Tana French, The Likeness
You know what I hate? When an author takes an otherwise blameless mystery novel and mucks it up with ill-advised attempts at profundity. The Likeness is a good mystery, but Tana French wants it to be more–she wants it to be deep. And you know, it could have been, if she hadn’t overwritten the crap out of it.
The Likeness is about an Irish detective named Cassie who infiltrates a houseful of postgrad English students when her doppelganger turns up dead–and wearing the ID of one of her old undercover identities . Sounds fun, right? And it is, when French isn’t musing about how being ”a good undercover” means there’s something wrong with Cassie. Or whining about the “missing piece” that allowed Cassie’s doppelganger to assume the identity of others, or blah, blah, BLAH. Yanno, All She Was Worth is a good mystery novel with an elusive identity thief at its center, and you know how Miyuki Miyabe managed that? BY NOT OVERWRITING THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYTHING. Let the reader think for her goddamn self, yo. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JUST STOP WITH THE CONSTANT HAND-WRINGING AND PHILOSOPHISING.
Recommended for: If you can stomach the pretentiousness, it really is an interesting puzzle. If you can’t, skip it.
