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torrie_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Thoughts
This book was actually not on my shelf that long. I bought it in November when Ashley Winstead said she threw it across the room at one point. So obviously I had to buy it!
But with that kind of hype I had to get to it. And this was a great crime thriller that touched on the toxicity that is fraternity culture.
I do not know much about sororities or fraternities because I was too old for them when I went and I wouldn't have been the target for a sorority anyways. But I have heard about some things, especially the hazing, and I appreciated the author doing a deeper look into this.
I thought the book was intriguing, infuriating, and kept me turning the pages. So if you are a crime thriller reader I'd check this one out!
This book was actually not on my shelf that long. I bought it in November when Ashley Winstead said she threw it across the room at one point. So obviously I had to buy it!
But with that kind of hype I had to get to it. And this was a great crime thriller that touched on the toxicity that is fraternity culture.
I do not know much about sororities or fraternities because I was too old for them when I went and I wouldn't have been the target for a sorority anyways. But I have heard about some things, especially the hazing, and I appreciated the author doing a deeper look into this.
I thought the book was intriguing, infuriating, and kept me turning the pages. So if you are a crime thriller reader I'd check this one out!
judithdcollins's review against another edition
5.0
A twisty, cleverly crafted, and haunting debut exploring the dark side of academia, power, and privilege—THE RESEMBLANCE from author Lauren Nossett, a new voice in fiction and one to watch!
This is one of the BEST campus/academia thrillers I have read!
Set in November in the fall (cover love), we met Detective Marlitt Kaplan, (the novel's heroine), a 20-year-old female and the first on the scene of a fatal hit and run at the University of Georgia in Athens.
According to witnesses, Kappa Phi Omicron member Jay Kemp was crossing the street when a car driven by accelerated to strike him. The driver appeared to be smiling.
Detective Kaplan is intelligent, tenacious, driven, and dedicated. She has her suspicions, and even with threats, she is determined to uncover the secrets and corruption and how far these brotherhoods will go to protect their own.
This taut campus crime thriller uncovers sinister secrets into Greek life and cultures of fraternities as well. How far will they go with their tactics?
Timely and relevant, THE RESEMBLANCE (a fitting title) is a blending of police procedural, psychological suspense, and a captivating campus mystery.
I hope we see more of Detective Kaplan in a series and enjoyed her character. Hopefully, a new series.
As a former resident of Atlanta for many years (before Florida), I love Atlanta authors and support them. Happy to discover a new debut novelist.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Saskia Maarleveld for an engaging, captivating performance and listening experience. Highly recommend the audiobook.
A special thank you to #MacmillanAudio and #NetGalley for a gifted ALC to read, review, and enjoy.
Blog Review Posted @
www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks | #AuthorElevatorSeries
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Nov 8, 2022
Nov 2022 Must-Read Books
This is one of the BEST campus/academia thrillers I have read!
Set in November in the fall (cover love), we met Detective Marlitt Kaplan, (the novel's heroine), a 20-year-old female and the first on the scene of a fatal hit and run at the University of Georgia in Athens.
According to witnesses, Kappa Phi Omicron member Jay Kemp was crossing the street when a car driven by accelerated to strike him. The driver appeared to be smiling.
Detective Kaplan is intelligent, tenacious, driven, and dedicated. She has her suspicions, and even with threats, she is determined to uncover the secrets and corruption and how far these brotherhoods will go to protect their own.
This taut campus crime thriller uncovers sinister secrets into Greek life and cultures of fraternities as well. How far will they go with their tactics?
Timely and relevant, THE RESEMBLANCE (a fitting title) is a blending of police procedural, psychological suspense, and a captivating campus mystery.
I hope we see more of Detective Kaplan in a series and enjoyed her character. Hopefully, a new series.
As a former resident of Atlanta for many years (before Florida), I love Atlanta authors and support them. Happy to discover a new debut novelist.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Saskia Maarleveld for an engaging, captivating performance and listening experience. Highly recommend the audiobook.
A special thank you to #MacmillanAudio and #NetGalley for a gifted ALC to read, review, and enjoy.
Blog Review Posted @
www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks | #AuthorElevatorSeries
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Nov 8, 2022
Nov 2022 Must-Read Books
percy_keye_me's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
sherryl's review against another edition
3.0
Mixed feelings about this one. Prose was excellent and the beginning was strong, but then it lost its way around the middle. The ending was just so much telling masking as interiority. The detective constantly explaining to herself and the reader because motives and plot got too convoluted. While the messaging and theme was important it just got wayyyy too repetitive.
annhenry's review against another edition
3.0
This wasn’t a bad book. It kept my attention and I read it quickly- but I was sick and had nothing else to do
bmichie31's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.25
witchylibrary's review against another edition
4.0
This book just reminded me of how toxic Greek life can be. It took you on a wild ride with all the twists that happen throughout the book. I had to keep listening to it to find out what happened. I definitely didn’t guess the killer and was shocked when I did. The ending did leave me wanting just a little more but I understood it since it’s something that would happen in real life. Overall, I enjoyed this dark academia book and find it would be perfect for a fall read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my ALC!
