Detective Cassie Maddox is still trying to deal with the events of In the Woods. She is out of the Murder Squad and has started a relationship with fellow detective Sam O'Neill but is too badly shaken to commit to Sam or to her career. Then Sam is allocated a new case, that of a young woman stabbed to death just outside Dublin. He calls Cassie to the murder scene and she finds the victim is strangely familiar. In fact, she is Cassie's double. Not only that, but her ID says she is Lexie Madison the identity Cassie used, years ago, as an undercover detective. With no leads, no suspects and no clues, Cassie's old undercover boss spots the opportunity of a lifetime: to send Cassie undercover in the dead girl's place. She could pick up information the police would never hear and tempt the killer to finish the job. So Cassie moves into Whitethorn House, poses as a post-grad student, and prepares to enter Lexie's world.
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
The Likeness: A Novel (Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox)
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
*Starred Review* French’s debut novel, In the Woods (2007), introduced Dublin Murder Squad detective Cassie Maddox and earned unanimous critical praise. Cassie is back, and French has written another winner. The body of a young woman is found in the ruins of a old stone cottage in a dying village outside of Dublin, and the dead woman and Cassie are virtual twins. Lacking suspects or leads, the victim is reported by the police to be injured but alive, leaving Cassie to step into the dead woman’s life as a Trinity College graduate student and the housemate of four other students. Despite the tensions of being undercover, Cassie quickly learns to love her quirky, insular housemates and her new life in a once-grand house, even as the Murder Squad investigation yields little. Someone stabbed her doppelganger to death, and Cassie must find the killer. The Likeness has everything: memorable characters, crisp dialogue, shrewd psychological insight, mounting tension, a palpable sense of place, and wonderfully evocative, painterly prose. In the Woods was an Edgar Award finalist; this one just might go one step further. --Thomas Gaughan
Review
'French's second foray into the dark world of psychological crime more than proves she's the real deal'**** -- Daily Mirror 'Begin reading this and you won't want to stop' -- Choice 'A literary crime stonker.' -- Lottie Moggach, thelondonpaper 20080819 'Creepily melding elements of Donna Tartt's The Secret History and undercover police procedural, The Likeness seduces from the start ... A nifty tale of desire for belonging, as well as a cool thriller' -- Time Out 20080819 'Claustrophobic, conversational, clever and beautifully written' -- Literary Review 20080801 'riveting... hugely satisfying' -- Irish Independent 20080803 'An intricate and edgy top-notch psychological thriller.' -- Woman and Home 20080801 'Paints a vivid, gritty picture' -- Psychologies 20080801 'Police procedures, psychological thrills and gothic romance beautifully woven into one stunning story' -- Kirkus 20080611 'The Likeness isn't just a good page-turner, but a skilfully written modern novel ... French has a brilliant ear for dialogue ... Also in the best tradition of classic crime writers, such as P D James and Ruth Rendell, her characters are fully-rounded people and she is able to layer plots and storylines with a mastery that belies the fact that it is only her second book.' -- Anne Marie Scanlon, Sunday Independent,Dublin 20080928 'A truly creepy mystery thriller... so gripping you'll want to finish it in one sitting, no matter how many coffees it takes! ******" -- Now Magazine 20080908 'Dense and filled with wonderful characters and atmosphere, The Likeness is riveting.' -- Globe and Mail, Toronto 20081018 'French's writing is lush, intense and gorgeous. She possesses an enviable ability to portray scenes so clearly that you feel you're there and can reach out and touch things or join in the conversation. Snap shots remain imprinted on your mind once the book is put aside.' -- Sharon Wheeler,reviewingtheevidence 20081018
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
Product Details
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More About the Author
Tana French grew up in Ireland, the US, Italy and Malawi. She trained as an actress at Trinity College Dublin and has worked in theatre, film and voiceover. She is the author of In the Woods (2007), The Likeness (2008) and Faithful Place (2010). Her books have won Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Barry and ICVA Clarion awards and have been finalists for LA Times and Strand Magazine awards. She lives in Dublin with her husband and daughter.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
256 of 272 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
There will be no spoilers in this review.
