The Likeness

ByTana French

Release Date: 2008-07-17
Genre: Mysteries & Thrillers

Score: 4.5

4.5

From 1,409 Ratings

Description

New York Times bestselling author Tana French, author of the forthcoming novel The Hunter, is “the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years” (The Washington Post) and “inspires cultic devotion in readers” (The New Yorker).

“Required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting.” —The New York Times

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.

The Likeness is a supremely suspenseful story exploring the nature of identity and belonging.

Reviews

A masterpiece.
5
By EricPT
This is my favorite work of fiction in all the world. I, too, never wanted this world to end.
Wow beautiful and compelling
5
By Martholomeow
It’s a murder mystery but it’s really a beautiful and touching story of people and the needs we all share. Brilliantly constructed. Masterfully told. Tana French starts with a premise that is so implausible that another author would have ended up with something silly. Instead she manages to not only make it work but has written a deep and moving masterpiece.
Unnecessarily Descriptive
3
By sully2385
Book #1, In the Woods was fantastic; so I kept going. The Likeness took me longer to read than any book in my life. Great story, but the drawn out over description and analyzing of characters and their thoughts was incredibly boring. I had to walk away from this book several different times and make myself continue on just to finish it. I thought it would never end and was grateful when it finally did.
Impossible to care about these people
1
By Chamfhfjdjfjf
Who cares about any of these twits? Nowhere near as good as her other books.
The Likeness
3
By Lynda La Plante
Too long
The author CLEARLY based her characters on the characters in “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt
4
By DORI3262
As the title notes, the structure of the student “family” is a clear riff on the earlier work by Pulitzer Prize winner, Donna Tartt. That said, it’s rather a nice homage to the original concept, although the plot gets muddled in places.
Soooooo slow and stupid plot line
1
By 3penny
I had a lot of problems with this book. First, the basic plot was a ridiculous stretch. Seriously, someone is replaced by someone else and her roommates (at least most of them) don't even notice? Second, our heroine, a hard-nosed detective,gets completely enamored of this group of flighty immature students. Doesn't seem realistic. In terms of the writing, I found it to be excruciatingly slow and way too wordy. I only finished reading it because I spent $12.99 on it, but don't make the same mistake I did. Reread something by Raymond Chandler instead.
Agonizingly Slow
3
By MNnm2
Loved Tana French’s first book, In The Woods. While I figured out who dunnit, was excited to read the ending. This book was soooo in your head, touchy feely and maudlin that while it was obvious who the major suspects were, I really didn’t care who dunnit. And not particularly interested in the victim. The premise requires a lot of buy in, which didn’t seem likely. Also, I had no empathy for any of the characters, all are “off.” There are no winners here, no sense of accomplishment, no examples of clever police work. I was on a long and dull part of a road trip, and just wanted to finish the book before the end of the road. Not sure if I will read any more in the series, started the next book sample and didn’t continue.
The Likeness
4
By Laure Belle
I loved In The Woods, and The Likeness is a great story as well. I would recommend both books to readers.

That said, Likeness was a little difficult to read in spots. I found myself often having to search for quotation marks to comprehend between current dialogue and background dialogue she constantly provided. For example, a character would be asked a question, and it would be answered 2 pages later! It got to be too much, but still I muddled thru it to the end.
A slow read
3
By Avalma
It took me forever to finish this book. I wasn't too crazy about the fantasy world the characters created. I felt it was creepy. But, I'm glad I finally finished the book. The writing is good.