The Resemblance

June 1, 2022

A fraternity brother at the University of Georgia is struck dead in a hit-and-run, and witnesses concur that the driver--who looked just like the victim--was cheerfully smiling as he swooped away. When Det. Marlitt Kaplan uncovers nasty secrets plaguing the fraternity system, the threats come fast and furious. A professor herself, Nossett racks up a 150,000-copy first printing for her debut.

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2022
Det. Marlitt Kaplan—the 29-year-old narrator of Nossett’s impassioned if overwrought debut—is tired of being sidelined by her paternalistic boss, so she’s elated to be first on the scene of a fatal hit-and-run at the University of Georgia in her hometown of Athens. According to witnesses, Kappa Phi Omicron member Jay Kemp was crossing the street when a car driven by his smiling doppelgänger accelerated in order to strike him. Marlitt despises fraternities for something that happened while she was in college, and suspects KPO is somehow responsible for Jay’s death—particularly after one of the brothers wipes Jay’s laptop before police can examine it. She begins obsessively investigating Jay’s fellow KPO members, despite doubts from coworkers, admonitions from her supervisor, and escalating threats against Marlitt and her police partner. Nossett delivers a scathing indictment of Greek life cloaked in a twisty mystery rife with red herrings. The plot is overly busy and a convoluted denouement strains credulity, but Marlitt’s fanatical first-person voice adds urgency and focus. Nossett is off to a solid start. Agent: Hillary Jacobson, ICM Partners.

August 15, 2022
A homicide detective uncovers dark secrets about a local fraternity as she investigates a hit-and-run. Detective Marlitt Kaplan happens to be on the University of Georgia campus when an unknown driver hits and kills a student. The victim, Jay Kemp, is a member of the Kappa Phi Omicron fraternity. While his fellow Kap-Os insist that they are shocked and grief-stricken, Marlitt is convinced they have something to hide. The ensuing story is part police procedural, part general critique of the Greek system. Marlitt has a long-standing grudge against fraternities and all the avoidable tragedies that happen under their watch. "I collect them," Marlitt says early on, "these horrendously sad and never-ending accounts all across the nation, pile them up in my memory, so I can bury the thing at its core." Her obsession keeps the investigation, and the plot, progressing at a fair clip even as her fellow police begin to discourage her persistence. This obsession can also, however, veer into didacticism. She has such a vendetta against the frat brothers, for example--from the "golden boy" chapter president, Tripp Holmes, to Michael Williams, the charming but ruthless son of the university's president--that her narration tends to flatten them into caricatures. Still, suspense-filled scenes, like an ill-conceived undercover mission at a "Hawaiian nights" party, keep the pages turning, and there are many gripping questions that will keep readers glued to the page. Why did the driver look exactly like the victim? And why was he driving the victim's car? Why, during the novel's shocking midway point, does Marlitt wake in the night screaming a language she doesn't speak? The answers are genuinely surprising, if at times unsatisfying. Overall, it's a fun read with some surprising twists that will keep readers on their toes. A competent detective thriller with an overly moralizing narrator.

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October 15, 2022
Athens, Georgia, police detective Marlitt Kaplan is spurred by her unresolved past and self-destructive streak to expose a fraternity's dark secrets. When popular University of Georgia fraternity brother Jay Kemp is killed in a hit-and-run, witnesses offer incredible reports: the laughing driver looked exactly like the victim and seemed to accelerate toward the crosswalk. Even stranger, traffic video shows that the weaponized car belonged to Kemp. When Marlitt and her partner, Teddy, follow up at Kemp's fraternity house, Marlitt's ""Spidey sense"" points her to Michael Williams, the college president's son. Despite the police chief's enraged warning to tread lightly, she sneaks into the house and finds evidence of torture. But before they can link that evidence to Kemp's death, Marlitt is severely wounded in a fire, and she's off the case. Scarred inside and out and convinced that the fire was retribution for poking into the fraternity's secrets, Marlitt refuses to stop digging for answers. Her reckless tenacity adds a layer of unpredictability and plays right into the novel's well-developed themes of loyalty and regret.

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November 18, 2022

DEBUT Nossett's debut, a campus crime story, hits hard against the power structure of university life. Marlitt Kaplan, daughter of University of Georgia faculty and a member of the Athens police force, is first on the scene when a student is killed by a hit-and-run driver on campus. The victim, Jay Kemp, is a golden boy, a member of Kappa Phi Omicron fraternity. Witnesses all agree the car sped up as it entered the intersection, and that the driver, who looked a lot like Jay, was laughing. Marlitt is eager to prove herself at work, where she's often put on "easy" cases and patronized by her boss. She is assigned the case and begins investigating, but soon her obsession with uncovering KPO's dirtiest secrets puts her, her colleagues, and even civilians in danger. VERDICT The fast pace is counterbalanced by paint-by-numbers characters, an overstuffed narrative, and an unbelievable finale. This debut is a bumpy ride.--Liz French

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.