Cassie is called in for a chat with her former boss Frank Mackey. He tells her of a murder victim he has been investigating. The victim’s named is Alexandra Madison. Cassie immediately gives him her full attention. Lexie Madison is a person who never existed. She was created by Frank and Cassie to enable Cassie to infiltrate a drug ring in University College Dublin. It appears that the young murder victim had assumed Lexie’s name when she began her studies at university.

Frank, as always, has a plan. The murder victim lived with four other students in a house they co-owned. The four, Justin, Rafe, Abby and Daniel are the main suspects in the case. Frank believes that the key to the case is to get close to these four young people and Cassie is the key.  Frank will announce that Lexie is alive, albeit severely injured. After a few weeks in which Cassie (who used to be the “real” Lexie) will return home to her housemates. The few weeks of Lexie’s recuperation in the hospital will allow time for Cassie to learn her imposter’s mannerisms, idiosyncrasies, and bone up on English literature (Lexie’s field of study).

The Likeness, unlike French’s previous novel, In the Woods, is told from Cassie’s point of view. This works much better as French’s perspective as a woman more closely parallels reality. Cassie’s emotional state as she begins her undercover assignment rings true. She likes working undercover and she has spent several weeks viewing tapes of the woman she is to become, but she realizes that the people she will be living with probably know her better. All she can fall back on is amnesia as a result of her attack. The author does a convincing job of communicating this distress.

The premise of the novel is not unlike a locked room mystery. From the information that the police have the murderer almost has to be one of the housemates. The trick, of course, is for Cassie to be sufficiently convincing that they will accept her as the Lexie they knew. Failure to do so exposes Cassie as an imposter and puts her in intimate contact with a person who has already committed one murder. Hence the suspense is ratcheted up a notch.

The ongoing relationship between Cassie and Sam is strained in that Cassie is not only working in murder again but also has allowed herself to be put in a decidedly dangerous situation with a volatile killer. There is also a note of tension in the relationship between Cassie and Frank. They work well together as professional coworkers but there is a continuing hint of something more which may jeopardize Cassie’s position with Sam.

The Likeness is a more powerful novel than In the Woods primarily because French is more emotionally like Cassie than Sam. It is easier for the reader to get drawn into the story and emotionally involved with Cassie because she is behaving like an intelligent woman would act. The reader never feels that connection with Sam in the previous novel.

Although the world has grown more cosmopolitan over the past several decades, French is not completely convincing as a Irish writer. As her biography testifies, she has lived in numerous places around the globe and her writing reflects that experience. This is not necessarily a criticism as it no doubt allows those with a more narrow perspective to understand a bit about several different cultures.

In all The Likeness  presents an unusual situation with characters who might have stepped out of real life. Each has his own desires and needs and is influenced or influences the others to act, sometimes wisely and sometimes not. Don't miss this one!

--Andy Plonka