One November morning, a fraternity brother who attended the University of Georgia steps into a crosswalk and is struck dead by an oncoming car. Detective Kaplan is immediately on the scene as she was at the University visiting her mother, a professor. She begins to interview witnesses and all of them say the same thing – the driver looked like the victim, and he was smiling as he hit the victim. Detective Kaplan and her partner begin their investigation and it isn’t long before secrets get revealed and Detective Kaplan blurs the line between her police work and the secret of her past.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would! It was fast paced and very engaging. What a great debut novel. The author did a great job of not revealing too much too soon so that the reader is kept guessing until the end as to who was behind the hit and run, and why. There was a lot of background regarding the hazing that does occur in fraternities, and maybe a little too much of it. However, I personally didn’t feel as though this made the story drag on.

This book takes place on the campus of the University of Georgia --what better place to discover the secrets of Greek life than in a town named Athens. Marlitt Kaplan, detective on the city police force, is the daughter of a prominent German professor at the school so she has grown up spending many hours on campus in her mother's office. When a student is struck by a car in a crosswalk, Marlitt is first on the scene. It is quickly determined that the incident is a hit and run done deliberately by someone who strongly resembles the victim. But who and why? Marlitt is anxious to be assigned to the case. This a fast-paced narrative which takes the reader into the unsavory secrets of Greek life in a fraternity house, as well as Marlitt's own tragic past. Her secrets propel her investigation and lead to a devastating attack on her. A satisfying read with twists that the reader does not see coming.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for provided this advance copy for me to read and review.

What a fantastic debut novel. It wasn’t perfect but it kept me turning the pages. The main character, Marlitt could be occasionally a bit annoying over all the story was pretty intriguing. I love stories set in a college with a bit of the dark academia feel. This one does it pretty well. I did figure out the twist a bit before the end but it was still pretty satisfying. I can’t wait to read more from Lauren Nossett. I gave this book 4 stars.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time and I felt as if I couldn't put it down. I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next. Being from the south and attending an SEC college (Auburn University) brought back so many memories of Greek life. I also loved the references to Auburn University throughout the book.

I will definitely recommend this book to my students and friends. Thank you for the opportunity to read your masterpiece.

I had the opportunity to read this book with ARC. This is the first book I’ve read by Lauren Nossett and I would read more from her in a heartbeat. The resemblance is a mystery story that grips you from the start. The author’s use of slow reveals and foreshadowing keeps you on the edge of your seat. I absolutely loved the diction and tone of voice that Nossett used to tell this story. She used excellent use of first person imagery to walk you through each step of the plot. I would absolutely (and already have) recommend this book to read if you like conspiracies, slow reveal mysteries, and a quick paced plot.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for an ARC of this book.
I loved this unputdownable book ! This is such a page turner of twists and unforgettable characters that I hope will be made into a movie. I felt the emotion of the different people in this book. The author does a great job of reining you in and making them real. I definitely want to read more of her books. I signed up for newsletters so I will know when another book comes out. I highly recommend this book.

I wish to express my condolences to the author for her loss. I am so very sorry.

This was more of a cultural lit drama than it was a thriller. There was a decent mystery but the focus throughout was southern college culture. So, it wasn't really my cup of tea but it wasn't a bad book. Great writing and lots of great academic Easter eggs.

The Resemblance follows the investigation of a hit-and-run death of a university fraternity member, Jay. Marlitt and her partner can’t figure out why someone would speed up at a crosswalk to hit a pedestrian and the most eerie part of it all is that several witnesses say that the driver looked exactly like the victim.

After interviewing Jay’s fraternity brothers, Marlitt can’t shake the feeling that they all know something and are hiding it from the police. She hates frats because of something that happened to her best friend during their college years so she does have an immediate bias towards the members and doesn’t trust them. Is someone powerful covering up some sort of hazing gone wrong? Is she putting herself in danger for getting involved?

The first couple of chapters and introduction of characters was a bit confusing, but that could have just been me. Once the story got going, it really sucked me in and kept me interested! I love investigative crime novels and highly recommend The Resemblance.

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

I have received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I truly enjoyed this book and had a tough time putting it down! I loved the southern academia setting, and appreciated the “creepy vibes” and suspense that the author created.

