit, you might want to lower those expectations…into the basement.
Yes, Tartt can paint a scene with words like few others. But this novel spends over 500 pages circling the drain of its own gorgeous sentences.
Would it have been a 5-star read if Tartt had just told us who killed Robin? Probably.
🛒 Where to Buy
👉 The Little Friend on Amazon (affiliate link)
📚 If You Liked This, You Might Like:
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The Secret History by Donna Tartt — equally beautiful prose, much tighter plot
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We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson — creepy family secrets, actual resolution
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The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt — long, but with a clearer emotional payoff
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