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The Secret History of Twin Peaks
(Twin Peaks #1)
by
From the co-creator of the landmark television series Twin Peaks comes a novel that deepens the mysteries of that iconic town in ways that not only enrich the original series but readies fans for the upcoming Showtime episodes.
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Hardcover, 362 pages
Published
October 18th 2016
by Flatiron Books
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Start your review of The Secret History of Twin Peaks

Diane, it’s 8:43 p.m. on May the 22, and I have just completed what I believe to be a monumental and not insignificant undertaking: over the course of the last 10 days, I have successfully devoured all 30 episodes of the original “Twin Peaks” show, survived the bleak terror that is “Fire Walk with Me,” consumed all four episodes of Showtime’s new season, and now–last, but certainly not least–I have dissected all 368 fascinating pages of Mark Frost’s “The Secret History of Twin Peaks.”
Diane, ...more
Diane, ...more

Nov 05, 2016
karen
marked it as to-read
i STILL haven't sat down with this book for any length of time, but i HAVE made a glorious endcap:
and now the funkos have arrived!!
come and get 'em!
***********************************************
i rarely get book-schwag, but when i do, i am over the moon with gratitude...
super-excited to dive into this one, and i cannot WAIT for the new episodes - EEEEEEEEEE



and now the funkos have arrived!!

come and get 'em!
***********************************************
i rarely get book-schwag, but when i do, i am over the moon with gratitude...



super-excited to dive into this one, and i cannot WAIT for the new episodes - EEEEEEEEEE




I read this while enjoying a piece of cherry pie and a cup of damn good black coffee after installing my silent drape runners. And lemme tell you about this crazy dream I had last night. I was in this room with red curtains….
OK, those are the obvious references, but I’m new to Twin Peaks fandom so cut me some slack. Honestly, I’ve always been kind of fascinated by David Lynch’s work, but I struggled mightily with it because I’m the kind of person who needs the story to make some kind of sense at ...more
OK, those are the obvious references, but I’m new to Twin Peaks fandom so cut me some slack. Honestly, I’ve always been kind of fascinated by David Lynch’s work, but I struggled mightily with it because I’m the kind of person who needs the story to make some kind of sense at ...more

Do not read this if you have yet to watch the first two seasons of Twin Peaks. Oh, you know why I get to put it that way? Because there's gonna be a third! Wheeeeeee!!! Anyway, warned.
Well, as fun as it was returning to Twin Peaks, this book contains some grievous errors*, and a little too much emphasis on the UFO side of things for my taste. However, we do get to:
1) learn who (if anyone) lived and who (if anyone) died in the bank vault explosion (Andrew Packard? Audrey Horne? Pete Martell? ...more
Well, as fun as it was returning to Twin Peaks, this book contains some grievous errors*, and a little too much emphasis on the UFO side of things for my taste. However, we do get to:
1) learn who (if anyone) lived and who (if anyone) died in the bank vault explosion (Andrew Packard? Audrey Horne? Pete Martell? ...more

Not only is the book a beautiful design, but the story takes the reader deeper into the (his)story of Twin Peaks and its inhabitants, as well as into the history of the United States. Thematically, one particular highlight was the "amending" of Season 2 elements. Where Season 2 went off the rails, this book fills in some gaping holes there which make for a much more cohesive view of those elements within the larger Twin Peaks mythology. Additionally, the complexity of this text is startling: at
...more

Jun 06, 2016
El
marked it as to-read
PUT THIS IN MY HANDS, STAT.

First off a few ground rules - Twin Peaks was required viewing while I studied at university. I loved the first series, got confused by the second and lost the plot with the film. Okay that was a rather over simplification but you get the idea. This series if you have not realised by now is complicated subtle and potentially down right mind bending - its great you cannot imagine (or you can) the number of arguments I had at the end of each episode.
Now on to the book - but first a little ...more
Now on to the book - but first a little ...more

You should read this before you open up the book. Spoiler free review.
USPS somehow delivered this to me a few days early (thanks US mail) so I read this over the very rainy weekend.
This is not a novel in the traditional fashion. What it is, is a collection of letters, documents, newspaper clippings, and photos. These start way back with Lewis and Clark and go all the way forward to now. It’s a bit slow in the first 100 pages but after that the collection hits its stride. It becomes suggestive, ...more
USPS somehow delivered this to me a few days early (thanks US mail) so I read this over the very rainy weekend.
This is not a novel in the traditional fashion. What it is, is a collection of letters, documents, newspaper clippings, and photos. These start way back with Lewis and Clark and go all the way forward to now. It’s a bit slow in the first 100 pages but after that the collection hits its stride. It becomes suggestive, ...more