As in her first novel, In the Woods, Tana French has created another sensuous, lyrical, haunting, suspenseful story. Although it is considered a mystery, it is much much more than that. It is a story of identity in all its literal and metaphorical forms. It is a social commentary (but never sententious) and it is also about fear and flight and love.
Cassie Maddox and Sam O'Neill are detectives from In the Woods. Although Operation Vestal (from In the Woods) is mentioned several times, these books can be read in any sequence without ruining it for the reader. The setting is again Dublin, Ireland.
Cassie is the star attraction of this story as she goes undercover to live with four liberal arts doctoral candidates whose housemate, Lexie Madison, is found dead from a stabbing in an abandoned cottage. Lexie Madison looks exactly like Cassie, and the name is her last undercover alias, which adds to the mystery. The housemates will be told that she survived the stabbing.
It isn't necessary to give too many plot details. What is more important is the response from reading. This is a generous, gorgeous, thoughtful, poetic story. The tone is almost elegiac at times, especially during her descriptive paragraphs, and the author's use of the extended metaphor is prolific and often profound. At the end of the novel, I looked up hawthorn (the tree, flower, bush) on Wikipedia and had a chill run up and down my spine. Her descriptions, turns of phrase, elegant passages and graceful unfolding keep me fastened and fascinated. What I love about Tana French is that her novels are both character-driven AND plot-driven. She does not sacrifice one for the other. With most mysteries, I only read them once. But The Likeness can be read again just for the aesthetics. Also, there is no deus ex machina here. The story is excellently paced with a well-timed delivery of its climax.
Tana French is no lightweight, but she makes the story accessible to anyone who enjoys reading. She has that gift to appeal to a variety of readers-- even readers who look for largely escape mysteries. But this is not escape reading; it is the kind of reading that makes you ponder. It is philosophical and it echoes. It has shadows, swirls, hollows, heart,humanity, tension, suspense, whispers, hawthorn, hawthorn, hawthorn...
I look forward to the third book that Tana French is working on, with Frank Mackey (from The Likeness) as the main protagonist.
As in her first novel, In the Woods, Tana French has created another sensuous, lyrical, haunting, suspenseful story. Although it is considered a mystery, it is much much more than that. It is a story of identity in all its literal and metaphorical forms. It is a social commentary (but never sententious) and it is also about fear and flight and love.
Cassie Maddox and Sam O'Neill are detectives from In the Woods. Although Operation Vestal (from In the Woods) is mentioned several times, these books can be read in any sequence without ruining it for the reader. The setting is again Dublin, Ireland.
Cassie is the star attraction of this story as she goes undercover to live with four liberal arts doctoral candidates whose housemate, Lexie Madison, is found dead from a stabbing in an abandoned cottage. Lexie Madison looks exactly like Cassie, and the name is her last undercover alias, which adds to the mystery. The housemates will be told that she survived the stabbing.
It isn't necessary to give too many plot details. What is more important is the response from reading. This is a generous, gorgeous, thoughtful, poetic story. The tone is almost elegiac at times, especially during her descriptive paragraphs, and the author's use of the extended metaphor is prolific and often profound. At the end of the novel, I looked up hawthorn (the tree, flower, bush) on Wikipedia and had a chill run up and down my spine. Her descriptions, turns of phrase, elegant passages and graceful unfolding keep me fastened and fascinated. What I love about Tana French is that her novels are both character-driven AND plot-driven. She does not sacrifice one for the other. With most mysteries, I only read them once. But The Likeness can be read again just for the aesthetics. Also, there is no deus ex machina here. The story is excellently paced with a well-timed delivery of its climax.
Tana French is no lightweight, but she makes the story accessible to anyone who enjoys reading. She has that gift to appeal to a variety of readers-- even readers who look for largely escape mysteries. But this is not escape reading; it is the kind of reading that makes you ponder. It is philosophical and it echoes. It has shadows, swirls, hollows, heart,humanity, tension, suspense, whispers, hawthorn, hawthorn, hawthorn...
I look forward to the third book that Tana French is working on, with Frank Mackey (from The Likeness) as the main protagonist.
134 of 149 people found the following review helpful
By e. verrillo
Format:Hardcover
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.
French is a fabulous writer. I'm hoping that her third novel will be a charm.
