American university fraternities and sororities for male and female students respectively (and some graduates) are from the outside shiny, vibrant and welcoming organisations, where a strong sense of community is developed among members and lifelong friendships are forged. The brotherhood and sisterhood is central to fraternity and sorority students’ time spent at university, and in the subsequent years of establishing a career when fraternity and sorority ties can prove most beneficial.
Dig a little deeper however, and flagrant abuses, including hazing and underage drinking (the legal drinking age in America still sits at 21), permeate the outer ‘respectable’ layers of “Greek life” – and secrecy abounds.
Such disturbing truths ricochet menacingly throughout phenomenal American author, Lauren Nossett’s, illuminating and haunting debut novel, the spectacular crime thriller “The Resemblance”
Our chief protagonist (the story is in it’s entirety told in the first person) is twenty-nine year old eager, yet tellingly wounded, Detective Marlitt Kaplan, who is with homicide in Athens, a college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Marlitt’s unassuming partner is thirty-two year old Detective Teddy White (Teddy is Black).
Early in the story, Marlitt is visiting her German mother, Helena, who is a professor, teaching German, at the local University, the University of Georgia. During the visit, Marlitt hears a confronting commotion outside, and runs to see that a young student has been hit by a car at a crossing, the driver having sped off.
Marlitt and Teddy interview witnesses, one telling Marlitt that the driver of the BMW that hit Jay Kemp (the victim) had a big smile on his face as his car struck Jay. The witness says the driver smiled “Like it was the best day of his life”.
Marlitt and Teddy run the meticulous investigation that follows Jay’s death, interviewing students, lecturers and friends. Jay was a University of Georgia student, majoring in political science.
The ethical (or are they?) detectives find themselves at Jay’s fraternity (Kappa Phi Omicron) early in the investigation, where Marlitt and Teddy meet the pleasant (or is he?) Tripp Holmes, the chapter president and the well-connected treasurer, Michael Williams (his father, Ed Williams, is the university president).
Also interviewed is the grief-stricken Katie Coleman (a member of the sorority Gamma Delta), who was the “dream girl” of Jay’s fraternity, helping “promote” the fraternity’s functions, as well as bringing her friends along to their parties. Despite there having been communication between Jay and Katie, Katie denies they were ‘going out’ together. Were they or weren’t they?
Marlitt ruminates to herself early in the investigation of fraternities and Greek life, “If it were up to me, the university would do away with the whole thing. They’re cesspools of underage drinking and sexual assaults”. Marlitt detests the secretive world of fraternities, reasons which become apparent later in the novel.
As Marlitt and Teddy learn that the first rule of Jay’s sorority is “Never betray the brotherhood”, it seems that still waters run deep.
Tripp, seemingly demurely, tells the detectives that “everyone loved Jay”. Is that the case? Did Jay have no enemies, or did he have an antagonist, even more than one?
When Michael eerily tells Marlitt one unobtrusive day that “You and your partner should be careful”, Marlitt takes it to heart. When Marlitt is later badly burned and disfigured in a house fire (it appears candles were left burning next to her bed), it seems that dark forces are at play. Unsurprisingly, Marlitt finds herself “off the case”.
Can Teddy and the new detective on the case, Oliver, find out what was really going on in Jay’s seemingly perfect life prior to the life-altering Tuesday morning during semester when Jay was hit (by a driver who accelerated and even looked like Jay)?
Why did Jay keep a “secret phone” in the student gym, a phone that Marlitt discovers in Jay’s locker, and what did the pieces of paper with the phone say? Who is Colin Haines, and does he have a connection to the case?
Why is there an unsettling feeling in Marlitt’s parents’ home, and why do they talk in hushed whispers when Marlitt is around?
Marlitt reflects at one stage of the whirlpool-like nuancies of the case, “We’re missing something”. What truth is evading the team? Why can’t Marlitt let go of the case, even when she has been given instructions by her boss, Lieutenant Truman, to stay away? Who is Marlitt’s friend Craig?
Lauren has written a book of searing intelligence, insights and forensically accurate detail. As an Australian who knew very little of fraternities and sororities at American colleges before I read this book, I was certainly well-informed by the time I’d finished this stellar read. The twists are many in “The Resemblance”, and are so well executed that I was left stunned.
Bravo Lauren! You have written one of the best books I’ve ever read, in terms of plot structure, character development and emotional vulnerability and impact. I loved this book, and can’t wait to see what Lauren writes next. Five stars.
Leave a Reply