Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
 Boycott Kindle December 1, 2008
I'm livid! When I was one of the first Kindle purchasers, I was assured that no downloads would cost more than $9.99. Now that they have sold thousands of their machines, they go back on their words and start to raise their prices. I'm TIRED of being taken advantage of. From this point on, I will no longer download, or buy ANYTHING from Amazon. I made a verbal complaint, and was totally blown off. If thousands of us call them on this deception and boycott them, maybe we can force them to honor their commitments. How about it?
 Lyrical prose and engaging characters November 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Tana French's sequel to The Woods is an equally well-written novel with a more satisfying resolution. The characters are masterfully drawn and draw you into their unique world. Ms. French's mysteries are a delightful change from the best-seller norm, because they extend beyond the entertainment plane into the realm of literary works. You can't wait to get back to the story, but don't have any underlying guilt that you are leaving your intellect behind as you do.
That said, I miss the flawed, but interesting, Rob Ryan from the Woods. And Cassie's periodic references in this book to their easy and charming camaraderie prior to the break-up of their partnership reinforces that feeling. Perhaps, when she has fulfilled her creative urges to tell the stories of other characters, Ms. French will give the damaged and self-destructive Rob a repreive and return engagement.
Until that time, I will be happy to enjoy the experiences of other members of Dublin's finest, as crafted by this gifted author.
 Even better than French's first book November 1, 2008
Several months ago, I read French's first book, In the Woods, and I thought that it was absolutely gripping as a mystery, with interesting characters and flowing language. Well, The Likeness is even better.
Picking up after the events in The Woods, The Likeness is told from the perspective of Cassie, a detective in Ireland who has left the murder squad after the previous book's events, and now works domestic violence cases. She doesn't think she can be drawn back in to work on murder cases, let alone undercover work, until a murder victim turns up with a bizarre connection to Cassie. This happens in the first pages of the book, and absolutely hooked me right from the start.
Cassie goes undercover with a group of suspects, graduate students who live together in a large, old house, and insinuates herself into their lives. Is one of them a killer? If so, can she figure out who? Does she want to figure it out? And... will she blow her cover?
Pick up this book, and you won't want to put it down until you have all the answers. I can't recommend this highly enough.
 Thriller of the year October 29, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
With only two months to go in 2008 Tana French's "The Likeness" is odds-on to be not only the thriller of the year, but maybe the best book of the year. Featuring Detective Cassie Maddox from Ms. French's debut Edgar-winning novel "Into the Woods", and again set in the outskirts of Dublin, it is both exquisitely written and utterly compulsive; you find yourself putting off things that must be done for just another half-an-hour's read. Once you get past the desperately unlikely premise that an undercover cop is such a ringer for a murdered girl that she can be re-introduced into a hermetically-sealed group of PHD students without detection, you simply have to know what led to the death and who did it, and you have to know NOW. Slightly reminiscent of Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" the quality of the prose, the skill of the characterisation, the compulsive arc of the story, the best heroine in contemporary genre fiction, this is a must-read. But don't expect to get anything done for four days after you start it.
Much better than her first book October 17, 2008
I didn't like her first book nearly as much because I think she got some of the characters wrong. The person I did like from the first book was Cassie, so I was glad to see that it was she that was picked for this book. And the characters are bang on in this one - so much so that they carry the book through some otherwise slow parts (it's a fairly long book). But, as with The Woods, the story is gripping and the setting is fabulous. Add the almost (but not quite) overwhelming psychological aspects and you have a great book.
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