I really enjoyed this one. Thank you, NetGalley for sharing this with me. I'll definitely be looking forward to reading more.

Trudged to 60% and then skipped around until I got til the end. By that point I just didn't care what happened to this kid. Can't help but think this was entirely too long with deep pockets of navel gazing. I don't think I'll try this author again.

Thank you Net Galley for the copy of this audio book.

This book made me question what I really see. There were moments in this book when I thought I had figured out what was happening and then a twist would occur.

Did not love this one. It was ok, but I didn't love the characters, and I need that to truly love a book.

When a fraternity brother is struck down by a car on a chilly Autumn morning, it's disturbing enough but what makes the event worse is eyewitness reports that the driver of the car looked identical to the victim... and he was smiling as he struck him.

The narration of this audiobook was good, but unfortunately wasn't enough to make the book more exciting. The synopsis drew me in immediately. It sounded eerie and creepy. I desperately wanted to know why the man looked like his victim, why he was smiling as he committed such a horrific act. However, the revel and the whole mystery just fell so flat. The only word I can really use to describe my feelings is... blah.

This book was a lot, and I'm not sure it's in a good way. While I liked the initial synopsis, I was very confused by the ending. I thought of 1000 different paths this book could have gone down and "someone who looked a lot like him" wasn't one of them. I know that this is a debut novel and I think the author has a great writing style, and I look forward to reading her future books as she becomes more developed in her plotlines.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, though it does flirt with a couple of clichés,

This is a twin sort of story and kind of follows that story line. It is kind of predictable and not. Twin of whom? The other issue is the University professor and again, kind of predictable and not. Being the Professor's daughter changes it up a bit.

Then there is the basic mystery story with a detective who is seriously chatty and generally uhm, immature?, yes, immature. She is interesting though plagued with a bunch of clichés as well, from her reasoning to become a cop to her reasoning about men in general. Marlitt has a serious problem with fraternities. Most of us just find them a little childish but don't hold serious grudges against them.

It is worth reading and I hope Ms Nossett brings this character back.

This was my first Lauren Nossett's book. The story is slow paced, complex, and intriguing. The characters are well developed, and interesting. Saskia Maarleveld did an excellent job bringing this story to life. I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, a Macmillan Audio production, for an honest review.

DNF.
This story had a great concept, but the execution was a bit off for me. The story started off decent, and I wanted to know what was happening. Unfortunately, this story started to go in other directions and focused on some things that I didn't feel was actually adding to the story. It just took me out of the story a bit and made it hard for me to want to continue reading.

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.

I enjoyed the layered mystery of this story. It’s about a detective that ends up digging into Greek life at UGA after a baffling hit and run. The witnesses all agree that the person driving the car looked exactly like the person who was ran over.

Procedural novel about College, Greek Life, cover ups and one detectives determination to bring a murderer to justice.

While I enjoyed the premise and the overall pace of this story I found that the MC was just a little too much. There are characters that have hunches Marlitt Kaplan seems almost irrational in some the choices she makes and the actions she follows making her feel very unlikable. After pursuing the Fraternity she believes is to blame for the death of Jay, one of their members, she goes hard on biased facts that we later learn is based on the fact that her friend was hazed and ended up dying, which is a clear connection but we learn it so far into the book it was difficult to try to tie it back in. She is also attacked in her sleep, wakes up and starts speaking a foreign language that never really materialized or helped the story in any way? And doesn't realize that that attack was connected to the case she's been exploring until about the 80% mark? The general intent of the story was nice for me and you could tell the author did a great job at trying to layer multiple things at once but it would've been nice to let the reader at least try to guess who had done especially after spending so much time on randomizes facts.

overall good story but dragged on quite a bit, at times felt like it led nowhere and because this was an audiobook, the narrator sounded to me like an old smoker versus a 27 year old detective that kind of took me out of the story a little bit.

thanks netgalley and flatiron books for this audiobook

Marlitt Kaplan is a detective in Athens, Georgia who is first to respond to the scene of a hit and run accident on the University of Georgia campus resulting in a young college student’s death when the car struck him in a crosswalk. The eyewitnesses say the driver looked a lot like the victim, but otherwise Marlitt and her partner are at a loss for who the driver was, but also a motive to commit this horrific act or if it was simply just a tragic accident. Their investigation leads them to the Greek life on campus, and one fraternity in particular, who has their fair share of secrets and may know more about the murder than they care to admit. The story is told from a singular point of view of Marlitt.

First of all, how freaking cool is it to read a book written by someone who went to your alma mater and the book takes place there so you recognize the setting and can visualize it throughout the story?! I need more books based out of U Georgia/Athens STAT because I just really loved that.

Second, the narrator was fantastic.

Overall, this is a police procedural murder mystery that I enjoyed enough of the characters and the plot to say I would be inclined to read a series. However, the way the author decided to leave off the story, I think that possibility was precluded unless she gets creative.

I was interested in the unique characters, plot and the development of the investigation. There were a few plot twists. The one occurring just before part two of the book was very unsettling. I’m not sure “triggered” is the right word to describe how I felt since I’ve never personally had a similar incident occur to me, but it did make me very uncomfortable and wish the point could have been made by the author in a different and slightly more delicate way. I had to go back and check for trigger warnings at the beginning of the book. I don’t want to say too much as to ruin it for anyone who may view this review without reading.

