Well, this was a whole lot of wasted potential. I was so hooked by the premise. A student is killed in a hit-and-run. And "more than a dozen witnesses all agree on two things: The driver looked identical to the victim, and he was smiling."

This book promises to explore the toxic nature of Greek life and instead we get a police procedural with the most biased and stereotypical detective. This "brotherhood" would have been far more interesting to explore from the inside or even from a student or professor's perspective. I do not understand why the author chose to distance the reader from everything interesting about the book by limiting the book to the perspective of the detective.

Not only is the point of view limiting and uninteresting, but the detective is also so heavy-handed in her hatred of Greek life that it is impossible to take her seriously. She starts off assuming the absolute worst of every man in the fraternity, honestly every student at the school, removing any possible shock from the later revelations. Her internal monologue is preachy, she is reckless, selfish, and incredibly inconsistent. Her motivation for being obsessed with the case is very hollow. Flashbacks or something would have made it more believable. Instead, her hatred for Greek life reads as part of her general hatred for anyone below the age of 25. I can't remember exactly how old Marlitt is supposed to be, but her opinions aged her decades. She is constantly critiquing how often students are using their phones, treating them like they are stupid, and commenting that "they'll miss it when they're my age." I swear she comments on the students having "unwrinkled faces" like ten times. Every single character in this book is a bland stereotype.

The pacing made the book feel far longer than it was. The major event in the middle of the book really destroyed my interest in the plot. The end is filled with so many last-minute misdirections that I was just waiting for the book to end. And then the twist came completely out of left field and failed to impress. However, it did reveal a character that would have made for a much more interesting narrator.

The Resemblance is a waste of a fascinating mystery setup.

3 stars

This is my first Nossett read, and I really enjoy the character development coming through in Marlitt, the m.c., so much so that I will be back for more from this author for this reason on its own!

Marlitt, the m.c., is a detective investigating a hit-and-run, which turns into a full self-exploration and a deep dive into her past. For me, there are really two intriguing and intertwined paths: the crime/university underworld and Marlitt's story. For me, the university underworld story was just too gross. Actual crime? Fine. Toxic masculinity? Too sick to read about anymore. I can just see it everywhere. Readers who enjoy this subject matter will likely find this a developed and engaging example of it, but I really realized while listening (I had the audio version) that I'm having an increasingly difficult time stomaching these kinds of situations and everything that comes along with them: hazing, homophobia, sexism, physical violence in general, and of course extreme objectification of women (and obviously rape and sexual assault). I just... am tired.

While my own personal hang-ups made the apparent central mystery difficult to stomach, I enjoyed the book overall because of Marlitt's development. Between her strained relationship with her mother (a fascinating character in her own right), some mysteries about her own life, and traumas from her past and present, she makes for a very interesting read.

I enjoyed this narrator and definitely recommend the audiobook where available. I'll be looking forward to more from this author.

I almost gave up on The Resemblance partway through. It starts with a literal bang, and then kind of builds in a slow-burn fashion, but I'm SO GLAD I stuck with it. Not only is it perfectly narrated by the fantastic Saskia Maarleveld, who is one of my favorite narrators, but the detail building is necessary to the final resolution. It's one that really needs to be completely paid attention to, in order to truly appreciate Marlitt's character. I could see her being a series character. I think she has a lot of room to grow! Thanks for the opportunity to review.

“Hell is empty. All the devils are here.”

This sounded amazing! I couldn’t resist a chance at dark academia. Greek life is creepy to me so I was excited for this possibly atmospheric thriller for spooky season.

Set in a southern university with a dark past of privilege and death, Marlitt, a cop, will be investigating a suspicious death on campus that opens up a portal into a world of darkness and deceit.

On a visit with her mother, a professor at the uni, Marlitt hears a piercing scream. Rushing outside, she sees a crowd at the crosswalk. A young man is dead. Hit and run. What’s more strange is that, according to the witness, the driver was smiling, sped up, AND looked just like the victim. What gives?

Marlitt wants to work this case, along with her hangry partner Teddy. Marlitt has lived here all her life and has a hate-hate relationship with Greek life and all other white people in general, apparently. “The audacity of the caucasity” is probably her motto.

She has an ax to grind with these institutions and groups with their codes of silence, which is ironic because she became a cop, especially with all the social justice rants, but ANYWAY..

