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The Secret History of Twin Peaks

(Twin Peaks #1)

Mark Frost (Goodreads Author)

3.94 · Rating details · 8,886 ratings · 1,067 reviews

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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The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost

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· 8,886 ratings · 1,067 reviews

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May 22, 2017 Ben Brown rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 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, whi 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, while I will admit that I am, at least for the moment, feeling a bit “Twin Peaks”-ed out, please also believe me when I tell you that I am also feeling something else right now, something that–if I am not mistaken–bears a striking resemblance to love. Much like the love that I have for donuts. Or coffee. Especially coffee.

Forgive my rambling, Diane, but it just can’t be helped; when you experience something as wonderful as “Twin Peaks” for the first time, cogency and focus are among the first casualties. In particular, “The Secret History of Twin Peaks” is something to behold, a literary tour de force that’s every bit as absorbing as the television program that inspired it (if not MORE so). While I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Mark Frost in person, the man’s inventiveness cannot, and should not, be overlooked.

Allow me a moment to ponder something aloud: although the brilliance of “Twin Peaks” often seems to be attributed solely to David Lynch–not shocking, given his flashy and defiantly non-mainstream style–I can’t help but suspect, now having read “The Secret History of Twin Peaks” and all of its labyrinthine detours into conspiracies and the realms of the paranormal, that it’s actually Frost’s uncanny ability to construct worlds and mythologies that pull the reader/viewer into their absorbing depths that is every bit as responsible for this property’s success. “The Secret History of Twin Peaks” is a testament to Frost’s constructive genius–somehow, the man manages to weave everything from UFOs, the Freemasons, Aleister Crowley, ancient Indian spirits, L. Ron Hubbard, Lewis and Clark, and even Richard Nixon together into a cohesive and original vision that is as baffling as it is hypnotic.

What I’m trying to say, Diane–and again, please forgive my rambling, I now fear that perhaps I shouldn’t have had that extra cup this morning–is that this is a damn fine book, filled with damn fine research, damn fine Easter eggs, and good old fashioned, damn fine storytelling panache, and you simply MUST find the time to check it out for yourself, Diane–preferably after you’re done transcribing my tapes, of course. And preferably consumed with a cup of Good Morning America to go with it. ...more

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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

...more

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May 22, 2018 Kemper rated it really liked it

Shelves: vast-conspiracy, crime-mystery, tv-movies, 2018

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 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 the end of the day. So Lynchian style dream logic just isn’t my bag.

Or at least it didn’t used to be until all the hype about the return of Twin Peaks got my curiosity up enough to finally work my way through the two seasons of the original show after and the prequel movie Fire Walk With Me. Something clicked for me this time with the whole story about the murder of high school girl in this weird town even if that second season is a real slog at times. And I was utterly transfixed and mesmerized with the return to it over 25 years later. So that’s how I ended up reading this, and as you’d expect from show co-creator Mark Frost even a tie-in book couldn’t be simple.

This came out before the return of the show, and it’s obviously meant to fill in some gaps and lay groundwork. The concept is that what we’re reading is a file compiled by a mysterious archivist who proceeds to link the town of Twin Peaks and the stories of some of its residents to a vast conspiracy that stretches back to the days of the Lewis and Clark expedition. In fact, it’s like a Grand Unified Theory of Conspiracy Theories that includes pretty much everything from Freemasons to Roswell to the JFK assassination along with references to real people like Thomas Jefferson, Richard Nixon, and L. Ron Hubbard.

The impressive thing here is how well this is done so that it actually doesn’t seem that batshit crazy if you’ve seen the show. The structure is particularly interesting in that it’s an epistolary novel using a variety of sources ranging from newspaper accounts to top secret government documents with notes from the archivist which connect the dots. Another layer to this is that we’re actually supposed to be reading this as a report from a FBI agent (One who becomes a character in the new season.) who is vetting the file and adding her own comments and notes to what the archivist is saying as well as trying to figure out his identity.

If you were only reading this to get questions answered from the show then it might be frustrating because while there are sections that deal with the familiar characters a great deal is just about this wide ranging conspiracy about UFOs. Sort of.

