The Likeness

A Novel

By: Tana French

Narrated by: Heather O'Neill

Length: 22 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author Tana French, author of the forthcoming novel The Searcher, is “[T]he most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years” (The Washington Post) and “[I]nspires cultic devotion in readers” (The New Yorker).

“Required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting.” (The New York Times)

Now airing as a Starz series.

In the “[C]ompellingˮ (The Boston Globe) and “[P]itch perfectˮ (Entertainment Weekly) follow-up to Tana French’s runaway best seller In the Woods, Cassie Maddox has transferred out of the Dublin Murder Squad - until an urgent telephone call brings her back to an eerie crime scene.

The victim looks exactly like Cassie and carries ID identifying herself as Alexandra Madison, an alias Cassie once used as an undercover cop. Suddenly, Cassie is back undercover, to find out not only who killed this young woman, but, more importantly, who she was.

The Likeness is a supremely suspenseful story exploring the nature of identity and belonging.

©2008 Tana French (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“[Tana French] aces her second novel. The Likeness [is a] nearly pitch-perfect follow-up to her 2007 debut thriller, In the Woods.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“Tana French puts a clever twist on every lonely child’s fantasy of leading a parallel life when she creates an alternate identity for her detective in The Likeness.... Cassie is a character - the eternal lost child - you can really care about.” (New York Times Book Review)

“The writing is glorious, and the characters and drama so compelling.” (The Boston Globe)

Little drawn out but held my interest

I have been a huge Tana French fan since I listened to Faithful Place. This story was a little drawn out, but it held my interest. I loved listening to this book while I was knitting. The characters were interesting and the narration was excellent.

Compelling first person narrative of undercover work

Some of the responses of this female cop to her undercover milieu, that is, the people and situations she is forced to adopt as her own, are a little hard to believe, but the prose is sufficiently compelling and involving that you can sort of go with it. I do like the way this series sort of chains one novel to the next by developing the backstory of someone who is a secondary character in the novel you first read. And I will gladly read the next one to find out about the guy who was running the operation this time.

very intriguing

I loved it, good story telling, unpredictable plot, surprises, interesting characters. I couldn't stop listening!

Needs a Readers Digest Condensed version

Great book for someone who wants to savor flowery, descriptive and thoughtful writing and/or kill a lot of time. Frustrating for those of us who like a tight fast book. Also the whole premise is faulty in several different ways, most especially the expenditure of so much time and money on one dead woman by the police.

Compelling

Made me want to keep on driving anywhere, just I could keep on listening to this story!

great read, unique story line

enjoyed both the story and narration, unique story line from any other book I have listened to or read

loved the writing and the narrator!

Good listen. The sing song accents and unfamiliar places made my ears happy. I will listen too all of Tana Finch's writings. Too good!

Very creative mystery

Even though I've read and liked this author before I almost quit reading because the intro was so long. I*m glad I kept on. In many ways it reminded me of carefree collage days with little thought of real life bills, pulling the young mind into believing a utopia life is possible -
then exploding apart when humanity steps in..

Love this book!

Tana French is amazing at creating characters with such depth. I couldn’t stop listening to this book and I can’t wait to start the next.

Incredible!

I absolutely loved this book! I’ve read two o
f her other books before (In the Woods and The Trespasser), but this went way beyond that! It has captivated me from the very beginning and I wasn’t disappointed in it at any point. It is full of excitement and it addresses big questions about life in general. I like her take on family of origin, chosen family and academia vs. “real” world in this one. A highly entertaining and thought provoking read for everyone!