"The Likeness" Book Review

The Likeness by Tana French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"The eagerly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestselling psychological thriller 'In the Woods' 

"Six months after the events of 'In the Woods', Detective Cassie Maddox is still trying to recover. She's transferred out of the murder squad and started a relationship with Detective Sam O'Neill, but she's too badly shaken to make a commitment to him or to her career. Then Sam calls her to the scene of his new case: a young woman found stabbed to death in a small town outside Dublin. The dead girl's ID says her name is Lexie Madison (the identity Cassie used years ago as an undercover detective, and she looks exactly like Cassie.

"With no leads, no suspects, and no clue to Lexie's real identity, Cassie's old undercover boss, Frank Mackey, spots the opportunity of a lifetime. They can say that the stab wound wasn't fatal and send Cassie undercover in her place to find out information that the police never would and to tempt the killer out of hiding. At first Cassie thinks the idea is crazy, but she is seduced by the prospect of working on a murder investigation again and by the idea of assuming the victim's identity as a graduate student with a cozy group of friends.

"As she is drawn into Lexie's world, Cassie realizes that the girl's secrets run deeper than anyone imagined. Her friends are becoming suspicious, Sam has discovered a generations-old feud involving the old house the students live in, and Frank is starting to suspect that Cassie's growing emotional involvement could put the whole investigation at risk. Another gripping psychological thriller featuring the headstrong protagonist we've come to love, from an author who has proven that she can deliver."

I always seem to find a book series after starting with the second one in the series. This always screws up my perception of the series as a whole. That happened with Cornelia Funke's "Inkheart" trilogy: I read "Inkspell" and ended up half falling in love with Dustfinger. And then I read the first one and realized he's a dick and that I'm probably not supposed to like him. Whoops.

This is the first of Tana French's books that I've read, and I hope to read more. I had heard about her and how great her books are and now I know firsthand what everyone is talking about.

I really enjoyed this book. I was content with what I was reading, but I was looking for something that would make me a bit crazy. Something I could dive into, constantly think about (and almost get into car accidents because I was thinking about it so much). Something I could obsess over and, maybe, fall in love with a character or two. This book fit the bill.

At first I didn't like it because the characters were being so annoying; case in point, Cassie acting like she didn't want to go undercover with these nearly impossible circumstances, even though it was plainly obvious she was interested from the start. This story is so improbable (I hope). Apart from twins, I've never seen two people who looked so alike as to be misidentified. I've seen people who could've been brothers/sisters, but never completely identical.

There were a few times when it was going a bit slow for me, but then the writing was very good, so I kept at it. I devoured it. Now, I knew who had done it, or rather, who took the blame in the end, but I was mesmerized by the setting and the group's odd sexual, pseudo-familial relationship (I would totally live there). And I still needed to know how it would all come about in the end.

For the record, I fell in love with Rafe, even though/because of he was such a snotty, blond, British bitchy whore. I also fell in love with Daniel towards the end, a feeling born out of pity I think.

I definitely recommend it for those who don't want to read the usual crime scene investigative story. This isn't even like your usual undercover book either. It's very different and refreshing. I'm intrigued enough to want to read the first one, but I have my doubts as to whether I will like it as much as it's sequel.

View all my reviews

I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.