Started my 2023 off reading The Resemblance and it did not disappoint. I love a good detective novel, especially when said detective is a little reckless.

Detective Kaplan is a complex narrator, though it’s easy to understand her faults and impulsiveness as the story unfolds. Despite incredible loss and a near-fatal fire that leaves her scarred for life, she does not stop until the justice she seeks is delivered.

This novel explores the all too common scandals of Greek life as Kaplan seeks to change the system of sweeping things under the rug. But will she take things too far? Has she become obsessed with a narrative she sees only because of her past trauma?

Thank you Netgalley for sending me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

The Resemblance is Lauren Nossett’s debut novel. On one level the novel is a dark academia thriller set at the University of Georgia in Athens. The main character — Marlitt Kaplan — is a campus police officer who investigates a hit and run committed by someone who looks exactly like the victim, a male student and member of Kappa Phi Omicron fraternity. She and her fellow officer, best friend and love interest, Teddy White investigate the crime itself as well as broader issues involving hazing in the Greek system. The novel is elevated by the question of how Marlitt also resembles the fraternity brothers she has investigated. The author does a good job developing her characters — Marlitt in particular — and I would love to see them again in a sequel. Highly recommended. 4.5 out of 5.0 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a complimentary galley of this book.

Although the book was a little slow at points and hard to get into at first, The Resemblance was definitely a book worth reading. I enjoyed the different plot twists, but wish the ending had been a little different. All in all though, I recommend giving it a try!

One of the best academia debuts ive read in a long time. This one truly from the mystery to the secrets was everything you could hope for. Thank you to Flatiron for the advanced copy

An exciting procedural debut with a mystery that goes a bit off the rails, but kept me intrigued enoughto desire a sequel. As someone who grew up in Atlanta and visited UGA in Athens frequently, it was fun recognizing some of the landscape mentioned here. Recommended to fans of academia mysteries with topics surrounding hazing and bullying.

The Resemblance by Lauren Nossett

Detective Marlitt Kaplan is visiting her mother, a professor at the University of Georgia, when a student is hit by a car. The student, who’s a member of a fraternity, is declared dead on the scene. When Marlitt starts investigating what happened, some aspects of her past resurface and deep, dark secrets come to light, threatening to expose some of the most elite students and alumni of the University and the Greek system.

Dark academia meets true crime in this very intriguing thriller full of twists and red herrings. It explores topics such as nepotism, misogyny, corruption, and privilege in academia. I didn’t love the pacing and the development of some aspects of the story, but it kept me intrigued until the end. Merlitt was a great, complex character and her arc was what I enjoyed the most throughout the book.

The audio version is narrated by Saskia Maarleveld who was a new-to-me narrator and I really enjoyed her performance.

Thank you Netgalley, Flatiron Books and Lauren Nossett for my complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for this one based on the blurb, but, it just wasn't executed as well as I had hoped. Greek life and the brotherhood of fraternity are the driving force of this story and for me it just didn't catch me the way that I had hoped it would. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Great setting! I can't resist a campus and Greek/secret society. However, I felt like a lot of the characters were based on stereotypes and didn't have a much of a coherent backstory. This made the book feel very flat. It was very difficult to want to finish.

"On a chilly November morning at the University of Georgia, a fraternity brother steps off a busy crosswalk and is struck dead by an oncoming car. More than a dozen witnesses all agree on two things: The driver looked identical to the victim, and he was smiling. Detective Marlitt Kaplan is first on the scene. An Athens native and the daughter of a UGA professor, she knows all its shameful histories, from the skull discovered under the foundations of Baldwin Hall to the hushed-up murder-suicide in Waddel. But in the course of investigating this hit-and-run, she will uncover more chilling secrets as she explores the sprawling, interconnected Greek system that entertains and delights the university’s most elite and connected students."

I read this blurb and immediately requested the ARC. This had such an interesting premise: a murdered student and a detective with a mysterious past. I adore mysteries, and I expected this to have a side serving of academic scandal/conspiracy with the emphasis in the blurb about the secrets of the University. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Rather than a mystery, this read like the transcript of a law and order knockoff. Marlitt comes across as a biased and unprofessional detective as she disses Greek life throughout the book and ignores procedures at time. Halfway through, I was struggling to read this, and eventually, I just skimmed the remaining chapters.

I really thought I was going to love this, but it was pretty slow for my preference. It was a slow burn mystery, which I’ve never really gotten into. The Greek life was what I was expecting but it was just a little flat.
If you like slow burn with Greek society, you’ll probably love this!

This was a slow burn mystery. The hazing aspect is accurate in my experience with Greek Life and I think a story related to that could have been more interesting than the fake identity story.

The story is excellent with an unforeseen twist at the end. I cared about the main character more than I did the victim of the hit-and-run accident. What she went though felt very realistic. I would be interested in reading a follow-up book!

I wasn't the biggest fan of this book. I felt like the pace was slow and it was hard to make connections. The plot points were a bit vague. When I heard the title and read the beginning of the book, I thought the resemblance between the murderer and the victim was going to play a larger role. Instead, it seemed to only be a big deal in the background of the book's plot.