The main link is that we learn that a minor character from the original run of the show actually had a whole secret life tied into this vast conspiracy which also connects it all back to the town and its citizens. By the end it all comes full circle so that it makes sense. (Or as much sense as anything in Twin Peaks ever does.) It was probably slightly confusing to anyone who hadn’t seen the last season before reading, but as a companion piece to the entire show I found it extremely compelling.

One thing that I’m scratching my head over is that it seems to have some monumental continuity errors. Especially in the story of how Big Ed lost his true love Norma and ended up marrying crazy Nadine instead. Again, I’m no expert, but this seems wildly different then the story Big Ed told on the show back in the day.

On the other hand, the tale this time is being relayed by another character, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Frost wasn’t doing something tricky here that’s a commentary on how history changes depending on who’s telling it which would be a sly wink as to how much we can trust anything that’s in this book. Or maybe he just screwed up. It’s Twin Peaks so we’ll probably never know for sure, but that’s part of what makes it all so intriguing. ...more

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Nov 28, 2016 Paquita Maria Sanchez added it

Shelves: literature

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 M ...more

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Oct 18, 2016 Craig rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction

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

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Oct 17, 2016 Richard Jr. rated it it was amazing

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, g 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, gloomy, and quirky; much like the series.
The attention to detail is really nice. The footnotes are distracting, but they do add to the overall body and contain their own add-in of data. The cover is beautiful, and I am surprised the price wasn’t higher. The cover is highly embossed and gives it the feel of a book much older than it is. It is apparent that pride was taken in making this, and it is something that Mark Frost should be proud to have his name on.

Does it answer questions?
Heck yes it does. Sometimes those answers are subtle; a single line in a document. Other times it’s a headline about a bank explosion that you can’t un see. DON’T flip through it casually if you want to read it the whole way through. Yes, the answers are there for a whole lot of things you may have wondered, and a lot of things that may not have dawned on you no matter how many times you have read it.

Are there any bad points?
Maybe. It depends on what you expect. If you want something that tells the story in a way that is very fitting of the Twin Peaks world, this is the book for you. If you are looking for a novel to just read through, you may be disappointed. The one bad thing for me was about every 50 pages there would be something incorrect for the time period, like cellophane on a 1947 pack of cigarettes, or a 1800s’ era person using a bit of modern slang. This isn’t an issue once it gets to the 1960s’ and if you are not big into history it’s quite possible that you wouldn’t even notice. It just broke the continuity for me which was a bummer since I was trying to get back into the Twin Peaks feel.

A lot of material produced for a TV show or movie tend to be filler to make more dollars from a franchise. This book was written for fans, by folks who care about the fans and the Twin Peaks world. It answers a lot of questions, but still leaves enough unsaid that season three will be very welcome. I think this book does exactly what Mark Frost said it would, bridge the gap between the seasons.
...more

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Jun 06, 2016 El marked it as to-read

PUT THIS IN MY HANDS, STAT.

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Oct 25, 2016 Neil R. Coulter rated it liked it

Recommends it for: only die-hard Twin Peaks fans

Shelves: twin-peaks, fiction

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 ge ...more

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Mar 07, 2017 Andrew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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 explana ...more

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Oct 21, 2016 Jim Dooley rated it liked it

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 T 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 TWIN PEAKS is an incredible mis-step in the series. The first third reads like a combination of NATIONAL TREASURE and the latest offering by Dan Brown (territory that has already proven comfortable for the writer). It is not uninteresting, but it is also not TWIN PEAKS.

The second third will be of the greatest interest to fans. It provides backstory for a number of the characters we know, and provides some resolution to the famous "cliffhanger" finale. ... No, before you ask, it doesn't tell us what happened to Agent Dale Cooper. It also establishes a connection with the TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME movie.

The final third is THE X-FILES. The groundwork was established in the television series (second season), so the writer is still connecting the dots. However, it is done by elevating a minor character to unreasonable participation and providing new motivations behind a number of events loyal viewers witnessed.

