This was such an interesting mystery/thriller read! I very much enjoyed how the characters were so psychologically complex and how those complexities mingled together. This felt very character driven, and the feelings/paranoia were nearly palpable throughout the entire story. I didn't love the pacing.. it felt a little chaotic and inconsistent, especially with how the plot kind of got carried away. It was almost TOO much of a mystery in some areas. I did however love the unsettling and ambiguous ending. This is a solid 3.5 for me!

"Imposter Syndrome" was very confusing in the beginning as a reader; it was hard to get my bearings, because there wasn't a lot of information given on the main character Lynch. I was in the dark for a few chapters. The book has many twists and turns, and you're kind of on your own as a reader. It was a bizarre story. However, the plot kept my interest, but not in an easy way. It was sort of a love-hate relationship I had with the book. It kept me turning the pages because I wanted to see how the story ended.

I would recommend it to people who are serious readers, rather than someone who wants an easy distraction. The reader needs to really concentrate on the plot and form a web, to see where the characters connect to each other. I would recommend this to people who liked his other book "True Crime Story".

4 stars.

I was hoping this book would be like the author’s previous work, True Crime Story, and it was very different in both tone and format so my expectations really let me down. Overall it was fine but not as memorable as I’d hoped.

The con artist known as Lynch is almost at the end of his rope when he literally stumbles into a young woman in the lobby of a London airport hotel. The black-clad heiress stares at him with a horror incommensurate with their collision. Turns out that Lynch, to the surprise of them both, is the spitting image of Bobbie Pierce’s missing older brother Heydon.

For a split second, Lynch is tempted to go with it, but something about her sheer level of emotional investment warns him off of attempting the con. Bobbie, being an underemployed young socialite about to be exiled to rehab in California, is persistent in seeking out his company though. Even after he convinces her that he’s not Heydon, she insists on spending time with him, telling him all about Heydon’s disappearance five years ago. One thing leads to another and the next thing Lynch knows, he’s waking up in a hotel room with a small but noticeable tattoo: the exact same broken heart at the corner of his eye that Bobbie had once given to Heydon.

Naturally, he’s furious. Life as a con artist is difficult enough without such an obvious distinguishing characteristic. A contrite Bobbie, already on the way to the US, tells him to break into her wealthy family’s home to grab some cash out of their safe in recompense. She even gives him the passcodes and tells him where to find the key. This, of course, seems far too much like easy money. If Lynch weren’t so hard up, he might well steer clear of the entire setup. Desperation drives him to visit the family manor anyway.

He’s thus not terribly surprised to be discovered by the Pierces’ private security services after having roamed the empty mansion for a bit. What does surprise him is the proposition that the family matriarch subsequently makes him. Legendary actress Miranda Pierce is willing to pay him a very generous sum to keep impersonating Heydon, in hopes that it will help the family find her vanished son:

QUOTE
[“]All conventional means at my disposal have brought me bitter disappointment. You might be the one person in this world who can help.”

She says this with dignity, while looking me in the eye, but it’s clear how much it costs her to ask. That, more than anything else, convinces me that this really is some kind of last resort.

“Miranda,” Reagan says, turning to her mother and talking quietly. “Perhaps we should discuss this…”

“This is a bad guy, with a capital buh,” Mike goes on, becoming exasperated. “In the cold light of day–”

Miranda snaps. “I’ve come to the conclusion that the kinds of people we’re dealing with aren’t afraid of the daylight, Mr. Arnold. If they were, then perhaps you’d have had some success.”
END QUOTE

Wary but motivated, Lynch takes on the role and readies himself to meet with one of the people last known to have seen Heydon before his disappearance. As Lynch does so, however, he finds himself becoming strangely invested in what happened to the other man. Prior to vanishing, Heydon had talked about being constantly followed and watched, which everyone around him had put down to a paranoia related to his diagnosis of bipolar disorder. But what if someone really had been out to get him? Could that someone decide now that Lynch ought to disappear too?

