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Sep 28, 2020BARosen1112 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This second of Tara French's Dublin Murder Squad books is narrated by Detective Cassie Maddox, who was the co-investigator and best friend to narrator Rob Ryan in the first, In The Woods. This time out, a young woman bearing a startling resemblance to Cassie is murdered, and Cassie goes undercover to live as the young woman ("cold temperatures slowed her heartbeat, making it only appear that she was dead," is essentially her cover story), who had been masquerading as Cassie's earlier undercover identity at the time of her death. The story details Cassie's investigation, and her coming under the thrall of the other 4 members of the group of friends the victim was living with, and her efforts to find out who was really responsible for her likeness's murder. Beautifully written, author French takes us deep inside the heads of all her characters, especially Cassie, her undercover leader Frank, fellow detective/love interest Sam and Daniel - the leader of the 5 friends who form the heart of the novel. While it may be fair to say that the novel is longer than it needed to be, French's characters and careful plotting reward the required effort handsomely. If you enjoyed In The Woods, you'll like this one too. Warning: you'll want to read In The Woods first. While Cassie's narration provides most if not all the relevant information from the first book, I think your understanding of Cassie will benefit from having read the first one.