Her debut novel, “In the Woods,” demonstrated the author’s sure hand and promised better things to come. “The Likeness“ fulfills that expectation many times over. The plot is unusual, the characters expertly drawn, the surprise element superb. Cassie Maddox, the Dublin detective featured in the initial entry in the series, makes a return appearance in a most unexpected manner.
The novel begins six months after the end of “Woods.” Cassie has begun a relationship with Sam O’Neill and still suffers from problems from the past. She has transferred from Murder to Domestic Violence for a quieter life. Then she is requested by her former superior from the time when she was an undercover officer to come to a murder scene, and finds that the victim is almost a clone of herself: The victim was going by the name of Lexie Madison, the name Cassie herself had used when she was undercover.
With no clues or leads, an investigatory ploy develops for Cassie to pretend to be Lexie and return to the house she shared with four other students in an effort to solve the murder. The endeavor leads to all kinds of psychological insights into the various characters and with Cassie having to come to terms with her own foibles and way of life. The writing is so good that the reader is drawn forward breathlessly.
Highly recommended.
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Theodore Feit