Ever see those jokes about girls going about their days being pretty, funny, and whatnot but all the while they’re listening to true crime podcasts that explicitly detail murder scenes? We have several of these girls on the Her Campus UCSC team which I like to affectionately call “Crime Baddies.” To be transparent, I’m not one of them. Regardless of that, I have the perfect book recommendation to appeal to both Baddies and Crime Baddies.
Admittedly, this is yet another book I’ve read for class (click here to read my other recommendation from a class reading list). I truly hit the jackpot this quarter because this book is incredible. This book, The Likeness by Irish author Tana French, is a police procedural novel following one of the members of her fictional Murder Squad. The Likeness stands as the second installment of the series, each focusing on a different officer in the squad, but it can also be read on its own.
French is doing something really cool in this novel. While you would expect something Sherlock or Criminal Minds-like, our novel doesn’t adhere so closely to the expectations of a police procedural. To convince you to read The Likeness, I’ve prepared a list of non-spoilery unique features of the novel.
- A novel for Crime Baddies narrated by a Crime Baddie
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The main character of The Likeness is Cassie Maddox, a woman. I know there are women all up in the crime department, on all sides, but the way that Cassie narrates the story feels relatable. She is definitely one of those workaholic types that would fall in love with a small town man in a Hallmark holiday movie, but I like to compare her more closely to the Original Crime Baddie, Katniss Everdeen, albeit a bit more likeable.
Cassie is cool and interesting. She keeps you invested with her descriptions and feelings. The plot could carry you through all the way, but Cassie’s voice makes the experience of the unraveling murder mystery exciting through her romanticization of the process.
- Detective Discussions
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Still on theme with the portrayal of detectives, our male detectives are also intriguingly different from the stereotypes you’d expect. Rather than introverted and perhaps not that good with social skills like Spencer Reid, our men are not that way. Frank Mackey is charismatic, manipulatively so, while Sam O’Neill is most accurately described as the Peeta to Cassie’s Katniss.
It’s really cool to read characters that are real; they feel like the CEO at the big company you intern at, the cool girl in your class that you wish you could be friends with, or the sweet boy that would never break your heart. It’s refreshing to feel like normal people are capable of extraordinary things, such as solving intricate murder cases.
- A *touch* of supernatural
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Disclaimer: The following is not a spoiler because it is quite literally revealed in chapter TWO. Don’t come at me 🤚.
It’s not a lot, but The Likeness does contain a tiny bit of a supernatural element because Cassie just so happens to look exactly like the murder victim, Lexie. Just so happens that Lexie is not actually Lexie, but using a fake alias of Cassie’s from her stint in the undercover department. It’s creepy and odd; usually even identical twins have differences that make it possible to distinguish them. Luckily for the investigation, all Cassie needed to do to fool everyone and pretend to be Lexie, alive and well, was trim her bangs a bit.
This push and pull between Cassie and Lexie, the blur between the lines of different identities, some shared and some not, is enthralling. This is the pulling plot that I mentioned earlier. Following Cassie’s mindset as she dives into Lexie 2.0 is addicting; you will not be able to stop.
I have to stop here or I will end up spoiling up to the point that I’ve read! The Likeness is truly an interesting read that topples the stereotypical dynamics of a detective novel, or police procedural. I never thought I’d like a mystery novel, especially one that focuses so centrally on the police, but here we are.