Twisty and almost hallucinatory, Imposter Syndrome is a tightly wound ball of mysteries all tangled up in one another. Joseph Knox smoothly unravels his plot threads as the book plays out, expertly weaving in modern technology and dilemmas with age-old motivations and secrets. Frankly, his choice to write a detective noir with a con artist protagonist is inspired. Lynch is a terrific creation, knowing but wounded, and going through a crisis of his own when his path crosses with the Pierces’:

QUOTE
Walk into someone’s life with the right energy, a convincing enough smile, and you might leave with something. But, if you want to get away with it, you’ll be on your own. In the end, you’re supposed to be.

If you steal from people, you spend your whole life watching them, looking for patterns and missteps. You can get so hung up on their failures that you don’t even notice yours. I think that’s what I like about it. That’s why Clare had to go. She saw things she shouldn’t have. And things in me I didn’t see in myself.
END QUOTE

While the setting is entirely contemporary, the mood is a perfect fit for the broody noir subgenre, with a dogged, enigmatic narrator who can’t seem to pull himself away from the Pierces or from this quixotic quest for the truth. Perhaps he’s only doing it to run away from his own problems. Regardless, it’s deeply satisfying to solve the book’s many mysteries alongside him.

This is more of a 3.5, which I honestly wasn’t expecting to rate this so low. The first half of the book I was flying through the story and I didn’t want to put it down, but sadly the last half of the book, took a weird turn and honestly it started to feel like a different story at times!! The book could have definitely been shorter to get rid of some of the slow parts, that felt unnecessary, and it probably would have made the last 50% so much better!!

The ending was also a bit of a let down and left me with quite a few questions still! Overall, this was a good story it just needed to be shorter and the pacing needed help for the second half of the book. This was also my first book by this author, I will probably have to give one of his other books a chance to see if maybe it was just this one that made me feel this way! The first 50% made me immediately want to go read all of his other books, so I’ll definitely give the others a fair chance! Give this one a chance, because this might be absolutely perfect for you and you could love it!!

3⭐️'s for me. There were some great twist and turns in this book that made it an easy read but I also felt like there were some points in the story I didn't feel like was needed or necessary details and where I felt more details were needed they were missing. I felt myself losing interest because of that at some points. I guess this just wasn't something completely for me.

I found this to be a very complicated, twisty read that was difficult to follow at times yet entertaining and suspenseful at other times.

While this is my first read by this author, I'm sure it won't be my last.
3⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to have an advanced ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the early arc copy of this one. I read this pretty quick and enjoyed it. I'd actually reread it. I would recommend reading this one. I rated it 4.5 stars.

Lynch is a con man who goes considerably beyond his portfolio of impersonating someone he resembles for one night, and who decides to find out what actually happened to his doppelganger. The family who hires him is shifty and cruel, dismissive of him, the one who can solve their problem. Lynch is as flawed a human being as you can imagine, on the run from something nasty in Paris and unsure where he's heading. He meets a woman in the London train station who makes him a proposal. He has nothing and knows he needs to take it.

The novel is dark and sly with somehow the tiniest spark of light. It is over complicated and sometimes too twisty, spurring you question whether it's worthwhile to finish.

But you do.

"Imposter Syndrome" reminded me of some Patricia Highsmith books in a good way. Joseph Knox's writing is good and the story is unusual. Take a look. You might fall in head first.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for digital access to this novel in exchange for my opinion.

This is Joseph Knox as dark and gritty as ever. Definitely more of a slow-burn, but an interesting idea and the action and tension are ramped up towards the end so it's worth persevering with it if you aren't convinced at the beginning. This book is based upon family secrets and deception mixed with plenty of violence and a shocking introduction to the criminal underworld. It is quite a complex thriller so you need to concentrate to keep track but if you're a fan of his other books you'll love this action thriller.

