Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - The Likeness

The Likeness is a thriller, but instead of the exciting fast-paced climax and resolutions I’m used to, it was more akin to a train slowly chugging along quietly enveloping you in the story. And despite it being a murder mystery and knowing the housemates are suspects, the more I read about them the more that enveloping feeling became a sense of sadness because I really felt how much they cared about each other through it all and the hope that they were innocent even though I knew it was very unlikely. This dichotomy of feelings is something I really appreciated, and I kinda love when books are able to make me feel this way.

I also really liked how Tana French didn’t try to outsmart readers and make the mystery too difficult to solve. I think I picked up on who the culprits were, or at least suspected, early on, a bit through picking up clues but mostly because I’ve read Donna Tart before. So this is maybe less about my intelligence and more about my experience lmao.

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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

it is interesting how i have read both the first and second book and dislike the main character the most - probably because i can see how stupid they are being and when it is a crime novel, its A BIG DEAL hahaha. but overall, a good crime novel, super interesting and engaging. i liked the concept of a look-a-like and i actually liked that not perfectly wrapped up ending

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cpoersch's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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katrinarose's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Much better than the first book, and better than The Secret History (they have similar tropes/stories), but still fell a bit short for me. The unrealistic premise didn’t bother me, but I felt a bit cheated in the end finding out the full story of what happened to Lexie, as I guessed the gist of it from the beginning. Also, the back cover made the book sound much more of a psychological thriller than it was. I really liked the intense and complicated relationships between all the characters but overall it’s not something I’d highly recommend to someone.

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