The Likeness in What's the Name of That Book???

Aug 25, 2022 Lisa Vegan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, orphaned-and-quasi-orphaned-kids, zz-4star, great-britain, z2022, mystery, novel, readbooks-female-author-or-illust, 1-also-at-librarything, goodreads-author

I forgot to mention in my review of the first book, In the Woods, about how much humor there was and how needed it was. This book also has that same wonderful humor. It’s a brilliant book. Great story, particularly great characters, pheromonal ambiance and gorgeous writing.

One of my pet peeves with mystery novels is when a main character makes stupid choices and Cassie does that here. (view spoiler) ...more

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Oct 30, 2013 Punk rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, queer, mystery

Mystery. Still recovering from the events of Operation Vestal, Detective Cassie Maddox has left Murder for Domestic Violence, but a case from her undercover days draws her back in because Cassie's in a unique position to investigate the murder, plus she's dead bored in DV.

The set up for this mystery is ridiculous, but hand wave. I didn't care. I dug it. I love found family and this book delivers it, sideways, because you know everything's not right in Whitethorn House; if it was, Cassie wouldn't Mystery. Still recovering from the events of Operation Vestal, Detective Cassie Maddox has left Murder for Domestic Violence, but a case from her undercover days draws her back in because Cassie's in a unique position to investigate the murder, plus she's dead bored in DV.

The set up for this mystery is ridiculous, but hand wave. I didn't care. I dug it. I love found family and this book delivers it, sideways, because you know everything's not right in Whitethorn House; if it was, Cassie wouldn't be there at all, tucked into their sweet little family like a cuckoo. So it's happy and bright, but always with something dark lurking under the surface.

What this book will remind you of, if you've read it, is Donna Tartt's The Secret History. French's prose, while lovely, isn't as lush, but Cassie more than makes up for it as she is an actual human being, and Richard (was that even his name?) was just a cardboard shape glued to a stick to bob along the narrative track and walk the story forward.

Cassie's kind of broken, no longer the sassy young detective we once knew, and I blame Rob because he's awful, but I really like how French handles the problem of Rob. He's not in the book, but his absence is on every page. Several chapters go by before Cassie even thinks of him by name, and you can feel how much she misses what they had, what his loss has cost her. I hate him, of course, because he ruined everything, but I like that Cassie doesn't seem to. I like Cassie, even though a number of her choices just baffled the shit out of me. They're not good choices, and you can see how she's slowly losing her professional detachment, except maybe it's not slow at all, maybe she lost it the moment she saw the dead girl.

Sam. Sam was there. I feel like I would have been more invested in Cassie's relationship with him if he'd had a personality? He was great in In The Woods; I loved how easily he fit into Rob and Cassie's partnership, and I would have gone to an OT3 place with them, but now Cassie and Sam are dating and I'm afraid I don't care. The strain Cassie's undercover work put on Sam was just not a concern of mine, namely because Sam didn't seem to exist when Cassie wasn't looking right at him. Rob wasn't there; on every page, Rob was missing. But Sam, even when he was standing right there—there just wasn't that much to him. So I wanna say: Yay, Cassie, for getting your man, but it's not like she was feeling it much either. Sam is safe, and steady, and doesn't get in her way, but I don't think that's what Cassie needs. I was much more interested in her relationship with Frank, mostly because Frank is an asshole, but also because Frank knows Cassie's little tricks and lets her have them, but will totally call her on them if he needs to, and she knows that.

I liked this book a lot better than the first one, partly because fucking Rob wasn't there being a stupid dick. Seriously, I'm still really angry with him. But, no, this book is a kind of fairy tale: A group of bookish college friends living together in a big rambling house, out in the middle of nowhere, so close they share each other's clothes and food and sentences, and it's all beautiful until something goes wrong. And then, like all fairy tales, we learn that maybe everything had gone wrong from the start, it just took them a while to realize.

The same could be said of Cassie. Many of her decisions seem inexplicable and make her look like a bad investigator, but if you lean into it, you slip into the fantasy along with her and her decisions still aren't good, but, considering her history, maybe they're understandable.

Four stars. An atmospheric mystery with intimate friends, the Irish countryside, found family, and murder. It's an engrossing story, but in order to fully enjoy it, In The Woods is probably required reading.

eBook: No cover, and a few typesetting errors, mostly hyphens in places that were no longer necessary. ...more

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Jun 09, 2025 Sophia rated it liked it

Shelves: borrowed, mystery, 2025

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 04, 2015 Nadine in NY Jones rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ireland, mystery, broken, psych-psych-psych

I don't have time right now to give this the proper review that it deserves. Short version: it was fantastic, solidly five stars, until the umpteenth time that Cassie felt cold or felt a chill or her neck tingled or chills ran down her back or her blood turned to ice ... You get the picture. Great story, great characters, great atmosphere, great setting, great writing, but a little too much of the suggested magical realism and a little too repetitive with the metaphors.

I did not guess who did i ...more

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Jun 11, 2014 Erin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014

I'm not entirely sure this deserves 5 stars, but, as has been established time and time again, I am a sucker for atmosphere, and this book has it in spades. ...more

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Jan 04, 2015 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mt-bookpile-2011-2015, old-reads

For once, the blurbs nearly got it right: there is a strong whiff of The Secret History here. As for the mystery part, it's nicely unresolved at the end and readers are left to wonder whether the confession was real, if Daniel is covering for someone because he could and if Cassie will go back to Murder Squad. Because French is writing these from very different POV's it's easy to read this series out of order (as I'm doing).

Somewhere in the book there's a comment that the situation at Whitehorn ...more

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Sep 27, 2011 Ray rated it liked it · review of another edition

wow the premise of this book was so completely believable that i was distracted by it through out. much like "in the woods," i thought that these were some of the crappiest cops ever. the prose is fun though and i won't deny that i stayed up too late more than once trying to finish it...but really.

...more

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Apr 26, 2022 Chrissie rated it really liked it

My favorite of the Tana French books I've read so far. I think it helped that the main character was likeable and interesting. French is great at portraying friendships, and this book had lots of them to describe. Also, the twist wasn't too far out there. ...more

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Dec 22, 2014 Stacy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2014

If I could give half stars, this would get two and a half . . .
Although I found this to be overwritten, some of the explanations I wanted were missing. Go figure.

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Nov 22, 2012 Cristella rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, mystery-crime

I'm wavering between 4.5 and 5 on this one. The narration was spectacular, but the story did drag a little in the middle. French is probably one of the best creators of characters that I've ever read so I can see what she's trying to do. I kept thinking of Donna Tartt's Secret History while listening. The dynamic between the students here is very reminiscent of it and having read it recently, it was hard not to compare the two. Looking forward to Faithful Place. ...more

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Dec 08, 2010 Ann M rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-genre-ish

Wanted to give this four stars for good writing, but the premise is implausible, the ending is way over-egged. It's a nice kind of fantasy, tho, five student housemates. It's pleasant to read about their lives. ...more

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