The topic of hazing in fraternities was interesting and the prospect of the book taking that turn was great, but unfortunately this plot point fell flat. The author had some great ideas, but the execution left both the plot and characters underdeveloped. I couldn't really figure out what to focus on - was there a love story? a story of friendship? Was the hazing a significant portion? Was the detective trying to get revenge for her friend or the kid who died? I think all of the above, but there was too much happening to focus on any one thing.

The Resemblance was a book with lots of potential, but for me it ended up being just ok. 2.5 stars rounded down.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #Flatironbooks and Lauren Nossett for the advance readers copy of her debut novel The Resemblance. My opinions are my own and are given voluntarily.

as a Greek life member myself, the blurb of this one instantly interested me, and I knew I needed to read it. Also unknowingly, I requested both the book and audio of this one, so I was able to do what I love and bounce between reading and listening. It gives the story so much depth and you can fully immerse yourself in the plot and feel like you're in the story.

on the campus of University of Georgia, a fraternity brother steps out into a busy crosswalk and was struck dead by an oncoming car. All witnesses agreed on two things: the driver looked identical to the victim, and he was smiling. Detective Marlitt Kaplan is first on the scene, and she quickly becomes immersed in this case, because of her past. lines start to blur between her work and her will to take down an institution that took so much from her in her younger years.

This one had so much that it hooked me immediately. I always love a good whodunnit. and this was exactly that. and what a wonderful debut novel for Lauren Nossett. I could see this becoming a series following detective Marlitt Kaplin.

the narrator was enjoyable and gave such depth to the storyline.

This was a good book with a solid plot. The characters were likeable, al though at times, the story dragged Overall, this was an easy read.

To the public, the hit and run that killed a University of Georgia student next to campus was simply a tragic accident, but Detective Marlitt Kaplan knows better. As the daughter of a UGA professor, she grew up surrounded by the university’s dark secrets, and as she investigates this case, she becomes immersed in the sinister world of the elite fraternity that she believes is trying to cover up a murder. As she gets closer to solving the case, the threats against her become dangerous, and the secrets of her past emerge to haunt her. With her job, friendships, and safety at stake, she has to decide where her priorities lie—in solving this crime and condemning the Greek system that has taken so much from her or in doing as she’s told and preserving her own well-being.

With a well-crafted plot and strong depiction of character, the novel held my attention and kept me guessing. Marlitt was a well-developed character whose history and relationships I wanted to know more about. There was a strong sense of place throughout the novel, and I felt like I could envision the town, campus, and fraternity house.

Where the novel lost speed for me was near the end when we finally solve the murder mystery. The pacing felt a bit rushed, and because of that, it felt less believable to me than the rest of the story. The big reveal that Marlitt learns about her own past that was previously lost to her memories felt a bit random. I felt that there could have been more emotional depth to the story if we’d learned more about Marlitt’s relationship with her partner, as well. Overall, I enjoyed the story, and I’d recommend it to lovers of detective fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an engaging and well-paced thriller; I started it on a plane ride, and it was a great choice to keep me entertained. I especially loved the strong sense of place Nossett created around the University of Georgia campus. Georgia grads may enjoy this book more than most readers because of the setting, though if you participated in Greek Life, be prepared to have that affiliation heavily interrogated! ;)

This debut fiction thriller is a slooow read. Some people love that; I personally don’t. Does the ending make up for the slow burn? Let’s take a look and see…

Officer Marlitt Kaplan is our first-person protagonist. She has been given a strange case - a local university student (Jay) was killed in a hit-and-run accident, but the car that killed him was his. The person driving it looked like him, and as the car accelerated, witnesses saw the driver smiling.

This all sounds very intriguing, but it took well over the 50% mark before things started to get really interesting. It’s a classic whodunnit, with the added topic of sorority and fraternity hazing. I kept thinking the ending would be worth the wait, but unfortunately, it was as lackluster as the book.

Pros: This had an interesting plot, and the writing was great.

Cons: I don’t care for slow books, and the ending left me unenthused. I didn’t care either way about any of the characters.

I’m giving this debut fiction three stars - it was good, but I wouldn’t choose to read it again. I think many people will really love the cozy mystery vibe, though!

(Thank you to Flatiron Books, Lauren Nossett, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

I chose not to review this book. While I thought the writing was strong, the heavy-handed condemnation of Fraternities got to be a bit much. I am no fan of those organizations in general, but this author was unable to convey the nuisance there and it began to become "all men are horrible" which just didn't really work with the plot of the novel.

The Resemblance starts off when Marlitt is visiting her mother at the University of Georgia and hears a noise only to arrive at the scene of a hit and run. Marlitt and her partner, Teddy, take the case at Marlitt's insistence. To make the case even more confusing, witnesses report that the driver of the car looked just like the victim, Jay.

This story delves into the dark side of greek life on college campuses. I am drawn to books promising secret societies or dark academia. That being said, this book started strongly for me and then fizzled out. I was interested in the mystery and crime aspects of the story, but there were many tangents through Marlitt that made aspects of the book seem less cohesive.

Part Two kicked off with an event that took an unexpected turn and I wasn't quite sure why it was necessary to the story. The ending of the book was both convenient and confusing at the same time.

That being said, I did like that the ending wasn't wrapped up in a nice bow and we could potentially see more from Marlitt in the future.