Really gripping, but a slowburn for me, but it was a great suspense, lots of tangles that I loved.

Definitely recommend to read if you love some slowburn suspense thriller.

IMPOSTER SYNDROME vy Joseph Knox

Twisty and a bit dark, as the rich and powerful try to use a con man to cover up far their own far worse crimes. I kept thinking he should bail out and run for his life, but he wanted answers, and to be fair, so did I, so I took some breaks to ease my own tension and kept reading. I began to have a grudging respect for Lynch (what a name!) and even some affection for him. Trying to find himself after playing so many roles, he wondered — who am I?
Adding to the fun of reading was the eloquent writing, the style, the pacing, the playing with words, and the descriptions of places beyond my life experience.
There are rumors of a second adventure for him, which makes me glad. I want more!

This book had an excellent premise, but I was confused on many occasions. That is my own personal opinion and I think other people might enjoy this book

Imposter Syndrome by Joseph Knox, a man fleas, Paris with nothing leaving behind a room with blood in it, but before we can delve into that story, he gets mistaken for Bobby’s brother Hayden, who went missing five years before. That night in her hotel roomb, she drugs him and puts a broken hard tattoo on his face Taking his sarcastic agreement to do it as consent. He tells her his name is Lynch and how he’s Been awake for three days and has nothing and she feels bad for him and tells him the code to her family home and when it’s the best time to go there.His resemblance to Hayden Pierce is what gets him involved in a murder mystery with people that can kill and clean it up with no consequences as if using an eraser. Unfortunately, they can also make it look like you were responsible, and when Lynch doesn’t give up, trying to figure out what happened to Hayden Pierce they tried that and more to make him stop. Let me just say, I really liked Lynch and found he totally acted like a real person. They were things that I will admit were repetitive, but I am being honest when I say I could not put this book down towards the end I wanted to stop only due to being tired, but I felt compelled to find out what happened and OMG this is the gift that keeps on giving because every time you think you know, you soon learn you have no idea. it seems like Lynch picked the wrong time to turn over a whole new leaf but then again he was absolutely the exact man for the job. I love the way the author can define a character and you could totally feel that personality coming off the page. I would love if the author made this a series because OMG, Lynch is definitely a guy to root for. Trust me when I say they have a few negatives such as repetition slight contradictions, but all that is so worth it to read this great awesome story.#NetGalley, #SourcebooksLandmark, #JamesKnox, #ImposterSyndrome,hh

Imposter Syndrome by Joseph Knox

Why I Chose It: I loved True Crime Story.

Perhaps my expectations of this one were unfair, but it did not work for me. It was too complex, and I never really cared about anything or anyone. One thing I’ve realized about myself as a reader this year is that the “why” matters. I didn’t understand any part of how this book started nor why the characters continued to make the choices they did.

Fans of layered complex plots, novels that take awhile to unravel, and con stories will enjoy this one.

Engrossing, fast-paced, and sinister!

Imposter Syndrome is a brisk, compelling tale that takes you into the life of Lynch, a broke con man who, after running from the life he recently led in Paris, becomes embroiled in the dangerously messed-up lives of the complex, affluent Pierce family.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are secretive, troubled, and multilayered. And the plot is an ominous thrill ride full of twists, turns, familial drama, secrets, lies, deception, guilt, grief, relationship dynamics, reckless behaviour, swirling emotions, manipulation, violence, vengeance, and murder.

Overall, Imposter Syndrome is an intricate, crafty, atmospheric read by Knox that captivated, satisfied, and highly entertained me and was a good reminder that things are never what they seem.

This mystery/thriller begins with a nameless con man who eventually goes by the name Lynch arriving in London from Paris with no money or possessions. He runs into a woman named Bobbie who mistakes him for her brother Heydon, who has been missing for 5 years, and Lynch finds himself drawn into the orbit of their family and trying to figure out what really happened to Heydon. And I’ll say no more than that because this book is definitely fun to go into totally blind, like I did!

