The Likeness by Tana French

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tana French is masterful at character work, as always, keeping me right on the edge of like and dislike for nearly every character in this novel, in a deliciously gratifying way. I was swinging wildly between sympathy and suspicion the whole time, and she just kept turning those screws. Even on the occasions when the “big reveal” or turning point moments seemed to drag on for just a little too long, I realized afterwards (sometimes immediately, sometimes not for another chapter or two) that what I was experiencing was impatience for relief from the excruciating tension and the emotional payoff, not frustration with boring or overblown writing. And she always got to the emotional payoff, even when it didn’t come at the expected moment. The complexity of Cassie’s mental and emotional landscape, the messiness and strain of the situation she’s in, the pendulum of her desires and goals, all imbued with a twist of the Gothic, made for one satisfying read.



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