Several characters are ignored or receive only passing mention. The secrets of the Black Lodge and the White Lodge are still unrevealed. And we learn that a largely accepted fan theory about the Chet Desmond / Phillip Jeffries scenes from the movie are flat out wrong.

If you know very little about TWIN PEAKS, I would strongly advise against reading this book. Not only are some fascinating series revelations exposed, but you will have the wrong idea of what attracted people to the series. TWIN PEAKS was quirky television with a soap opera base that, in its best moments, was nothing short of brilliant. My knowledge of who killed Laura Palmer does not in any way lessen the power of the episode that provided that answer. (I think that episode is probably on many people's Top 5 list of the best moments in television.)

The biggest problem is that the book dwells too much on explanations and the plotting behind why things happened. I can guarantee you that when we gathered around the water cooler after a TWIN PEAKS airing, we were talking about what happened to the CHARACTERS we enjoyed so much, not about how we thought Glastonbury Grove worked. That is this book's huge mis-step. The series was always about the characters for most of the fans, not about the machinations that were going on behind the scenes. If anyone should know that, Mark Frost should be that person.

Now, it is certainly probable that the book is intended to set-up the series return. If so, we've been introduced to a major character who is likely to be the glue to hold the new plot line together. Even so, with David Lynch promising to be closely involved with every episode, I can't see the emphasis being placed on this highly convoluted backstory. If it is, it will likely alienate the loyal fans who still love the original.

Proceed at you own risk ... and remember, The Owls Are Not What They Seem. ...more

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Oct 18, 2019 George rated it it was ok

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 m ...more

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Nov 18, 2016 Matthias marked it as to-read

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

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Oct 19, 2016 Scott rated it liked it

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 identi ...more

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Sep 19, 2018 Brooke - One Woman's Brief Book Reviews rated it liked it

Shelves: read-reviewed-2018

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

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Oct 17, 2016 John Paul rated it it was amazing

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 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 remarkable prequel movie, Fire Walk With Me. Rumors of a continuation bounced around for about 25 years, until Lynch and Frost pulled the rug out from under us and not only announced a third season of the series, but also a novel which would add to the story while prepping the audience for the upcoming continuation. That is this book.

I will refrain from talking about the actual details of the book because the full effect must be gained from upholding the mystery. I can say that the book reads as an in-universe dossier, found at the scene of a crime, and handed off to an unknown FBI agent in the modern day to disseminate and summarize for his superiors. What follows is an incredibly detailed and extensively researched history of this town called Twin Peaks, the surrounding area, and its most important citizens. The FBI agent's primary goal in reviewing this dossier is to determine the identity of its author, known only as The Archivist, but the mysteries and secrets contained in these pages lead us into even more unexpected, and riveting, rabbit holes.

It's safe to say that I couldn't put this book down. The collected documents range from 1800s diary entries, to official Air Force reports, to personal letters written by characters from the show, and Mark Frost's writing is completely airtight and believable in all situations. While the book is by no means short, the pages go by in a whirlwind because of the dense and intricate set of stories being told. Without giving too much away, the themes of historical conspiracy, government coverup, quaint small-town eccentricities, and the occult all come and go in in a dense flurry of information.

It's not perfect, of course. At times the dossier, in the course of being set up as believable and consistent in tone, can become a little dry, but this is usually livened up by the our FBI agent protagonist's copious footnote observations. Also, the parts where we catch up with the residents of Twin Peaks come across as a harsh context switch in the midst of so many stories featuring nonresidents (and even some well-known real-life historical figures). It almost seems sometimes that the Twin Peaks we remember from the TV show is an afterthought in the enormous historical web being spun, but in my opinion the book never strays too far away from this central focus.

Finally, not every fan of the TV series will be happy with the mythology that this novel sets up. Part of the charm of the show was that, amongst a bizarre but charming cast of characters and a gruesome murder investigation, there was something deeply menacing and mysterious at work in the woods surrounding Twin Peaks that the show never really fleshes out. While obviously not all questions are answered in these pages, the details we are provided might lead some to wonder if Frost, and by extension David Lynch himself, finally lost their marbles. Does this book represent a long-delayed "jump the shark moment," built off of the decaying remains of what many saw as the original "shark-jump," that is, the entire second half of season 2?

