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Holistic Guidance - The Likeness: A Novel
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List Price: $25.95
Our Price: $17.13
Your Save: $ 8.82 ( 34% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9780670018864
ISBN: 0670018864
Label: Viking Adult
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 480
Publication Date: 2008-07-17
Publisher: Viking Adult
Studio: Viking Adult
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Editorial Reviews:
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The eagerly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestselling psychological thriller In the Woods
Six months after the events of In the Woods, Detective Cassie Maddox is still trying to recover. She’s transferred out of the murder squad and started a relationship with Detective Sam O’Neill, but she’s too badly shaken to make a commitment to him or to her career. Then Sam calls her to the scene of his new case: a young woman found stabbed to death in a small town outside Dublin. The dead girl’s ID says her name is Lexie Madison—the identity Cassie used years ago as an undercover detective—and she looks exactly like Cassie.
With no leads, no suspects, and no clue to Lexie’s real identity, Cassie’s old undercover boss, Frank Mackey, spots the opportunity of a lifetime. They can say that the stab wound wasn’t fatal and send Cassie undercover in her place to find out information that the police never would and to tempt the killer out of hiding. At first Cassie thinks the idea is crazy, but she is seduced by the prospect of working on a murder investigation again and by the idea of assuming the victim’s identity as a graduate student with a cozy group of friends.
As she is drawn into Lexie’s world, Cassie realizes that the girl’s secrets run deeper than anyone imagined. Her friends are becoming suspicious, Sam has discovered a generations-old feud involving the old house the students live in, and Frank is starting to suspect that Cassie’s growing emotional involvement could put the whole investigation at risk. Another gripping psychological thriller featuring the headstrong protagonist we’ve come to love, from an author who has proven that she can deliver.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: From S. Krishna's Books
Comment: I really enjoyed In the Woods [review], so when I heard that Tana French had a new book out, I was really excited. In the Woods left such an open ending - I was eager to pick up the story where it had left off.
Well, that's not quite how The Likeness worked. If you want to read The Likeness simply because you want an answer to the ambiguous ending of In the Woods, don't bother picking it up. While it is a continuation of Cassie's story, and there are numerous references in it to IIn the Woods, it does not solve the mystery from its prequel. It is helpful to have read In the Woods first because the events in that book are referenced numerous times, but Cassie's story stands on its own.
That being said, The Likeness is an amazing book that I believe surpassed its predecessor in every way. While the writing quality is just as wonderful, the story was absolutely enthralling. It is very different, but I can't put my finger on why. I would say that The Likeness is intensely psychological, except so was In the Woods, just in a different way. Perhaps it is that in the first novel, we witness the book through Detective Ryan's eyes as he slowly has a nervous breakdown; it is an exploration of the human psyche and the depths of childhood trauma. The Likeness, on the other hand, takes us into Cassie's head, which is much clearer. It is a poetic exploration of friendship and love, of truth and lies. This is a poor description, and I can't explain it - all I can say is that the book reminded me of The Secret History by Donna Tartt (except it might have been even better!)
I also loved the character of Cassie. French wrote her incredibly well - she is very likeable, but has her own issues on the inside. The writing is beautiful as well. I think the sheer suspense ofIn the Woods may have overshadowed the wonderful qualities of French's writing. They are much more apparent in the slower pace of The Likeness.
In short, The Likeness is a wonderful novel that I highly recommend. It isn't as suspenseful as In the Woods but it has a quality of its own and I couldn't put it down.
4 and a half stars rounded up to 5
Customer Rating: 
Summary: preposterous but engaging
Comment: Once the reader buys into the basic premise that a person can look EXACTLY like someone else, enough so that intimate friends and possibly lovers are not able to tell when an imposter has taken over, then this book is delightfully full of thrills and plot twists and good dialog.
For a couple of nights, Tana French's story kept me up later than I wanted to be. When a novel makes me want to keep reading so I know what happens next, it's a great read. Try it. You'll like it... I promise.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary book from a superb contemporary crime writer
Comment: This is the sort of book that will turn you inside out and continue to haunt you long after the last page. Before I had even finished it, I wanted to read it again. I'm usually not a huge fan of crime fiction, but In the Woods was engrossing enough to lead me straight into this one -- which I gave up sleep to read, and still can't get out of my head. Tana French is not your standard crime writer, and this extraordinary book goes far above and beyond anything I had ever expected from it. The characters are extraordinarily well developed and appealing, the plot is wholly original and fascinating; on the whole, this is a nearly flawless book. I can't wait to see what else French has up her sleeve.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Filmmakers, take note.
Comment: I bought"The Likeness" before I was halfway through "In the Woods." I was arrested by French's characters and her poetic prose. I am also an actor and theatre director - and kept envisioning ways to film both novels! What casting possibilities! What suspense! What psychological game-playing!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Seductively safe atmosphere and delicately suspenseful plot. This is an intelligent, enjoyable mystery. Highly recommended
Comment: A year after the events in In The Woods, Cassie Maddox has an unheard of opportunity: A recent murder victim is her exact double, and even used an undercover alias that Cassie created years ago. Now, she can become the victim, stepping into her life and her friendship with a close-knit group of four students, to try and crack the case from within. The Likeness is strongly atmospheric, with an almost magical setting, a closely interwoven cast of characters, and slow, delicate suspense. It isn't an attention-grabbing book, but it is an intriguing, strongly constructed mystery, and I loved it. Enthusiastically recommended.
I picked up The Likeness because I read In The Woods and loved it--it was a dark and visceral book which captured me and simply would not let go. The Likeness is a different style of book. It still has a strong atmosphere, but that atmosphere is quiet, romantic, and almost magical (even though there's no magic in the book), building into slow suspense. Cassie enters an extraordinary life: a close-knit friendship whose apparent safety and strength seduces both Cassie and the reader; an old refurbished home which cocoons the occupants in a small, private world. Yet Cassie is in the middle of a murder investigation, and she is always in danger of being discovered or attacked; despite the utopian setting, the suspense builds: slow, delicate, insidious. It's a careful balance and, though it isn't as attention-grabbing as In The Woods, it makes The Likeness an intriguing and compelling read.
Meanwhile, French spins an intelligent mystery. There are some unbelievable moments (not just the coincidence of the shared appearance and alias, but that an undercover investigation like this would ever occur), but the twist and turns are realistic while still surprising and the final reveal is entirely logical--but also tense and frightening. French's writing style is strong: Cassie has a unique narrative voice, the story is well-paced, and the setting and characters come to life (although some characters have unrealistically strong and simplified traits). I loved In The Woods so much that I was almost hesitant to read The Likeness, afraid that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. While I still prefer In The Woods, my fears were for naught. The Likeness is intelligent and subtly nuanced, seductive and suspenseful, and a pleasure to read. I highly recommend it--and, despite being an indirect sequel, The Likeness stands alone and interested readers not need read In The Woods first unless they want to.
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