Oct 25, 2016
Neil R. Coulter
rated it
liked it
Recommends it for:
only die-hard Twin Peaks fans
Shelves:
fiction,
twin-peaks
About 23% of The Secret History of Twin Peaks is very interesting. The rest reads like X-files fan-fiction (it's even annotated by a very Scully-like FBI agent, whose intials--it hurts to say this-- are "TP"), and doesn't feel at all like the Twin Peaks I know and love. Most of that 23% is contained between pages 155 and 237, a section in which Mark Frost sets aside the UFO sightings, Project Paperclip, and men in black to give the reader the backstories of a number of Twin Peaks regulars. We
...more

Mark Frost, the writer of this book, is the co-creator of the TWIN PEAKS television series. So, no matter what a reviewer has to say about the book, the true TWIN PEAKS fan is going to read this (especially with the series' return set to launch in a few months). It is like telling true Harry Potter fans that the latest installment (not penned by the original writer) is not nearly as good as any of the books. The fans will still flock.
With that acknowledgment, here goes:
THE SECRET HISTORY OF ...more
With that acknowledgment, here goes:
THE SECRET HISTORY OF ...more

Nov 18, 2016
Matthias
marked it as to-read

Early Christmas gift to myself!! Can't wait to jump into this one!

www.facebook.com/onewomansbbr
*3.5 stars*
The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost. (2016).
This novel is different (just like the TV show haha). It is written in the form of a dossier and includes typewritten sections as well as 'handwritten cursive' sections; both with annotations by the character 'analysing the dossier'. While this is quite a cool concept, sometimes it was hard to read the handwritten notes. If you've watched Twin Peaks (the old series), you'll enjoy the references but if ...more
*3.5 stars*
The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost. (2016).
This novel is different (just like the TV show haha). It is written in the form of a dossier and includes typewritten sections as well as 'handwritten cursive' sections; both with annotations by the character 'analysing the dossier'. While this is quite a cool concept, sometimes it was hard to read the handwritten notes. If you've watched Twin Peaks (the old series), you'll enjoy the references but if ...more

Enjoyable enough on its own terms, although the bulk of it reads more like an X-FILES tie-in than a deep dive into the world of Twin Peaks. Beautifully put together from a design standpoint and definitely ambitious, but also a little sloppy. The fates of several characters not in the upcoming series are revealed, but continuity sticklers will note a number of discrepancies with the original series/movie. (None of them bothered me much, but your mileage may vary.) The central mystery - the
...more

The Secret History of Twin Peaks has got to be one of the most thorough and engrossing books ever to be based on a television series. It introduces a level of intrigue and excitement to the Twin Peaks universe that I always suspected was there, lying dormant and waiting for the right time to emerge, but never thought I would see with my own eyes.
The TV show, as many know already, ends on an infuriating cliffhanger, and for decades the only additions to the canon was the poorly-received but still ...more
The TV show, as many know already, ends on an infuriating cliffhanger, and for decades the only additions to the canon was the poorly-received but still ...more

The Secret History of Twin Peaks "reproduces" the contents of an FBI file, including official FBI reports (with the occasional redaction thrown in), historic letters, photographs, newsclippings, etc. We also get the typewritten pages of comments by "the Archivist" who has compiled and reviewed these materials, as well as the marginal notations appended to the materials (and sometimes to the Archivist's commentary) by FBI Agent T___ P___ (name redacted). From these letters, news articles and
...more

As I've seen the entirety of Twin Peaks (up to S03E07) for the first time over the last 4-5 weeks, I have a weirdly compressed view of the series, and noticed details and continuity errors in the book with an intensity that seems out of proportion with my length of acquaintance with a show that, after having not been allowed to watch it when other kids at school were, I hadn't been especially bothered about getting round to for 26 years - until a handful of separate friends each started getting
...more

This was a really interesting book, which I listened to for the full cast experience. Luckily I was able to stay focused pretty well, even though audiobooks are more difficult for me. It was a great way to ease out of binge watching the tv show and still get to experience some of my favorite characters. I most loved learning the backgrounds of certain characters, such as Douglas Milford and the log lady. It amused me that in places Twin Peaks is described as being in northwest Washington, and in
...more

Jan 19, 2017
Jess ❈Harbinger of Blood-Soaked Rainbows❈
marked it as to-read
Shelves:
own-tbr,
to-archive
Because my best friend is the best and purchased this book in gorgeous hardcover for me for Christmas, I will be reading this before new episodes of the show come out.
I hear the steady buzzing sound of the sawmill in the background, midgets are dancing to tuneless melodies all around me, Audrey is putting on her red shoes, logs are telling their secrets, fish are sweetly percolating, coffee and cherry pie are being consumed in droves, and the owls are definitely not what they seem.

