The Likeness in Overdue Podcast

Nov 08, 2012 Jason rated it really liked it

An unlikely scenario that is well enough explained. The winning aspect here is the writing style, it's fluid and descriptive. French is also very good at exploring the complexities of human nature. I know this was a murder mystery, but it's also a study of the living characters and the revelations that involve the living were, I think, more interesting than divulging who the killer was. As I imagine true cases often are, the tempo of French's books tends to go from a fairly meandering, somewhat ...more

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Dec 12, 2016 Hannah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Cassie Maddox is a detective working Domestic Violence when she gets a call from her former undercover boss. A girl has been found murdered and the girl looks exactly like Cassie. Not only that, but the name she is using "Lexi Madison" is one of Cassie's aliases from her undercover days. Using their similar looks, Cassie must again go undercover to both try and understand the victim and also to find her killer. While she is under, the lines between the victim and herself start to blur and she fi Cassie Maddox is a detective working Domestic Violence when she gets a call from her former undercover boss. A girl has been found murdered and the girl looks exactly like Cassie. Not only that, but the name she is using "Lexi Madison" is one of Cassie's aliases from her undercover days. Using their similar looks, Cassie must again go undercover to both try and understand the victim and also to find her killer. While she is under, the lines between the victim and herself start to blur and she finds it easier to think how the victim thought and forget herself.

The mystery was fantastic. The book started out trying to make it look like there could be any number of potential killers, but by page 200 you've only met a limited number of people and any good mystery reader can tell you that you've met your killer by then. So it was almost frustrating that it took Cassie until page 300 to figure that out. But I liked how the clues were linked together and revealed in a way that you could figure things out or not feel stupid if Cassie had to explain it to you.

However, Cassie annoyed me a lot. She was mentioned in the first book in the series, but we never got the case from her perspective. She kept bringing it up in this book, but would never actually talk about it. She would just refer to it vaguely and how it "messed her up". I kept wanting to shake her and say "Process it or shut up." She bragged about how she went to see a therapist and was able to fib her way to getting cleared for duty. Why is that something to be proud of? We're living in a society that already stigmatizes people who see therapists. I think it would be fine if a strong, female character also talked to a therapist. That would be a good role model.

Also, she would find evidence and then hide it from her handler. Again, is she a good detective or a loose cannon? Her reasoning to hide things would be "instinct". What is that? When some of the threads come together, I wanted to point out that they would have come together a lot sooner if she had worked her with her team more.

But the psychology of the characters is great and they were well-drawn. I felt like they were real people and the chain of events made a lot of sense. I thought it was very absorbing. It lost the five star because I hate when an author has to be very specifically vague about feelings. ...more

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May 06, 2020 Janine Corman rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lent-out, in-my-library, suspense, mystery, series-novels, i-will-read-in-2019

Yes, I know that the premise of this book is rather ridiculous, but I still found myself thoroughly engrossed in the psychological suspense of this novel. Cassie Maddox was my favorite character from IN THE WOODS, a debut novel that never grabbed me the way that this one did. Tana French’s writing improved immensely in this follow-up. The first person narration that I found annoying in the debut was what I loved most about this story. Perhaps she is just better at writing from a woman’s POV. I’m ...more

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Aug 22, 2018 Camille24 (camilleisreading) rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks-audible-librofm, mystery-thriller-suspense, read-or-dead

I really enjoyed this one! Cassie Maddox, who was Rob’s partner and an awesome character in Into The Woods, is the narrator/main character in this installment. Years ago Cassie worked as an undercover cop, posing as a college student named Lexie Madison. When a woman going by the same name, who could be Cassie’s double, is murdered, detective Frank Mackey sees this as a perfect opportunity for Cassie to go back undercover. With no leads or physical evidence in Lexie’s death, Frank convinces Cass ...more

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Nov 08, 2015 Kate rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, library, 2016

I don't want to say much about this, because so much about what makes "The Likeness" such a good read is the inner workings of the characters, the way they love each other and the ways they play each other. I will say, though, that I LOVED IT. Every gothic trapping French uses, she manipulates in such a fun way. And there is everything: a big creepy house, family secrets, a weird, angry village, odd, incestuous relationships, look-a-likes, ghostly, whispery winds, muuuurder, but these things are ...more

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