Joseph Knox’s previous book, True Crime Story, was one of my top ten favorite books of 2021, and this book was definitely one of the best mystery/thrillers, if not the best, that I’ve read in 2024! I seriously could not put it down, which probably helped because the plot definitely gets complicated! It felt truly original with both good mystery and good action thriller stakes. And based on the author’s note, sounds like he sees this as the first book in a series and I will definitely be lining up to read more! And in the meantime, clearly I need to go back and read his earlier series.

📚 PRE-PUBLICATION BOOK REVIEW 📚

Imposter Syndrome By Joseph Knox
Publication Date: December 10, 2024
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐

📚MY REVIEW:

Imposter Syndrome was the epitome of a conspiracy thriller, with so many complex subplots and complicated characters that it made my head spin non-stop from page one until its very last page.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. Its opening started off strong and I was into it. I felt the mystery, I felt the intrigue, I had questions. Just what I want in a thriller. Everything was good. But then...

All of a sudden, I felt completely lost. The storyline got so complex that I couldn't keep up. Every time I felt like I got my bearings and was finally following along with the storyline again, here came more new characters and more rabbit holes of mysteries and I'd be lost again. This book had layer upon layer of new characters, new subplots, new conspiracy theories, more new characters, more new subplots....it was a lot. Too much, honestly. I never quite understood how and why the main character went down all the rabbit holes he did, and more importantly, why he was so invested in this crazy situation anyway. Literally no one in this book was trustworthy, everybody was hiding secrets that I don't even know if I ever actually learned the truth about, and everyone seemed nefarious at every turn of every page. The story just kept going in unnecessary circles and I kept reading in the hopes I could make sense of all of it.

Unfortunately, at the end of this one, I didn't feel like I made sense of any of it. I couldn't keep it straight. Truthfully, this book made me feel kinda dumb, and since I'm pretty sure I'm at least a fairly intelligent person -- didn't love that. I enjoy a unique thriller as much as the next person, but I also want to "get it," and I sure as hell didn't with this book.

Maybe conspiracy thrillers are simply not for me - if you are a fan of complicated and complex conspiracy thrillers, you will definitely LOVE this book. I've heard so many great things about Knox's books, so I'll consider giving another one a try in the future. Even though this book wasn't really a hit for me, I appreciate Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley offering me this advanced e-book in exchange for my honest review.

#ImposterSyndrome #JosephKnox #SourcebooksLandmark #bookmarked #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #ARC #thrillerlover #thrilleraddict #mysteries #conspiracythrillers #complexthrillers #bookreviews #bookrecs #bookrecommendations

Imposter Syndrome is the crime fiction from Joseph Knox.

"Lynch is in London, running from a con gone bad. He meets Bobbie who initially mistakes for her missing brother. Lynch gets involved in trying to find out what happened that night when the brother's car was left running on a bridge - empty. Lynch soon discovers that lots of bad people don't want anything comig to light about that night. He has to decide just how far he's willing to take it."

You know that a Knox crime story is always gritty. Lynch is not really a good guy but there seems to be a moral center there. There are a lot of moving pieces to the story and it takes a while to get to some of the reasons Lynch is looking for. There are some surprises and twists in the wild ending. You have to pay attention to the details.

Fans of Knox's previous crime fiction should like this.

I had no trouble getting into this book as the premise is clear: a man, Heydon has been missing for years and his car was parked on the bridge over the Thames but no body was discovered. Now sister Bobbie hires Mr. Lynch to find him and gives him a teardrop tattoo under his eye as he looks so much like Heydon. But it's also clear Heydon was paranoid as his messages were "read" and he made notes to himself to change his passwords. But then things get wildly confusing as Lynch looks into his family life and there are hints of extortion. I ended up skimming the 2nd half as I had trouble following the convoluted plot line!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!