I hear the steady buzzing sound of the sawmill in the background, midgets are dancing to tuneless melodies all around me, Audrey is putting on her red shoes, logs are telling their secrets, fish are sweetly percolating, coffee and cherry pie are being consumed in droves, and the owls are definitely not what they seem.


I've forgotten how to obsess over something. When I was younger I went all in on a lot of stuff. If I found myself attracted to something, I had to find out everything there was to know about it. Like when I discovered books by Joe R. Lansdale. Or when I found the music of Nick Cave. Or when I saw my first film by David Lynch. I don't do that anymore. I don't know why that is. Have I reached a point where I just don't care enough to obsess over something?
The Secret History of Twin Peaks brought ...more
The Secret History of Twin Peaks brought ...more

Ah, Twin Peaks. It's not the easiest show to love. I had a hard time getting into it. The original two seasons at first felt very dated, the acting seemed stiff and at times almost comically bad, and there were so many characters with such complicated relationships that I still can't believe the show got to be as popular as it did. Oh no, when I started watching Twin Peaks, I hated it. So I quit. Twice, actually — first time halfway through the 90 minute pilot, the second time after the other
...more

I'm a huge Twin Peaks fan and this felt like Mark Frost having a field day with David Lynch nowhere in sight. 20% interesting material about our favorite characters, 80% ridiculous conspiracy theories. Sorry, this was a real letdown after this many years of waiting for a resolution. And, JACKIE GLEASON??? Really, Mr. Frost???

I thought this would be a quick/fun/easy read but it turned out to be a mostly dry slog with a lot of time spent on that highly original sci-fi concept: the UFO. There were some interesting tidbits regarding undeveloped characters on the show, but those were mostly buried in the barrage of bureaucracy. This is, however, a beautifully made book and you can see that it was made with attention to detail and a love for the show. Part of the appeal of Twin Peaks, or any Lynchian enterprise for that
...more

The Secret History of Twin Peaks, written by series co-creator Mark Frost, offers a “factual” look at the history of the fictional town that was the setting for the early 1990s television series. The book is presented as a dossier compiled by “The Archivist” and then interpreted by an unreliable FBI agent narrator who goes by the initials “TP.”
Frost excels at integrating fact with fiction. The book opens with scanned copies of journal entries written by none other than Lewis and Clark during an ...more
Frost excels at integrating fact with fiction. The book opens with scanned copies of journal entries written by none other than Lewis and Clark during an ...more

This is a guilty pleasure for a lot of reasons for the TWIN PEAKS completist. Especially in audiobook form, being able to hear the actors reprise their iconic roles succeeded in making me giddy as a schoolboy on a first date (had i gone on any back then). The best parts were easily the parts of the dossier that read like theater monologues since they stand on their own and are not just character backstories but emotionally charged outpourings of melodrama that reference incidents from the show
...more

Not what I was expecting but it was alright. Goes clear back to Lewis & Clark. If you like historical mysteries and conspiracy theories and were a fan of the tv show this is for you.

I got off to a rocky start with this – I am of the opinion that 'handwritten' letters should be banned from publication in books unless they are accompanied by full typed transcripts. But I soon found myself getting into the rhythm of the narrative and, having done so, it proved surprisingly easy to lose myself in it for hours at a time. (I'd owned it for a year, and avoided it partly because I wanted to read it right before watching The Return (I didn't manage this in the end), and partly
...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

I don't know how to review a book like this. It's awesome. There's a start. If you're obsessed with the show and want to know more about the many mysteries and mysteries within mysteries in Twin Peaks, not picking this book up would be robbing yourself. It started slow but it really gained momentum at about the 150 page mark and I finished the last two hundred pages in one white-knuckled sitting.
Also, if you're a UFO nut like me, you might read this book and end up loving Twin Peaks more than ...more
Also, if you're a UFO nut like me, you might read this book and end up loving Twin Peaks more than ...more
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Secret History of Twin Peaks podcast | 1 | 25 | Dec 26, 2016 05:24PM |
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6 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“A wise man once told me that mystery is the most essential ingredient of life, for the following reason: mystery creates wonder, which leads to curiosity, which in turn provides the ground for our desire to understand who and what we truly are.”
—
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“Sometimes an owl is just an owl.”
—
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