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The Likeness

by Tana French

The Likeness Cover

ISBN13: 9780143115625
ISBN10: 0143115626
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

Staff Pick

The Likeness is another masterpiece of suspense by Tana French. Reminiscent of The Secret History, this psychological thriller is wonderfully written and impeccably paced — a perfect summer read.
Recommended by Jill Owens, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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. Sheas 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 weave come to love, from an author who has proven that she can deliver.

Synopsis:

French presents the eagerly anticipated follow-up to the "New York Times"-bestselling psychological thriller "In the Woods."

Synopsis:

The haunting follow up to the Edgar Award-winning debut In the Woods

Tana French astonished critics and readers alike with her mesmerizing debut novel, In the Woods. Now both French and Detective Cassie Maddox return to unravel a case even more sinister and enigmatic than the first. Six months after the events of In the Woods, an urgent telephone call beckons Cassie to a grisly crime scene. The victim looks exactly like Cassie and carries ID identifying herself as Alexandra Madison, an alias Cassie once used. Suddenly, Cassie must discover not only who killed this girl, but, more importantly, who is this girl? A disturbing tale of shifting identities, The Likeness firmly establishes Tana French as an important voice in suspense fiction.

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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
Katherine Adams, July 22, 2009 (view all comments by Katherine Adams)
Wow. Author Tana French's great writing traps readers who enjoy mysteries with a jolt of psychologicial suspense.

"The Likeness" features Det. Cassie Maddox, a former undercover cop now fighting domestic violence crimes. She's persuaded to give undercover work another shot when a young Ph.D student, who bears an uncanny resemblance to her, is murdered. Cassie easily slips into the role of Lexie, her double, convincing Lexie's four housemates to believe she is their (now-dead) friend.

The housemates, all high-brow literature students, have created eerie family-style relationships, spending little time at college with anyone outside their group. But they make life seem so cozy that Cassie forgets that these four friends are possible murder suspects. She infiltrates Lexie's world so well that she begins to lose focus, putting her job -- and life -- in danger.

French doesn't surprise readers with aha! moments, but her writing is so strong, and the characters so well-developed, that you go along meekly (as does Cassie) for a very scary ride. I can't wait to read her first book, which also featured Det. Maddox.
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Sherrie Roberts, June 29, 2009 (view all comments by Sherrie Roberts)
I do not have this book yet. However, everyone that is reading it is Spell-Bound. Most are 1/3 through and can not lay it down. They are so glad to have be reading Tana's New Psychological Thriller. All the readers are saying it is excellent follow up Mystery.
Now, I have to read In the Woods first.
Why, was I do busy to read the first one? bummer! Me!
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(1 of 9 readers found this comment helpful)
Christy Valentine, June 8, 2009 (view all comments by Christy Valentine)
Tana French's follow-up to "In the Woods" maintains her flare for beautiful prose and intense mystery and suspense, though it never equals her first book. That said, this is still a pageturner of a book. It seems destined to be devoured on vacations this summer, and if you like your beach reads with a little more meat and intelligence, this is your novel.

Cassie Maddox's narration is especially wonderful, especially when dealing with the ruins of her friendship with Rob Ryan, and it's fascinating to read about how she becomes apart of the cultish group of intellectuals. It's definitely very similar to Donna Tartt's "The Secret History," another novel not to be missed, but French makes the characters and conversations her own.

The only major criticism I have with the novel is its unsatisfactory ending. Cassie makes a decision toward the end that feels very out-of-character and seems to go against her desires up until that point. In addition, throughout the novel Cassie places much emphasis upon her double Lexie's pregnancy at the time of her death, yet when the father of the child is finally revealed, French gives the subject only two lines of importance before glossing over the liaison implied.

Criticisms aside, this is one of the most fabulous mystery novels I've read in quite a while, and it deserves your undivided attention.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780143115625
Author:
French, Tana
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Subject:
Suspense
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - General
Subject:
Psychological
Publication Date:
May 2009
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
466
Dimensions:
8.36x5.44x1.00 in. .92 lbs.
Age Level:
17-17

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