The Likeness

Good writing. Tana French manages to create a police procedural with overtones of a gothic novel. She creates characters with flaws that she can exploit to produce gripping drama. I would give the book 4 stars if the plot were not implausible in several ways. In spite of that, a well-crafted, enjoyable book.

For a novel based on two wildly improbable coincidences, this sustains interest pretty well over nearly 700 pages. Like her first novel, In The Woods, French draws you into the story, and what begins as an investigation becomes a forensic examination of relationships and their dynamics. By a third of the way in, I'd forgotten this was a murder investigation. It's quite a skill, but the appeal is different from a more typical thriller. The suspense and whodunnit elements take a backseat to the interpersonal details of interactions at a granular level. Not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.