The Likeness
Narrarated by: Heather O’Neill
© 2008 Tana French
Tana French’s debut, In the Woods, hit the New York Times best-seller list and drew rave reviews from the Times (London) and Booklist. Picking up six months later, this riveting sequel finds Detective Cassie Maddox still scarred by her last case. When her boyfriend calls her to a chilling murder scene, Cassie is forced to face her inner demons. A young woman has been found stabbed to death outside Dublin, and the victim looks just like Cassie.
Dublin is one of the great literary cities, so it is surprising that relatively few mystery writers have chosen it as their setting. But the city’s famed class conflicts, labyrinthine streets and verdant vegetation make the perfect backdrop for crime. The Likeness‘ plot is surreal: Detective Cassie Maddox happens to look exactly like the victim Detective Rob Ryan is investigating. Worse yet, the former friends have been estranged since they solved a brutal child murder (the subject of French’s first novel, Into the Woods). As Cassie goes undercover as the dead girl, Rob must confront his habit of isolating the women he cares about most. Both characters are Wire-style urban officers, but The Likeness reads more like literary fiction than a straight up police procedural.
High summer. The best time of year for traveling to foreign lands — and the season most notorious for surging crime rates. If you're looking for a low-cost and non-violent way to combine the two, here is a bookshelf for the armchair detective. The cases range from Asia to Africa to Great Britain (that spiritual home of literary sleuths), up north to Sweden (but not checking in with any Girls with Dragon Tattoos), and finally… more »
