I’m so glad I dove right into this one after finishing In The Woods. I liked them both, but The Likeness is a touch stronger in terms of writing and I loved the story. Cassie Maddox gets pulled into a murder investigation after a body is found who looks just like her. Everyone working the case is spooked by their eerie similarities, but things only get weirder when they find out she’s been living under one of Cassie’s old undercover aliases, Lexie Madison. Lexie was living with her four best friends in a small town. There’s very little evidence, no leads, and nobody is talking, so Cassie goes in pretending to be Lexie.
The premise of this book is pretty out there, but French grounds a far-fetched situation in a realistic world. Just like In The Woods, her characters are strongly defined and vivid. While that might be her strongest quality as a writer, her plotting and writing are almost as good. Although the plot is intricate, French never gets too bogged down in the details. Her writing is enjoyable and propelled me through the story. There’s a tinge of sadness to both of the books I’ve read by her that seems fitting for mystery books about murder. I like the reality of that.
I really liked how different this mystery book was from any other that I’ve read. It’s just such a creepy premise to find someone who looks exactly like you dead and Tana French really delivered. Highly recommend this book.