However, I was a bit confused by the purpose of the fire/speaking German…my hope is that those details and others from Marlitt’s background will be used to further her story in a future book!

I have received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
I had a slow start getting involved in this story but when I got interested it was hard to tear myself away.
Detective Marlitt Kaplan is on the police department in Athens Georgia. She is visiting her mother on the campus of UGA where she is a professor. While leaving campus Det. Kaplan comes upon a hit and run of a student..
Jay Kemp is run down in a cross walk and all the witnesses say that the car actually sped up as it got closer to Jay and appeared to be smiling when he hit Jay. Also, witnesses claim that the driver looked like the victim.
Det. Kaplan and her partner Teddy White start looking into things and the one thing that keeps coming up is the fraternity Kappa Phi Omicron. A fraternity known for hazing and arrogance. Marlitt already has issues with fraternity's since her best friend died while at a fraternity party several years ago.
The more they investigate the more things become cloudy. Michael., big frat boy: makes a threat to Marlitt and the same night her bedroom is set on fire with her in it. She suffers severe burns and a couple of weeks in the hospital. Marlitt is more determined than ever to find dirt on the big fraternity on campus.
Marlitt's parents are acting more strangely than usual and she is getting more insubordinate each day.
Many twists and turns that keep you guessing as you go through the story.

For fans of academia settings & murder mysteries, this is the book for you. I enjoyed the Georgia setting and exploration of the fraternity lifestyle, although it was quite harsh at times. I didn’t find Marlitt to be particularly likable & had some trouble connecting with her, but the plot was interesting enough to keep me reading. Overall, this was a strong debut and I’ll be keeping an eye out for Lauren Nossett in the future!

Overall this was a good, fast paced college campus murder mystery.

There was not much mystery though as the focus was more on the culture of fraternities and the hazing that occurs. I was also not fond of how our lead was written as an unreliable narrator seeing as the story is in first person POV this leads to a struggle when trying to piece things together.

I would absolutely give the author a second chance on the next book, this one just did not give off the vibes I thought it would.

I really enjoyed this mystery/thriller! I loved the setting and the way it is developed (excited for this and It Girl by Ruth Ware to hit the shelves this year). I LOVED Marlitt and the character development for her throughout, and the author crushed it with Colin.

I will say that this book does not remind me of The Secret History--it is more so reminiscent of Ruth Ware or Kate Quinn. SO MANY of my students love mysteries, and I think they will devour this one in the fall.

The resemblance

The book opens with a prologue that is obviously some kind of foreshadowing. Chapter 1 is action-packed and contains the hit and run on a college campus. It also details the initial investigation and interviews with witnesses, where one of the witnesses states that she saw that the driver was smiling at the time of the incident. As the investigation unfolds, Detective Marriott Kaplin and her partner interview frat boys and their “dream girl.” There is no obvious suspect, and all we know is that the driver looked identical to the victim. There are undercurrents of bias- the main character has a bad history with fraternities (her former best friend abandoned her for his brothers) and obviously disagrees with their lifestyle (which I agree with, but it doesn’t feel like it has a place in this book). There are also moments where she notes frustration about lack of opportunity, competing with peers for cases, etc that feels out of place in the book and makes her slightly less likeable as a character.

In part 2, Marlitt is forced to go a bit rogue after her home starts on fire (forcing the question- was this an accident? Or did someone do it to stop her?). She is relentless in her determination to continue investigating the case… or is she actually determined to put a negative aspect on Greek life? She gets careless and, dare I say, selfish, leading to her suspension.

The plot is good and the author keeps the reader engaged. That being said, the bias and blatant disregard for rules by the detective is frustrating, even after her home starts on fire and we “should” feel empathy for her. The farther I got into the book, the more I disliked her. She’s ruthless in her quest, not caring about relationships or people she hurts along the way. There are moments where I temporarily felt something akin to sympathy or understanding, but overall I didn’t like her character at all.

The storyline had potential, but some of the more frustrating points I mentioned above detracted from my overall enjoyment.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and found it difficult to put down! The storyline was compelling, and it had me on my toes!