Then, the ending did leave me a little unsatisfied. Other than the less than delicate plot twist and rushed ending, it would have been a solid 4 star read but I rate it 3.5 stars, rounded up here + on Goodreads due to the half.

I was willing to sell my soul for an advance reader’s copy of this title and unfortunately was not granted one from Celadon. I ended up pre-ordering a hardcover copy but requested and enjoyed the audiobook version more and it was easier to get into after I had difficulty with the physical copy.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Lauren for the advance listener’s copy in exchange for an honest review! Can’t wait to see what Lauren has up her sleeve next.

(2.5⭐️) Many thanks to my partners @flatironbooks and macmillan.audio for the #gifted copies.

When a fraternity member is murdered on the UGA campus, long held secrets and deep seated corruption will be challenged.

What’s the difference between strong, pertinent messaging and messaging that gets muddled because of the author’s immense emotion over the topic?

I’ve thought about that a lot after finishing The Resemblance.

It’s important to note that I, too, have a personal connection to this book:
🐾 I am a lifelong Georgia Bulldog. My grandfather nurtured this love from a very early age. And I’ve walked thousands of steps on that campus.
🐾Fraternity life enhanced my college experience and continues to enrich my life years later.

So when Nossett took direct aim at both Greek life and university politics, my senses were piqued.

Important for me to clearly note: As a Greek, I fully support a spotlight on the potential for power to be misused within fraternities or universities. Deadly hazing is *never* acceptable. (Any hazing is unacceptable.) And any effort to bring awareness, fictional or factual, on corruption within the Greek or university systems is always warranted.

So why then did the messaging go askew in this book? It was (overtly) apparent that Nossett wasn’t looking to create awareness. Rather, she had an ax to grind.

Instead of allowing the storyline to explore the complexities and atrocities, the approach was bombastic, turning into something harsh and cynical. And because of that, the storyline took a backseat to her personal vendetta and didn’t work.

On the positive, the eerie atmosphere of the book was established early on. It was what drew me into the book from the beginning. Ominous and dark, this college campus backdrop for murder was well done.

Unfortunately, even the best atmosphere cannot overcome inexcusably poor messaging, glaring plot inconsistencies, and disjointed writing.

As I often do, I partnered the physical and audio copies of this book. Saskia Maarleveld has become a favorite narrator, and her gritty portrayal in the book really worked.

THE RESEMBLANCE is a dark academia atmospheric thriller that takes place at the University of Georgia campus, as a fraternity brother steps off a busy crosswalk and is struck dead by an oncoming car. Detective Marlin Kaplan is first on the scene, and she has the advantage of being a UGA professor's daughter, and knows the campus and secrets of the university well.

There were plenty of twists, and I really enjoyed the audiobook, which was narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, who I adore. She did a great job as narrator, and bringing this dark twisty story to life as themes of corruption and years of privilege find their way at the center of this mystery.

*many thanks to Flatiron Books, Macmillan Audio and netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Detective Marlitt Kaplan was the first officer on scene to a University of Georgia hit-and-run where witnesses say that the driver of the car looked like the victim, and he was smiling when he did it. As the daughter of a UGA professor, Marlitt is no stranger to the darker shades of UGA’s history, but this investigation will uncover even more. Her investigation will blur the lines between the case and her own history, and threats against her may remove Marlitt from the case. Can she figure it out?

Marlitt was really the only character I felt was well-fleshed out in this story. I know that as it’s first person from her perspective, we will get to know her better than other characters, but several of the side characters seemed one-dimensional. The pace of the story was fairly slow, with short bursts where something happened to move the plot forward. Overall, I don’t think this book lived up to its potential.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

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, Macmillan Audio and Lauren Nossett for my complimentary ARC and ALC in exchange for an honest review.

3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4

The Resemblance is an easy book to listen to. It grabbed me from the start as I love a good academia thriller. It dives into the dark parts of Greek life and while it's obviously fiction, anyone that went to a school with a big Greek life can probably see how much of it feels like it could be scarily realistic (I know most fraternities and sororities are totally great, but many of them also have a dark side).

The book begins with Detective Marlitt Kaplan investigating a hit and run incident on the college campus where her mom is a professor. The victim is fraternity member Jay Kemp... But the driver also looks an awful lot like Jay Kemp. And it looks like he may have hit him on purpose. Marlitt begins uncovering lots of secrets about the fraternity and its brothers... And we learn details about Marlitt's college days and why she may not be so keen on Greek life.

The book held my attention and I felt like the ending was fairly realistic with a twist I didn't see coming.

The narrator of the audiobook is great and definitely made the listening experience more enjoyable!

The Resemblance by Lauren Nossett is a good book, following a police detective as she tries to discover who killed a college frat boy in a hit and run. What she discovers are chilling secrets about basement rooms in fraternity houses, brotherhood codes, and what it means to actually be a partner. The story is intense and fast paced and I enjoyed it a lot. I was a little bummed at the ending, but I found it an interesting read.
The audiobook was excellent and the narrator did a fantastic job.
Thanks to NetGalley.

At first, I wasn't sure where this one was headed...but the ride was worth it! There was a lot to unpack in the book but I feel like the author did a great job of doing so. The bottom line is that Greek Life is bullshit and should be gotten rid of, at least according to me! I did love that Marlitt never ever gave up. Not even when ordered to do so by pretty much everyone. Sadly she did so at her peril b/c she lost her friendship with her partner and probably her job. But she found out some very important things about herself and of course, solved the case. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author!
#NetGalley