By: Tana French Publisher: Viking Adult Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Viking Adult Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 480 Publication Date: July 17, 2008
Product Description: 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.
Superb second novel by Irish writer.... Tana French, a young Irish novelist, has produced a second exciting police procedural (though she invented a homicide squad, which the national Irish police don't have). I'm not going to steal readers' fun by telling the plot, which is convoluted but still under control; just take my advice and read her as quickly as you can get to it. But start with IN THE WOODS first so you can get the full flavor of this new mystery writer's talent and artistry.
second book as good as the first After reading 'In the Woods' I couldn't wait to read Tana French's second novel 'The Likeness'. I have just done so and was not disappointed. To call these books detective novels is probably doing them a disservice as they are so much more than that. The protagonists in both books are certainly detectives - and there is a murder in each book, the solving of which is the thread running through the stories; however, unlike some novels of this genre, the prose is so evocative and beautiful-and the characterisation so vivid and carefully crafted that these novels could qualify as serious 'literature'; they are certainly very entertaining and totally absorbing.
Beautifully written psycho babble First, I have to say I love Tana French's prose style. The words come rushing at you headlong until you're completely entwined in the textures and colors and lights of the world she's spinning. This book is no exception.
I'll also point out that I didn't even care that we don't know what happened to Rob in the woods in the last book. I see that confusion as intrinsic to Rob's character, and I was happy to let her leave it that way. An author who writes as fluidly as French gets lots of leeway from me. But even her lovely language couldn't hide the fact that this plot made no sense.
I was willing to believe that Cassie had a double. I'd even believe that the police force was willing to put weeks and weeks of dedicated resources and personnel into finding the murder of one lone girl without any pressure from the victim's family or political factions. (It'd be nice if it worked that way, after all.) And I was prepared to overlook all the ways a defense lawyer could take apart a case built with the assistance of someone pretending to be the deceased. (Maybe Irish courts don't have a problem with entrapment.)
But once Cassie was settled in the house, the plot went too far off the rails even for me. Once again, French embroiled Cassie in relationships based in arrested adolescence. Rob had an excuse, his emotional development was arrested by his childhood trauma, but these people *chose* to remain as pre-adolescents. I was more interested in why French likes this motif so much than the posturing of the four friends. Sure, the philosophizing about the nature of identity was fun, but couldn't redeem the jaw-dropping attitudes of everyone involved about the murder and the victim by the end of the book. Sam's the only person who came out of the whole thing with a shred of integrity.
Heather O'Neil does do a fabulous job narrating the audio.
I'll pick up the next one (surely Frank's a grown up and will be allowed to interact with other adults, right?) but this was a disappointment.
From S. Krishna's Books I really enjoyed In the Woods [review], so when I heard that Tana French had a new book out, I was really excited. In the Woods left such an open ending - I was eager to pick up the story where it had left off.
Well, that's not quite how The Likeness worked. If you want to read The Likeness simply because you want an answer to the ambiguous ending of In the Woods, don't bother picking it up. While it is a continuation of Cassie's story, and there are numerous references in it to IIn the Woods, it does not solve the mystery from its prequel. It is helpful to have read In the Woods first because the events in that book are referenced numerous times, but Cassie's story stands on its own.
That being said, The Likeness is an amazing book that I believe surpassed its predecessor in every way. While the writing quality is just as wonderful, the story was absolutely enthralling. It is very different, but I can't put my finger on why. I would say that The Likeness is intensely psychological, except so was In the Woods, just in a different way. Perhaps it is that in the first novel, we witness the book through Detective Ryan's eyes as he slowly has a nervous breakdown; it is an exploration of the human psyche and the depths of childhood trauma. The Likeness, on the other hand, takes us into Cassie's head, which is much clearer. It is a poetic exploration of friendship and love, of truth and lies. This is a poor description, and I can't explain it - all I can say is that the book reminded me of The Secret History by Donna Tartt (except it might have been even better!)
I also loved the character of Cassie. French wrote her incredibly well - she is very likeable, but has her own issues on the inside. The writing is beautiful as well. I think the sheer suspense ofIn the Woods may have overshadowed the wonderful qualities of French's writing. They are much more apparent in the slower pace of The Likeness.
In short, The Likeness is a wonderful novel that I highly recommend. It isn't as suspenseful as In the Woods but it has a quality of its own and I couldn't put it down.
4 and a half stars rounded up to 5
preposterous but engaging Once the reader buys into the basic premise that a person can look EXACTLY like someone else, enough so that intimate friends and possibly lovers are not able to tell when an imposter has taken over, then this book is delightfully full of thrills and plot twists and good dialog.
For a couple of nights, Tana French's story kept me up later than I wanted to be. When a novel makes me want to keep reading so I know what happens next, it's a great read. Try it. You'll like it... I promise.
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