Review: The Likenss by Tana French

Title: The Likeness

Author: Tana French

Year published: 2009

Category: Adult fiction (thriller)

Pages: 466

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): Ireland

Summary: In the “compellingˮ (The Boston Globe) and “pitch perfectˮ (Entertainment Weekly) follow-up to Tana French’s runaway bestseller In the Woods, Cassie Maddox has transferred out of the Dublin Murder Squad—until an urgent telephone call brings her back to an eerie crime scene.

 

The victim looks exactly like Cassie and carries ID identifying herself as Alexandra Madison, an alias Cassie once used as an undercover cop. Suddenly, Cassie is back undercover, to find out not only who killed this young woman, but, more importantly, who she was.

Review: I have three Tana French novels on my TBR shelf (all passed on to me from my dad), and I am so glad that I finally started to read one of them. I read the first book in this series, In the Woods (link to my review), ages ago and am not sure why I waited so long to read this one.

When a thriller is over 450 pages, you know you are going to get some major details, and that is true in this one. But I didn't feel like it was too much. There are a number of intricacies in this story that need to be told, that hold it all together, and keep the reader turning the pages.

Seeing the story through Cassie's eyes let's us see both the viewpoints of the police and the group in which she is undercover. I like that I knew both sides as the story progressed, because, of course, the reader doesn't really know it all. The friends with whom Cassie is embedded are an odd bunch. At one point, they are called a cult, and that really is what it feels like. Very insular. And loyal to a fault. It gives the whole thing a creepy feeling like strange things could happen at any moment (and sometimes they do).

Tana French writes well, keeps the reader guessing, and weaves a great story. I am so glad that I have two more of her novels sitting on my TBR shelf to read.

Challenges for which this counts:

• Alphabet (Author)--F
• Mount TBR