Are you as fascinated as we are by the fact that there are several, if not more, doppelgangers for each of us out there in the world? The Resemblance by Lauren Nossett starts with this premise, and there the detective novel begins. Each page unearths even more unnerving facts and mysteries.
Lauren Nossett’s artfully written debut, The Resemblance is an exhilarating, atmospheric campus thriller reminiscent of If We Were Villains and The Likeness.
Never betray the brotherhood
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.
The lines between Marlitt’s police work and her own past increasingly blur as Marlitt seeks to bring to justice an institution that took something precious from her many years ago. When threats against her escalate, and some long-buried secrets threaten to come to the surface, she can’t help questioning whether the corruption in Athens has run off campus and into the force and how far these brotherhoods will go to protect their own.
Lauren Nossett is a professor of German language and literature. Her scholarly work has appeared in journals and edited volumes. She attended the Tin House Summer Writers’ Workshop in 2015 and 2017. The Resemblance is her first novel. She currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jólabókaflód first caught my eye while I was scrolling through Pinterest. I found this gem all about the Icelandic tradition translating to “flood of books,” and my brain started whirring about a thousand miles a minute dreaming of my own celebration of this tradition. The tradition started in 1944 when paper was one of the few […]