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The Likeness: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Tana French
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $13.50
You Save: $12.45 (48%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 1264
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.4
ISBN: 0670018864
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9780670018864
ASIN: 0670018864
Publication Date: July 17, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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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. Shes transferred out of the murder squad and started a relationship with Detective Sam ONeill, but shes 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 girls ID says her name is Lexie Madisonthe identity Cassie used years ago as an undercover detectiveand she looks exactly like Cassie.
With no leads, no suspects, and no clue to Lexies real identity, Cassies old undercover boss, Frank Mackey, spots the opportunity of a lifetime. They can say that the stab wound wasnt 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 victims identity as a graduate student with a cozy group of friends.
As she is drawn into Lexies world, Cassie realizes that the girls 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 Cassies growing emotional involvement could put the whole investigation at risk. Another gripping psychological thriller featuring the headstrong protagonist weve come to love, from an author who has proven that she can deliver.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
 Well-crafted and Powerful Story January 7, 2009
"The Likeness" takes places six months after Tana French's first novel, "In the Woods". Detective Cassie Maddox has been through a lot of trauma and she wants nothing to do with murder cases and has transferred out of that unit. One day, a young woman is stabbed to death and Cassie is called in to help solve the murder. Things start to get creepy when it turns out that the girl looks exactly like Cassie and her ID mysteriously reads Lexie Madison, an alias that Cassie had used years earlier. By lying to those who knew the woman, a plan is hatched to have Cassie go undercover as Lexie and find out who killed her. Things become complicated when Cassie begins to develop genuine feelings for Lexie's roommates and gets too personally involved with the potential suspects.
"The Likeness" drew me in right from the start and I became immersed in Cassie's world of deception, danger and drama. While I usually appreciate an author's vivid descriptions of his or her characters, Tana French outdoes herself by painting such elaborate portraits of each character, along with their nuances, quirks and thought patterns. I could easily envision the tight-knit group of friends and Cassie slowly letting her guard down and becoming close to them. Most mystery books tend to focus a great deal on the plot but this one builds up momentum slowly and French never neglects the characters' development.
I don't know if this book will be made into a movie, but I can easily envision it all on screen perfectly. I found myself becoming really attached to the characters, especially to Cassie, and I was really sad when the book finished. I hope there will be more books about Detective Cassie in the future!
http://bookopolis.blogspot.com
Wow, Great Page Turner! December 31, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I liked the first book Into The Woods. Loved the follow up The Likeness. The writer puts you in a small town in Ireland. Really interesting characters, you will want to live in "the house". You can read other reviews about the story i just wanted to give it a rave "cant put it down" review. This book entertains.
 Languid December 27, 2008
When I read an undercover detective story, I assume that there will be tense moments sprinkled throughout the book. After noting several missed opportunities in the first 100 pages, I adjusted my expectations and continued on, thinking instead that I could fill up on the rich descriptions, such as those that easily made me visualize the Whitehorn House and its inhabitants.
The problem is that this descriptiveness extended very little to the story itself. For example, "No Pasts" means we know little about the character's backgrounds. We never learn what the "huge, complicated, vicious fight" was that Cassie had with her former partner and best friend Rob, even though he pops into her mind any number of times during the story. At the end, the father of Lexie's baby is identified but we're told nothing of that relationship. We're left wondering how Lexie actually received the stab wound that led to her death.
The story's shortcomings, however, are deeper than just individual examples. There isn't one chapter where I honestly felt as though Cassie was in danger - except for some slight anxiety in the final pages. In fact, it's almost as though Cassie, who had experience in undercover murder investigations, was intimidated by the younger graduate students who generally behave as though they're freshmen in college.
"The Likeness" lacks that foreboding feeling of "Uh, oh, things are about to really blow up." And that's too bad because I had no problem, like some readers, accepting the premise that Cassie was investigating the death of someone who looked just like her. All of the ingredients to develop a unique storyline - having Cassie live with the deceased's roommates to flush out a murderer -- were there. Instead, the story wandered. Conversations go on and on, seemingly irrelevant at times, repeating in different words what was written two pages earlier. A more tightly-written book where the author better displayed how actual detective investigations worked, with their feints and edgy back-and-forth querying, would have added much-needed suspense.
I didn't want it to end... December 24, 2008
Even better than "In the Woods". I can't wait for her next book. Tana French will always have a spot on my bookshelves!
One of the best mysteries of the year. December 21, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The writing is superb, and I love the characters. I really enjoyed In the Woods too, and will be watching for her next book.
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