Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 6/9/2023 + 1223 more book reviews

This is Tana French's followup to In the Woods which I read and enjoyed a year or so ago. This one is told by one of the police detectives from the prior novel, Cassie Maddox, who transferred out of Dublin's Murder Squad after the events "In the Woods." But a young woman has been murdered and this woman bears a striking resemblance to Cassie. When the cops see the murdered corpse of Lexie Madison they also see an opportunity for Cassie to pretend to be Lexie to try to get the killer to expose him or herself.

Cassie as Lexie moves into Whitethorn House, the mansion the victim shared with four other post graduate students (Daniel, Justin, Rafe and Abby); she informs them that she was fortunate to have survived the assault. As Cassie investigates each of her roommates, she finds she likes each of them because they are so different in personality. She really seems to fit in with the bunch and wonders if one of them could really be Lexie's killer. Or could it be someone from the nearby small village who seem to dislike the residents of Whitethorn House stemming from the days when it was the home of the lord of the manor? Another possibility is Daniel's cousin Ned who feels he should have inherited the house and is itching to make it into apartments or possibly a golf resort.

First of all, the premise of this book was very far-fetched and unbelievable. I didn't buy that Cassie could pass for Lexie and not be discovered by her four roommates who knew Lexie intimately. However, putting this aside, I did enjoy the story and the relationships between the roommates. Cassie seems to fit in and at many points wishes she could actually stay there and live with the other four as a "family" which is what they were trying to do. I also enjoyed French's writing, however, I did think the book could have been shortened by quite a bit. Overall I was kind of mixed on this one but I do have some of the subsequent novels in this series and I'm sure I'll be reading them at some point.

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