Maybe, but I suspect that the audience for this book will overwhelmingly approve of the direction Frost takes us. This book is not really meant for those curious adults who watched the show casually in the 1990s, but never reached a level of obsession over it. Nor is it necessarily for the brand-new fan who just finished binging the show on Netflix and is impatiently waiting for season 3 to drop. These readers are obviously not precluded from liking or even loving this book, but I think Mark Frost instead wrote this novel for the superfans out there. The people who went for a long portion of their life agonizing over the unanswered questions and the unsolved mysteries that this little cult TV show left us with in 1991. The fans who moved on to enjoy other items of media, but always kept a special place in their heart for Twin Peaks.

For those people, this book is a gift. It's dense, unpredictable, addicting, and yet still leaves us wanting more. And it excites me to no end that we will, in fact, be getting more in 2017. Long live Twin Peaks. ...more

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Jun 21, 2019 Dan rated it liked it

Shelves: entertainment

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 tran 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 transcripts we get more details about characters and events in the original television series. There is more background, for instance, about the Martell and Packard families, and about characters like Big Ed Hurley and Norma Jennings. We meet a few new characters as well as learning of some secrets that were never even hinted at in the television series.

The "perspective" reflected by the book is a broad one, as the materials included suggest links between the town of Twin Peaks and subjects as various as early American exploration, twentieth century technological advances, secret societies, and the paranormal and occult.

For me, the main problem with The Secret History is its many contradictions, not only of details regarding the fictional world of Twin Peaks as represented in the television show, but in connection to historical events as well (this latter is hard to ignore as in The Secret History Frost has made the effort to relate things in the history of Twin Peaks to various actual historical events, from early American pioneering through the Nixon presidency and beyond). In a couple of instances, through a change of a date or a name, the book even contradicts itself.

I can think of a reason or two for the contradictions, but these are not important. What is important, I think, is how seriously you take the mystery Frost and co-creator David Lynch present in the television show (and that Lynch presents in the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and Frost presents in this book and in Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier). If you view the mystery as solvable, based on the clues we have, then you might find this book frustrating, even infuriating (I am not the sort to throw a book across the room, but if I were, I think there would have been a few times when this book would have suddenly found itself airborne). If, though, you see the mystery not as a narrative with a beginning, middle and end, but as a plot device productive of a certain atmosphere or dramatic tension (Lynch never wanted to reveal the identity of the killer in the original television show), then you might find the book annoying with regard to its contradictions, but enjoyable for its deepening of the mystery. (Even if the mystery is not meant to be solved, though, just from an entertainment point of view, it would be easier to immerse oneself in this fictional world if there were agreement among television series, film and books as to the details of the events they represent).

I was not overly bothered by the contradictions. Before starting The Secret History, I finished reading The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer and there were contradictions between that book and the television show as well, particularly with regard to dates. Also, both from reading and hearing about The Secret History in the time prior to my getting a copy, I already knew that this book would contain contradictions).

Overall, I liked reading this book. However, I would be interested to see what changes might be made to the text if a revised edition should ever appear. ...more

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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.

...more

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Oct 04, 2017 Artemy rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-books

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 ha 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 half. A lot of time has passed, and I thought we parted ways with Twin Peaks for good.

But then The Return came, and I decided to watch it. Suddenly, everything changed. I started to get into it! Showtime together with David Lynch and Mark Frost created an extraordinary thing: they made an actually good revival of something, maybe even better than the original. And while I can't say The Return was perfect by any means, it still was an incredible experience and it absolutely made my entire summer of 2017. The Return actually made me interested in going back and finally watching the original series, and that's exactly what I did. After the first four episodes of the new show premiered, I went back and watched all 30 episodes of the original series. And then Fire Walk With Me. And then The Missing Pieces. By the time I finished I was absolutely in love with Peaks and its entire crazy mythology, its quirky characters and its weird blend of soap opera, supernatural horror and downright arthouse abstractionism.