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my ALC!
valeriekaye's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
plethora6323's review against another edition
3.0
ARC read and reviewed by a friend:
Professor-turned-novelist Lauren Nossett's fiction debut is a gripping police procedural delving into the underworld of college fraternities. Det. Marlitt Kaplan investigates what at first seems to be a simple hit-and-run incident at the University of Georgia; when witnesses claim that the victim and the driver looked identical, the case only grows more baffling from there. Marlitt herself holds onto a traumatic incident involving a fraternity during her college years, and her investigation begins to blur the lines between policework and personal revenge. When the victim's fraternity turns out to wield more power over the community and her own fellow officers than she thought possible, Marlitt takes matters into her own hands to see justice done.
Nossett has a great handle on the detective genre, and executes the twists and turns of her plot well. Each scene drives the narrative forward, and she never forces her characters to act outside their own logic or personalities just to make a contrivance work; if Marlitt is making a bad decision, it truly feels like an authentic one, and will assuredly come with narrative consequences.
Nossett's writing is immersive with a strong sense for setting and voice, and Marlitt comes to life as a flawed but fully realized human being. The supporting characters are also well-rounded for the most part, particularly Marlitt's partner Teddy, who is a great balance against the intensity of our heroine.
Where The Resemblance stumbles is in attempting to tackle themes of corruption and gender-based issues. One of the antagonists, fraternity treasurer and master manipulator Michael Williams, is almost cartoonishly evil and only afforded the slightest bit of fleshing out. Compared to the characters around him, he comes off as entirely two-dimensional. Marlitt's constant haranguing that she is a "feminist cop" also feels forced, like Nossett couldn't decide between making her a gruff gumshoe or a crusader for women everywhere. So many of Marlitt's interactions with the women she ostensibly likes are marred by her narration when she distances herself from what she sees as their 'girlishness.' Marlitt does this either to make herself out to be 'one of the boys' in order to be taken seriously, or to protect herself from feeling inadequate compared to a character like Cindy, Teddy's effervescent and effortlessly feminine girlfriend. In doing so, Marlitt creates a double standard that is just like the one her paternalistic boss Lt. Truman applies to her, but she doesn't realize that this internalized sexism is harmful as well. Her bias worsens after an attack leaves her visibly scarred, and she disparages herself for her disability and looks.
While the main plot excels at its mystery, most of the subplots are left lacking to the point that they would have been better left out of the book entirely. Marlitt's family dynamics with her parents and authority figures could have stood to be boiled down to one or two of the many shocking mini-twists that Nossett juggles along with the murder itself. Had the book been longer, Nossett likely wouldn't have had to rush to keep them in, but for a 300-page novel, keeping things tight is paramount.
Overall, if you're looking for a hard-boiled female detective for the millennial era and a compellingly constructed mystery, The Resemblance is worth a read -- just prepare to be frustrated along the way.
Professor-turned-novelist Lauren Nossett's fiction debut is a gripping police procedural delving into the underworld of college fraternities. Det. Marlitt Kaplan investigates what at first seems to be a simple hit-and-run incident at the University of Georgia; when witnesses claim that the victim and the driver looked identical, the case only grows more baffling from there. Marlitt herself holds onto a traumatic incident involving a fraternity during her college years, and her investigation begins to blur the lines between policework and personal revenge. When the victim's fraternity turns out to wield more power over the community and her own fellow officers than she thought possible, Marlitt takes matters into her own hands to see justice done.
Nossett has a great handle on the detective genre, and executes the twists and turns of her plot well. Each scene drives the narrative forward, and she never forces her characters to act outside their own logic or personalities just to make a contrivance work; if Marlitt is making a bad decision, it truly feels like an authentic one, and will assuredly come with narrative consequences.
Nossett's writing is immersive with a strong sense for setting and voice, and Marlitt comes to life as a flawed but fully realized human being. The supporting characters are also well-rounded for the most part, particularly Marlitt's partner Teddy, who is a great balance against the intensity of our heroine.
Where The Resemblance stumbles is in attempting to tackle themes of corruption and gender-based issues. One of the antagonists, fraternity treasurer and master manipulator Michael Williams, is almost cartoonishly evil and only afforded the slightest bit of fleshing out. Compared to the characters around him, he comes off as entirely two-dimensional. Marlitt's constant haranguing that she is a "feminist cop" also feels forced, like Nossett couldn't decide between making her a gruff gumshoe or a crusader for women everywhere. So many of Marlitt's interactions with the women she ostensibly likes are marred by her narration when she distances herself from what she sees as their 'girlishness.' Marlitt does this either to make herself out to be 'one of the boys' in order to be taken seriously, or to protect herself from feeling inadequate compared to a character like Cindy, Teddy's effervescent and effortlessly feminine girlfriend. In doing so, Marlitt creates a double standard that is just like the one her paternalistic boss Lt. Truman applies to her, but she doesn't realize that this internalized sexism is harmful as well. Her bias worsens after an attack leaves her visibly scarred, and she disparages herself for her disability and looks.
While the main plot excels at its mystery, most of the subplots are left lacking to the point that they would have been better left out of the book entirely. Marlitt's family dynamics with her parents and authority figures could have stood to be boiled down to one or two of the many shocking mini-twists that Nossett juggles along with the murder itself. Had the book been longer, Nossett likely wouldn't have had to rush to keep them in, but for a 300-page novel, keeping things tight is paramount.
Overall, if you're looking for a hard-boiled female detective for the millennial era and a compellingly constructed mystery, The Resemblance is worth a read -- just prepare to be frustrated along the way.