The Likeness by Tana French Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“When you're too close to people, when you spend too much time with them and love them too dearly, sometimes you can't see them”- The Likeness, Tana French

The haunting follow up to the Edgar Award-winning debut In the Woods

Tana French astonished critics and readers alike with her mesmerizing debut novel, In the Woods. Now both French and Detective Cassie Maddox return to unravel a case even more sinister and enigmatic than the first. Six months after the events of In the Woods, an urgent telephone call beckons Cassie to a grisly crime scene. The victim looks exactly like Cassie and carries ID identifying herself as Alexandra Madison, an alias Cassie once used. Suddenly, Cassie must discover not only who killed this girl, but, more importantly, who is this girl?

Sorry about the review gap again. Like I said, I was away, but I got a ton of reading done so there should be lots of reviews coming up soon. But this is the third Tana French book I've read and already, she's become one of my favorite authors. I have been looking for a good, dependable thriller writer for a long time now, and finally found one that probably will become an automatic buy for me. 

I was more or less intimidated going into this book, and if you're at all familiar with her writing you could see why. She's very verbose, especially with her descriptions. They're beautiful, sure, but don't exactly make for quick reads. And this book wasn't a quick read; it was slow, building up to the reveal of whodunnit. While the actual murder happens at the very beginning, that part of the book is mostly reserved for character development as we get to know who we're working with and why we should root for them. In this case, we got to know mostly Cassie Maddox, but also Frank Mackey, Sam O'Neil, and the inhabitants of Whitethorn House- Daniel, Justin, Rafe, and Abby. We also get to know the dead girl, Lexie, but most of what we do know of her is speculation. 

French's characters and character interactions are where she shines as a writer. Her characters are people, each with distinct personality traits. Characters are allowed to have different opinions as the main character and are not made into villains. No informed attributes here, either, if the characters say they are something, then they are. They don't even have to say anything- we get through their actions that Justin is squeamish, for instance, or that Abby is artsy. Mackey is different than Sam who was different from Ryan, and I think that if she had chosen to make this book multiple points of view, each would have been clearly distinguished from the others. I loved especially Cassie, the main character. I loved her passion for history, especially the Whitethorn House. I could relate, as someone who also finds delight in all things old, photographs and houses especially. I also loved Justin, who about broke my heart, along with Rafe (the obvious sexual tension between those two was great, and I wanted more of their story), and Frank and Sam and, honestly, just about everyone. I do miss Rob though, but I love how his absence was worked in. French doesn't just mention it a few times and dismiss it or only bring it up when it's convenient to her character, it's a recurring theme in the book that the events of In the Woods and especially losing Ryan hurt her deeply, and made her so desperately lonely that she fell even harder than she would have into this group of friends in the Whitethorn House. The way she dealt with that was brilliant. It wasn't like when Elliot left in SVU- you know, when Olivia just basically was sad for a day and then never mentioned him again, despite how close they were, until one day when it's convenient for the plot? Yeah, doesn't happen here. I also loved all the characters' senses of humor- while none were really laugh out loud funny, they all still made me giggle or at least snort.

I also absolutely loved the Irish culture and history that was touched upon- a lot actually- in the text. I only know bits and pieces about Irish history, and the parts when French went in detail about the Anglo-Irish families and the resentment that still lingers amongst the Irish of them was fascinating. It made me want to know more about Ireland, and it made me want French to write a historical fiction novel. I will say this, though, the middle dragged on a bit- though the ending completely made up for it. Cassie's life in the Whitethorn House was getting a monotonous, though I suppose that's meant to showcase Cassie falling into this seemingly idyllic world of the House and its occupants, and I am starting to get a feel for the French Formula, if you will (sorry, I have a bit of an affinity for alliteration). Beginning sets up case, middle focuses mostly on the psychological effects the case has on the main character (some of the side characters, too), with a ton of red herrings thrown in with each given a detailed backstory and potential MO, and then the end, where the actual killer is revealed. Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Mystery novels are, after all, the most formulaic books you can write, apart from romance novels, and most mystery authors have their own formula that works for them. This is great for me, because sometimes I want an author who I can rely on, whose books take on this comforting path and are still excellent. So let's talk about the ending.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW

Honestly, I had Daniel pegged from the start as the man, or if not the actual killer than the ringleader. Honestly, I had the killer from In the Woods pegged from the start too, but in both cases I enjoyed watching it unfold and got really happy when it turned out my instincts were right. Like dancing around in my chair happy. Even though he was an absolutely fascinating character- shame it had the ending it did- his parts honestly kind of bored me. Like when he was going on and on to Cassie about why they had to kill Lexie and oh my God just shut up already. I get that a big part of his character was the fact he goes off on long rants, but still. I do wish his psyche/ thought process was explored a little bit more. I can't even consider the reveal of the killer(s) to be a twist, because it was so well done and obviously what the book was building up to. So many twists just feel so half-assed, or like the author thought that a twist was meant to blindside you completely and make no sense, when in reality there has to be little hints leading up to the Big Reveal. I also loved how each red herring had reasons to kill, as I mentioned before, and even has done things that I wouldn't personally approve of, but they are still not the killer. It's like in Twin Peaks, when both Leo and Ben are potential killers and they have the motive and everything and they're both horrible people, but they didn't do it. As much as we want them to have done it because it makes sense in our minds, it's still not them. I was absolutely glued to the pages during Justin, Rafe, and Abby's tale about what happened the night Lexie died (and really wanted to give Justin a hug). A few other, more minor spoilers to touch on, because really the whole ending was so. Freaking. Good. French made sure to wrap up the mystery of who Lexie really was, probably still feeling the public outcry over In the Woods' unsolved second mystery, which I liked but would have been fine never knowing. I also loved how Sam and Cassie stayed together. I was expecting Cassie to dump him in favor of going back on the Murder Squad, but she didn't! Yay, a couple I like stays together! It's nice that Cassie doesn't have to prove herself as a career-oriented woman by breaking up with Sam. It's nice to know that love doesn't always have to take a backseat, as corny as that sounds.

MAJOR SPOILER SECTION OVER

I needed Faithful Place like yesterday. The fact that it stars Frank Mackey makes me even more excited to get into it. While I loved this book personally, and love this series so far, I will say this. If you don't like verbose descriptions, slow-burning mystery novels, or police procedurals, I wouldn't read these books. These books are not Gillian Flynn thrillers, far from them actually. I, however, happen to love those things, which makes this series absolutely perfect for me.

8.5-9 out of 10