The Likeness: A Novel | 
|  | | | Title: | The Likeness: A Novel | | Author: | Tana French | | Publisher: | Viking Adult | | Type: | Book / Hardcover | | Publication Date: | 17 July, 2008 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0670018864 / 9780670018864 | | List Price: | $25.95 | | You Save: | $9.60 | | Amazon Price: | $16.35 | |
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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.
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Customer Reviews:
• Even Better Than French's First Book 01 November, 2008
Several months ago, I read French's first book, In the Woods, and I thought that it was absolutely gripping as a mystery, with interesting characters and flowing language. Well, The Likeness is even better.
Picking up after the events in The Woods, The Likeness is told from the perspective of Cassie, a detective in Ireland who has left the murder squad after the previous book's events, and now works domestic violence cases. She doesn't think she can be drawn back in to work on murder cases, let alone undercover work, until a murder victim turns up with a bizarre connection to Cassie. This happens in the first pages of the book, and absolutely hooked me right from the start.
Cassie goes undercover with a group of suspects, graduate students who live together in a large, old house, and insinuates herself into their lives. Is one of them a killer? If so, can she figure out who? Does she want to figure it out? And... will she blow her cover?
Pick up this book, and you won't want to put it down until you have all the answers. I can't recommend this highly enough.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A6WM6KD9JO11U
• Lyrical Prose And Engaging Characters 19 November, 2008
Tana French's sequel to The Woods is an equally well-written novel with a more satisfying resolution. The characters are masterfully drawn and draw you into their unique world. Ms. French's mysteries are a delightful change from the best-seller norm, because they extend beyond the entertainment plane into the realm of literary works. You can't wait to get back to the story, but don't have any underlying guilt that you are leaving your intellect behind as you do.
That said, I miss the flawed, but interesting, Rob Ryan from the Woods. And Cassie's periodic references in this book to their easy and charming camaraderie prior to the break-up of their partnership reinforces that feeling. Perhaps, when she has fulfilled her creative urges to tell the stories of other characters, Ms. French will give the damaged and self-destructive Rob a repreive and return engagement.
Until that time, I will be happy to enjoy the experiences of other members of Dublin's finest, as crafted by this gifted author.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2U2OYFYUYL4K5
• Boycott Kindle 01 December, 2008
I'm livid! When I was one of the first Kindle purchasers, I was assured that no downloads would cost more than $9.99. Now that they have sold thousands of their machines, they go back on their words and start to raise their prices. I'm TIRED of being taken advantage of. From this point on, I will no longer download, or buy ANYTHING from Amazon. I made a verbal complaint, and was totally blown off. If thousands of us call them on this deception and boycott them, maybe we can force them to honor their commitments. How about it?
- Reviewed by customer ID: A6PKRPNK8DGLM
• Gorgeous Writing, Flimsy Plot 02 December, 2008
Likeness is one of those off-kilter books that you love to read because the prose is stunning, but which fails completely as a novel. In order for French's plot to work you have to believe: 1)that an undercover cop could pass herself off as another person to a group of people who knew her "double" intimately, 2)that a person can go from being a hat designer to a PhD student in one year (transcripts? application process? recommendations?),3) that grad school students act like 15-year-olds (well, OK maybe that's not so far off the mark),4) that a trained undercover cop would keep important evidence (the diary) from her superiors, etc. etc. etc. I simply did not buy any of it. There were problems with the writing as well. I found the trendy post-modern "quotes" (Star Trek, Alice's Restaurant) disruptive. And those endless ambiguous, interrupted conversations hinting at dark secrets got old after a while. I wanted some resolution. Even the relationships between the characters were unconvincing. Was Cassie actually supposed to be in love with Sam? Why did Cassie want to be Lexi? Why did the villagers care so deeply about a woman who had died almost a hundred years earlier? In short, the premise was implausible, the book was over-written, and the psychology shaky.
French is a fabulous writer. I'm hoping that her third novel will be a charm.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2LRWMHJ1ZK36M
• Thriller Of The Year 29 October, 2008
With only two months to go in 2008 Tana French's "The Likeness" is odds-on to be not only the thriller of the year, but maybe the best book of the year. Featuring Detective Cassie Maddox from Ms. French's debut Edgar-winning novel "Into the Woods", and again set in the outskirts of Dublin, it is both exquisitely written and utterly compulsive; you find yourself putting off things that must be done for just another half-an-hour's read. Once you get past the desperately unlikely premise that an undercover cop is such a ringer for a murdered girl that she can be re-introduced into a hermetically-sealed group of PHD students without detection, you simply have to know what led to the death and who did it, and you have to know NOW. Slightly reminiscent of Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" the quality of the prose, the skill of the characterisation, the compulsive arc of the story, the best heroine in contemporary genre fiction, this is a must-read. But don't expect to get anything done for four days after you start it.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1Y4P3BSGPOJF4
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