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Tana French's IN THE WOODS blew my socks off. So I was anticipating THE LIKENESS very eagerly and wondering if she would be able to reproduce the intense world of her debut novel. I'm not sure I would have kept reading it if I hadn't liked IN THE WOODS so much. THE LIKENESS is very slow to get going and requires a certain amount of suspending disbelief on several levels. French's debut novel introduced us to Garda detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox. Following the traumatic events of IN THE WOODS, Rob is off the scene and Cassie is working on the Domestic Violence unit. She's also in a relationship with fellow cop Sam O'Neill who was always the outsider looking in on Cassie and Rob's close-knit and enigmatic relationship. Cassie's uneasy new life is rocked further by the reappearance of Frank Mackey, her old mentor from when she was working undercover. And then Frank and Sam take her to a murder scene out in the sticks – where the dead girl is Cassie's double. Even stranger, her ID names her as Lexie Madison, the name Carrie used for her undercover work. The discovery sets Cassie catapulting back into the dangerous world of the undercover cop as she tries to find out who killed Lexie and who the dead woman really was. If you liked IN THE WOODS, you'll know that French's writing is lush, intense and gorgeous. She possesses an enviable ability to portray scenes so clearly that you feel you're there and can reach out and touch things or join in the conversation. Snap shots remain imprinted on your mind once the book is put aside. As a crime novel, I'm not totally sure that THE LIKENESS delivers, mainly due to the slow beginning, the not particularly unexpected ending and the echoes of Donna Tartt's THE SECRET HISTORY.. But as an example of sustained, atmospheric writing and flawless world-building, it's right up there at the top. I'd be very interested to see how French would fare writing a non-genre novel as occasionally there's the feeling that the crime fiction formula is holding back some of her inventiveness. But there are still plenty of possibilities for her to explore Cassie's world.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, November 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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