102 of 114 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It's feckin' genius, that's what it is. I couldn't write a single sentence as well as Tana French if I started now and lived to be a thousand. And she wrote a whole book, two books, of them. Flawlessly. Word after word, sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph, until the book is as perfect as it could be. It boggles the mind, it really does.
The first time I picked up Raymond Chandler, I knew I was in the hands of something profound and mysterious. I haven't had that feeling again for many years, till In The Woods, and even more powerfully, The Likeness.
Here's an Australian sheep rancher, talking about his daughter:
"But when she was nine, her mother had hemmorhaged, ...and bled out before a doctor could get there. 'Gracie was too young to hear that,' he said. '...I knew as soon as I told her. The look in her eyes: she was too young to hear it. It cracked her straight across.'"
"It cracked her straight across". That's the power of metaphor in the hands of a master. It conveys in a way that touches the heart what exactly happened, in the same way that Shakespeare would use metaphor and words.
It's a privilege to read Tana French, it really is. I feel only pity for the person who wrote of the unbelievable plot, I do. This book isn't about a plot, just as Chandler wasn't about plot, just as we don't read Shakespeare for the plot. Anyone can do plot; but to give feeling and life, undoubted life, to characters on paper, that is to marvel at.
The first time I picked up Raymond Chandler, I knew I was in the hands of something profound and mysterious. I haven't had that feeling again for many years, till In The Woods, and even more powerfully, The Likeness.
Here's an Australian sheep rancher, talking about his daughter:
"But when she was nine, her mother had hemmorhaged, ...and bled out before a doctor could get there. 'Gracie was too young to hear that,' he said. '...I knew as soon as I told her. The look in her eyes: she was too young to hear it. It cracked her straight across.'"
"It cracked her straight across". That's the power of metaphor in the hands of a master. It conveys in a way that touches the heart what exactly happened, in the same way that Shakespeare would use metaphor and words.
It's a privilege to read Tana French, it really is. I feel only pity for the person who wrote of the unbelievable plot, I do. This book isn't about a plot, just as Chandler wasn't about plot, just as we don't read Shakespeare for the plot. Anyone can do plot; but to give feeling and life, undoubted life, to characters on paper, that is to marvel at.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good Mystery, interesting characters, but could have been more...
Take what you want and pay for it, says God."
So, now that I've read two books in this series, I'm beginning to notice a pattern. Read more
So, now that I've read two books in this series, I'm beginning to notice a pattern. Read more
Published 10 days ago by ConcupusAl
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Likeness
I enjoyed this book even more than the first Tana French one: In The Woods. The characters were so detailed that I found myself falling not only in love with them, but with... Read more
Published 12 days ago by E. A. Stafford
5.0 out of 5 stars
Crime Novel - Extraordinaire!
Riveting.
The book keeps you involved intimately with the characters. You fall in love, not only with the good guys but even with the "bad ones". Read more
The book keeps you involved intimately with the characters. You fall in love, not only with the good guys but even with the "bad ones". Read more
Published 14 days ago by Carmel W
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fan
Thrill ride of a read! Each of Tana"s books get better and better. I suggest you read them all!!
cheers!
cheers!
Published 16 days ago by Kat
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing special
I was disappointed. I'd heard buzz about the book. The writing style was interesting, but I thought the story meandered and took a long time to wrap up.
Published 16 days ago by Dr. B. Iverson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unbelievable
All the way until the last page I was guessing and double checking myself for what would happen. As soon as you think you got it... you dont.
Published 22 days ago by roy hannu
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed
It's not so much that the storyline was preposterous (it was), as it was that the author failed to get me invested in that world. Read more
Published 24 days ago by b.a.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good characters, good dialogue, disappointing plot
Easy read - I like the author's style.
The characters are great - you feel like you know them by the time you finish the book. Read more
The characters are great - you feel like you know them by the time you finish the book. Read more
Published 26 days ago by NJ Book Clubber
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Book
Great book......good mystery.....great characters.....now I know why reviews often include a description of the story, because you have to type a minimum of words in order to... Read more
Published 1 month ago by cd
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good
I definitely enjoy Tana French's books and I did in fact enjoy this one however I found her first book Into the Woods much more mysterious and grabbed at my attention. Read more
Published 1 month ago by AJ
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