The plot was intriguing, and the characters were interesting, but the pacing of this book became too slow in the middle. I ended up DNFing. I really wanted to like it, but it moved too slow for me.

Lynch is a con man and sometimes things get hot and he has to leave quickly. He arrives in London with a passport, a phone and no money. That doesn't worry him, he can have cash anytime where there's a crowd. But what does worry him is when a woman looks at him, and exclaims, "Haydon, is that really you?"

The woman's name is Bobbie and she mistakes Lynch for her brother, Haydon, who disappeared five years ago. His car was found parked on a bridge and he had been having mental issues so the police assumed suicide. Bobbie has a room, some cocaine and booze and suggests that Lynch stay and party. Having nowhere else he agrees.

He wakes up the next morning, hungover to find Bobby gone but she has left something behind. She has tattooed a heart beneath his eye just like Haydon had. When he calls her, she says she is on a plane to California and rehab but gives him her parent's address and door codes and insists they will give him some money and pay to have the tattoo erased. When he goes there, he finds armed security but Haydon's mother vouches for him and hires him to impersonate Haydon and get back a trunk he has left with a loan shark. He agrees and soon is over his head. It turns out that lots of people are looking for Haydon and now they think Lynch is their man.

Sometimes when I read a book, I'm left in awe of the author's mind and that's always my reaction when I read a Joseph Knox novel. He seems to be living and operating on a higher plane than I am and it's always fun to go along for the ride. Lynch encounters a cyptoking, an ex military man who now sees security and intelligence and the rest of Haydon's family, each of whom have their own agenda. Knox is an English author and I've loved each of his books I've read. This book is recommended for thriller readers.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I just feel like the plot didn’t make a lot of sense to me and I was a bit confused. I was also bored because it was moving too slowly.

I hope others love this one!

Lynch is a con artist, one minute starving with nothing, the next a fully entrusted investigator living in comfort. He had my attention at first, but then the foundation starting getting wonky. The dots weren't fully connecting. Fragmented thoughts were strung together, but the lights wouldn't turn on. This just didn't keep my interest. I sincerely tried. I honor anyone with the patience and fortitude to complete a novel, though, and I had enough curiosity to complete the book. So to the author, I say kudos! Keep writing. You're on to something, you have the fortitude and patience. I look forward to your next novel.
Thanks so much to Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is December 10, 2024.

Lynch, a con artist has just walked away from his life in Paris. He’s burned out and doesn’t know his next steps. He runs into Bobbie at the airport. The heiress is startled by his resemblance to her missing and presumed dead brother, Heydon. She proposes that he assumes his identity to help her family find out what happened to him. Being that he’s in limbo at the moment, he agrees. He shows up at the family home in London, ingratiates himself with the matriarch and Bobbie’s sister, both of whom agree to the plan.

This had all the elements for me to love it. However, and maybe it’s me, I found the plot confusing. I didn’t get how Lynch managed to slip in and out of situations effortlessly, and so nonchalantly. I’d look back, wondering if I missed anything in his backstory. If I could pinpoint my difficulty with the plot it’s this: I just couldn’t understand why Lynch would willing agree to pretend to be someone else and help, much less trust, a complete stranger, and her incredibly dysfunctional family. Each step in this agreement becomes more hazardous. His impetus is just never explained.

Highlights:
* Suspense, thriller, complex plot
* Doppelgänger, unshakeable protagonist
* Several nefarious characters
* Action-packed

I wanted a nail biter, and I got it in parts. As much as I didn’t get Lynch, he was impressive in dire situations. I love thrillers, and though this didn’t entirely work for me, I’m sure it will appeal to readers looking for a moody, intricate suspense.

Thank you @bookmarked & @netgalley for my gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review. 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗲 is available December 10th.

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.