THE LIKENESS by Tana French

THE LIKENESS

by

Tana French

            Cassie Maddox is back. Fans of Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series will remember Maddox from book one in the series, In the Woods; she returns in the second book, The Likeness.

            Lexie Madison is found dead. Not only did she look like Detective Cassie Maddox, but her name – her entire character – was created and used by Cassie while working undercover. So, Cassie returns to undercover work to discover who Lexie was and who killed her. Lexie had been a graduate student at Trinity College, living in a large, rural manor house with four other graduate students. So, Cassie must slip back into her Lexie Madison character in a way that seamlessly meshes with her four housemates – quite a challenge as the five had been extraordinarily close.

            I loved The Likeness. Every time I read one of Tana French’s books, I remember how much I love her work. I do not know why, when I am not reading a French book, I seem to forget this, but when I return to French, I am once again captivated. There is something about her writing, something magical. French’s work is character weighted. Her characters are not the beautiful that we dream of becoming – they are ordinary, often troubled people, warts and all. But, French is a master at painting pictures with her words. Although the mysteries in the plots are intriguing and enticing, they are secondary to the world she creates. The pictures painted by her words seem to capture an extra “layer” – some sort of additional element, like an esoteric metaphysical layer, though not in a fantastical or sci-fi sense. It is an ineffable, albeit enticing, quality.

            And, like every other time that I have read Tana French, I now have the urge to read the entire Dublin Murder Squad series again, trying to bide time until a new French book is published.