GREAT READS

The Likeness

Tana French.

Does everyone have a double--a person who looks so similar they could be mistaken for the same person? This is the premise of Tana French's "The Likeness," the second in her Cassie Maddox series.

Six months after a grueling murder case, (French's first novel, "In the Woods") Detective Maddox is called to a murder scene in a small Irish hamlet. Not only is the victim a ringer for Detective Maddox, her identification gives her name as Lexie Madison. Coincidentally, Detective Maddox and her former boss, Frank Mackey, created Lexie Madison for an undercover drug sting years earlier. What is the real identify of this dead girl, why was she murdered and why is she using Detective Maddox's undercover identity?

Frank Mackey hatches an innovative and dangerous plan for Cassie to go undercover as Lexie. She'll return to live with Lexie's roommates at Whitethorn House, convincing them she'd been in a coma, not murdered, all the while trying to find Lexie's killer. Suspicion rests heavily on her four roommates.

Boys in the squad room take bets on how fast Detective Maddox's cover will be blown. But Mackey and Maddox surprise everyone with what they uncover.

If you like suspense, police procedure and romance, you'll enjoy "The Likeness." Be on the lookout for her third book, "Faithful Place" and her newest, "Broken Harbor."

Recommended by Frazier Walker