Then The Return ended, and oh my god, what an ending. It was so... creepy, and crazy, and scary, and hard to believe. It felt like I lost something when the show finished, like somebody took something important away from me. Very few TV shows have ever affected me in such a way. So I needed something to fill that void, and Mark Frost's canonical book, The Secret History of Twin Peaks, seemed like a perfect choice. Was it really? Hard to say.

It's a fascinating book, for sure. Mark Frost is a phenomenal world builder, and this book is a testament to his talent. He takes real American history, actual conspiracy theories, real historical figures, and he mixes it all up with the mythology of Peaks, the Lodges, and aliens. It's brilliant in a way, and well written, to the point where you're not sure which of the crazy things you're reading about are actually true, and which are fiction.

Despite its name though, the book doesn't have that much to do with Twin Peaks. Yes, there are some familiar characters mentioned in several sections of the book, but really, it's not about the town of Twin Peaks at all. The book is more about expanding the universe of the show, rather than delving deeper into the history of the city (although it does some of that, too).

The book can also occasionally feel like you're watching that TV channel that only crazy and stoned people watch. You know, the one with all the shows about aliens, lizard people, Sumerians and all that, accompanied by the interviews with certified nut jobs. I guess it's fitting, since the book is about various conspiracy theories, but sometimes I was wondering if I actually wanted to spend my time reading about that stuff.

Despite all that, I really enjoyed The Secret History. I wouldn't say it's a mandatory read for Peaks fans, but it's certainly a fascinating view at the bigger picture of the show's mythology. And mythology is a huge part of Twin Peaks, so if you're into the show, you might as well check out the book. It didn't really help me understand the show better, though, and I doubt anyone, or anything ever will. Maybe except for some damn fine coffee... ...more

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Feb 24, 2018 Amanda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

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

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Jun 25, 2017 Antonomasia added it

Recommended to Antonomasia by: AB

Shelves: film-and-tv, crime, 2017, american, decade-1990s, sff, decade-2010s

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

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Nov 17, 2016 John Bruni rated it it was amazing

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 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 it all back to me. I figured it was going to be just another ho-hum media tie-in for the new season in 2017. Just something to reintroduce you to beloved characters and maybe let you know what some of them have been up to in the last 25 years. But no, this book is vastly different from what I expected.

From page one, I knew I was hooked. It opened up a whole new way of looking at the series. It goes all the way back to when Lewis and Clark first discovered Twin Peaks, and it gets into some serious esoteric American history. Some of it was just so crazy that I had to look it up. There was no way that there was documentation of this in real life.

Surprise! Nearly everything in this book has been documented, regardless of truth or falsity, in real life. Real life conspiracies that I've never even heard of, and I go deep with conspiracies. Author Mark Frost has merely bent them to suit his purposes.

My favorite of the bunch is Jack Parsons, though. I've never even heard of the guy before, and it turns out that he was one of the most important innovators of the 20th century. It also turns out that he was a real life version of a Lovecraft character. He genuinely thought he could summon entities if he put his mind to it. Take the occult side away from him, and he's Howard Stark. He even looked like the Dominic Cooper portrayal of the character.

Another thing that surprised me was how incredibly important minor characters on the show are to the secret history, in particular the aged mayor and his brother, Doug Milford. Without Milford this book would fall apart. We also get to learn a lot more about Big Ed and his love life and his military service, and we get a peek at Dr. Jacoby's studies before he came back to Twin Peaks. I love the cover blurbs he gets from Jerry Garcia and Timothy Leary. And the entry on Josie is pretty crazy. We all knew she was a swindler, but it goes deeper than we ever suspected. I was surprised to find that Hawk doesn't like his nickname and considers it to be racist. It turns out his first name is Tommy, so . . .

I am in love with the structure of this book. It is a genuine mystery, and we're trying to figure the whole thing out. The dossier is composed by two people, and one of them is the Archivist. We all know it must be a character from the TV show, but we have to figure out who. All the evidence is there, you just have to put the pieces together. He eventually reveals himself, and I'm super excited that I was correct in my guess.