The Resemblance is a murder mystery set in my favorite location – a college campus. I’m impressed with it as a debut and believe Lauren Nossett has a lot of talent as a writer and look forward to her next release.
Our main narrator/detective is Marlitt and I liked that she is not the usual female lead of the police procedural. She’s actually a bit messed up and very far from perfect. She’s completely biased against fraternities from the start and doesn’t try to hide it. She knows this but still is bullish about taking them down any way she can. She also is very involved with her parents which is not the norm for a lead character in her late 20s. I’m not sure I really believed in her friendship with Craig and the outsized effect it had on her life. I was a bit confused with her feelings for Oliver and Teddy. I particularly found it inconceivable that she was back in action after two weeks when her burns were described as they were. And even more so that no more progress had been made on the case in her absence. Her voice at times seems to contradict itself. Maybe that’s on purpose? Can we trust what she says when she’s coming across like a spoiled, privileged brat?

Colin, on the other hand, seems very real to me – Nossett did a great job with his character. He’s human in all his imperfections. Jay, not so much. I’m not sure I got to know Teddy or Oliver or Truman in any depth. Same for Marlitt’s parents and their friends/acquaintances. Honestly, I feel like there were too many characters in this book!
I did enjoy the reveal at the end that helped her understand why she was speaking German. The idea that she’s the only one searching for something and that this reveal explains her longings seems a bit too easy of a solution. I’m not sure the groundwork was set for this. Maybe the author was trying to do too much here, and this revelation might have been better saved for book two of a Marlitt series.
Nossett describes the life of academia in great detail, and, as an educator myself, I related to her mother and the other faculty members portrayed. The issues around students going missing, the hazing and the lengths students will go to belong are very real and are displayed well.
Thanks to Flatiron and Net Galley for the review copy.

This book was SO GOOD!
I love that the setting is in Georgia and deals mainly with fraternities and sororities. It’s so suspenseful and kept me guessing until the end!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the author for the chance to read an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I should know better than to read a book that is described as reminiscent of The Secret History, my all-time favorite book. It's a lot to live up to, and I would have liked this novel more if my expectations hadn't been raised. This is a solid enough mystery about a fraternity brother killed in a hit and run. The book delves into fraternity culture and hazing and is interesting albeit unsettling.

This novel is a crime novel mixed into a college novel. I had good expectations for this book but after several tries of trying to get into it, I just couldn’t. It wasn’t my cup of tea. That being said, it is well written, it just wasn’t for me.

A hit-and-run accident on the University of Georgia campus sparks an investigation into fraternity culture and hazing. When police detective Marlitt Kaplan witnesses a fatal car accident involving a pedestrian, Jay, who belongs to a prominent campus fraternity, she rushes to examine what she excitedly insists must be her case. While others on the force are willing to dismiss the incident as an accident, Marlitt tenaciously resolves to uncover not only the identity of the driver but also disturbing truths about Jay and his fraternity brothers.

I enjoy stories with a university campus setting, and the plot was sufficiently intriguing to grab and hold my attention to the end. The mystery, however, seems to take a backseat to what emerges as an expose on fraternity hazing and, by extension, an indictment on white-male-dominant culture. At one point, the narration becomes so didactic as to include an actual definition of hazing, as though the author doesn’t trust the reader to develop an understanding from the plot descriptions and needs to be helped along. This tendency toward explanation and hyper focus on the logistics of one particular hazing tradition actually served to diminish the impact of hazing’s effects rather than illuminate it.

Although I enjoyed the way the author moved the mystery forward, I had an issue with the first-person narration. I couldn’t tell whether the author intended Marlitt to come across as an unreliable narrator, but seeing the situation through her eyes posed some problems for me. Her voice was inconsistent for a cop in her late twenties, often sounding like a 12-year-old spoiled brat who couldn’t forgive her parents for making her an only child and sometimes coming across as an older, wiser social commentator. Some of the characterizations were a bit odd to me, too: a whole hospital full of nurses who couldn’t tolerate (and exhibited rudeness toward) the behavior of a burn patient? I think the author meant those scenes to reveal how irritating Marlitt could be, but it played out as an indictment of the compassion capability of health care professionals. Marlitt finally and suddenly seemed to grow up in the epilogue, but until then, she was a hard read.

Overall, I would recommend this book as an intriguing mystery in a campus setting with the caveat that it contains inconsistencies and agendas that are distracting but not completely debilitating.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book. My review is voluntary and reflects my honest opinion.