THE LIKENESS by Tana French (fic)

Tana French is a terrific writer of intelligent psychological mysteries who puts me in mind of the late great Ruth Rendall.  She has also been compared to Donna Tartt. Tana French is not to be confused with Nicci French who also writes excellent thrillers.  Tana French is Irish and most of her books take place in Dublin or nearby.  French has won the Edgar Award for a previous book, "Into the Woods," which involves many of the same characters who appear in this book.

French is more interested in the characters she writes about than the authors of many conventional mystery novels are.  In this book, Cassie Maddox an undercover detective, who has reassigned herself to the domestic violence department after a nasty case, makes a reappearance when she is called in to help with a murder in the small rural village of Glenskehy.  Cassie was tapped by her old boss and team because the victim bears an uncanny resemblance to her, and most confounding of all, was using a fake identity that Cassie herself had fashioned and used in a previous case.  Once the reader get beyond the somewhat contrived idea that Cassie could have a doppelganger who just happened to have been murdered in her stomping grounds, and can suspend the believe in this premise, the story is crackerjack. Two mysteries are intertwined here; who is the dead girl really, and who is her murderer?

Cassie agrees to impersonate the dead girl and finds herself sharing a crumbling manor house with four students of Trinity College, any one of whom could be the murderer.  Or perhaps the murderer is one of the disgruntled villagers who holds a grudge against the occupants of Whitethorn House.  All the characters in the book are fully developed and an underlying theme of the story is the intensity of friendship and its inherent danger.  As Cassie become more involved with her housemates, she is in danger of losing her objectivity and ultimately her life.  Cassie is a strong character and she begins to make missteps as she is drawn into the isolated life orchestrated by Dan the alpha male of the group.

If you are a fan of mystery novels and thrillers, I highly recommend this book for its well developed plot and fine writing.