The best part is that we're reading the dossier with the agent assigned to investigate it. The mysterious TP is an interesting filter to read through. For the most part he (or is it she?) is all business, but there are moments when TP gets a little personal. TP is a skeptic, but (s)he gets unsettled with a lot of the information in the dossier. I tried figuring out who TP is, but I was disappointed when TP's identity was revealed on the very last page. It's a character we haven't met before. Maybe we'll get to see him/her in season 3.

I have to wonder how much of this was in Frost's mind from the start. Did he and Lynch plan for this from the very beginning? If so, they play a very good long game. I hope some of this makes its way onto season 3. ...more

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Oct 20, 2016 Michael Malice rated it did not like it

was billed as a bridge between the two series but we learn almost nothing about what happened to anyone in the interim. there's more in here about Nixon and L Ron Hubbard than about Cooper, yes I am serious.

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May 19, 2017 Writer's Relief rated it it was amazing

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

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May 04, 2017 Sean Stevens rated it liked it · review of another edition

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 b ...more

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Dec 04, 2016 Rick Slane rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, fantasy, history, fiction, paranormal, americana, crime

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. ...more

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Aug 05, 2020 vonblubba rated it really liked it

Unexpectedly good. I feared this was the usual money-grab they often do to squeeze a few bucks from fans, but it was not.
It's written in dossier form, so do not expect a novel. It starts a bit slow and it's hard at first to understand where it is going (it begins at the times of the Lewis and Clark expedition!), but hold tight, it's well worth your time.
I loved the skillful blend of real (or pseudo-real) events with fiction, and it's so well done that it's often hard to see where one ends and th ...more

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Jul 22, 2016 Celeste rated it liked it

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

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Jan 03, 2017 Blair rated it really liked it

Shelves: past-and-present, sff, 2016-release

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 becau 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 because I thought it might be hard work. If I'd known how light and readable it would be, I'd probably have picked it up a lot sooner.) It's beautifully designed, too, with illustrations and photographs and various documents breaking up the text.

The idea is that a dossier, encased in a custom-built steel box, has been discovered, and is in the hands of the FBI. The job of cataloguing its contents falls to an agent known only as TP, whose identity isn't revealed until the end. Composed of letters, journal entries, newspaper clippings, top-secret reports and other documents, it is narrated via the notes of the unknown 'Archivist' and, on top of those, TP's annotations in the margins. It purports to trace the history of the Twin Peaks area from before the foundation of the town to the events of the original series.

I should probably mention that while I'm fond of Twin Peaks, I'm not a dedicated fan. It influenced a lot of things I enjoy that I like better than I like Peaks itself, and watching it was more satisfying for that reason – allowing a lot of references to click into place – than for the actual content of the show, which I always found tonally uneven. I also preferred The Return to any of the previous incarnations. I'm bringing this up because I wonder if it all made me the perfect candidate for getting prime enjoyment out of this book. I found the backstory entertaining and absorbing, and it made me like Tammy more (who'd have thought), but I'm not committed enough to the show's lore to be capable of spotting anything but the most obvious of omissions. Indeed, it actually made sense of certain things that I'm not altogether sure I interpreted correctly first time round, or maybe didn't recognise the significance of because I wasn't watching with a laser focus.

Now, onwards to The Final Dossier...

TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr ...more

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May 26, 2017 Kathy rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017

Whoooah. In true Twin Peaks fashion, I am left intrigued, fascinated, completely confused, but also very well entertained and ready to recommend it to anyone. Actually, probably only to proper Twin Peaks nerds...

Time to finally watch season three, I guess!

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Jun 15, 2018 C.T. Phipps rated it really liked it

Shelves: twin-peaks

A companion novel to TWIN PEAKS which was designed by Mark Frost to fill in the gaps and world-building of the original series. Mark Frost has always been a bit of a contrast to David Lynch in that he writes his fiction with the idea it should make sense while David has always gone with, "It doesn't have to make sense since reality is a crazy dream-like place at the best of times."

THE SECRET HISTORY OF TWIN PEAKS follows FBI Agent Tammy Preston as she assembles the history of the town ranging fr ...more

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