I found this extremely biased against Greek life but mostly just men in general, and I don’t like Greek life or most men(lol jk.. or am I?). It was just too much. It came off as bitter and preachy way too often. One example is that they asked a frat bro if the victim had been with anyone’s gf(possible motive) and he said no, that it was against the rules to mess with someone else’s girl. Fair enough. Not to Marlitt! She says she is not at all surprised that women are property to them. OH ffs!

This wasn’t dark academia, it was a social justice police procedural, which annoys me given the content. If they were going in this direction with it, have a sleuth, private investigator, or podcaster do it, not a cop.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to listen and review. Narration was good, not great.

Book Title: The Resemblance
Author: Lauren Nessett
Audiobook Narrator: Saskia Maarleweld
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: November 8, 2022
My Rating: 3 Stars

Detective Marlitt Kaplan is visiting her profession mother on the campus of the University of Georgia. They hear screams from the street. Marlitt runs and finds a victim of a hit and run. Many students are in the crosswalk and witnessed the accident. One female student states she was behind Jay getting ready to cross the street. She states she knows of Jay as his fraternity and her sorority often has social activities. She goes on to say that cross walk light hadn’t come on but the traffic slowed and Jay starts to cross but a black BMW actually speeds up and hits him. Other witnesses say the driver looked like the victim, and he was smiling.

Marlitt already has feeling of mistrust involved with fraternities and sororities. She is aware that in many cases money and power keeps some students out of trouble. The Greek Life is always having wild underage drinking parties, rape/sexual assaults are common as well as dangerous hazing.

Marlitt’s partner Teddy White is an attractive black man who is well liked. I personally liked him. Love that this strong tough male seldom uses profanity unlike Marlitt. Her profanity got annoying. To me she certainly didn’t act like a professional but more like a bitter mean girl teenage who is out for revenge.
I was curious why.


I enjoy stories about college life but this story was very disturbing.
When I was 25% I was ready to DNF - the immaturity of these nasty college guys was actually scary - they are our future. In addition, I have a low tolerance to profanity and their language was reaching my peak.
I have no doubt that there is a dark side and many awful things happen on a college campus but.
I also know that fraternity and/or sorority do many good things.
I love mysteries and psychological thrillers so love to try to figure out whodunit. In this case, I wasn’t surprised but didn’t know deals so I hung in there. Additionally, I liked the narrator she did a good job with performing the characters.

The epilogue was great!!!Only wish I knew some of it earlier in the reading as I am sure it would have made a big difference in my opinion of Marlitt.

I always enjoy reading the author’s Notes and/Acknowledgements ~ which to me is always the inside scoop on the authors inspiration for the stories. But I am disappointed that most audiobooks do not include them. I know that Lauren Nassett is a former college professor so am curious about her research.

Personal Note: As a high school Counselor I worked with thousands of his seniors in their college admissions process also toured and visited hundreds of colleges. College/Universities want students to feel connected to their school and encourage getting involved in clubs and certain discourage any “Animal House’ behavior.

Want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for November 8, 2022

Normally I do not enjoy cop stories. They aren't my thing by any means.
But I actually liked this one a lot. It was about hazing and how college is about the experience more than the education.
Of course our main cop is trying to get justice for someone from her past by proxy. She has a vendetta.
She has to examine her relationship with being a cop, her friends, and her family. She goes through a lot of growth.
It was a good story.
The performance though - that was phenomenal! I spent the day listening and loved every minute.

I read a physical galley of this and wanted to listen to the audio and holy crap! This was even better in the audio format. The narrator has this way of portraying the overall dark academic setting quite well, and this is definitely a story to pick up.

This was just OK. It had some promising elements, but ultimately just didn't shine.


Review copy provided by publisher.

Detective Marlitt Kaplan arrives at the scene of a fatal hit and run, where a University of Georgia frat boy has been killed when struck down by a car witnesses say was was driven by a man identical to the victim. A man who was smiling at the moment of impact. Marlitt’s mother is a UGA professor and Marlitt knows all the sordid stories connected to the university, or at least she thinks she does. But her investigation reveals the frightening acts and beliefs of some of the university’s most elite students. Nossett’s book delves into the seedy underworld of hazing, racism and Greek life on college campuses. Kaplan’s character is the strongest element in Nossett’s story, I felt like there was just a little too much crammed into one storyline