The Likeness by Tana French

Tired of slick action thrillers? Try something at the other end of the mystery spectrum, something slower yet more intense. Tana French's The Likeness is a masterwork of tone and tension, evocative of the character driven books of Martha Grimes or Ngaio Marsh. The first line is reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, and introduces the old British manse which is at the center of the story.

Detective Cassie Maddox, left behind by her partner after the events of French's previous work, In the Woods, is sucked into life at Whitethorn House by a strange coincidence. A body found in an abandoned cottage is not only physically identical to her, but bears a name that she once bore as an undercover agent. The police cannot pass up the opportunity to investigate a homicide from within; Detective Maddox goes undercover, stepping into the dead girl's life. But her superiors don't understand her state of mind. She is perfectly poised to be seduced by the dead girl's life, and by the act of shedding her own reality.

The Likeness is truly entrancing; the reader balances between a desire for the idyllic mirage to continue and the certain knowledge that it has already broken apart. Check it out, in our catalog.