This starts with a guy (who we will later call "Mr Lynch") leaving Paris in something of a hurry by train and wearing a cheap suit. He is obviously wondering whether anyone is after him. From London he heads to Heathrow apparently without purpose. When he gets there, a woman called Bobbie thinks she recognises him as her missing brother who has not been heard of for five years. However he lacks Heydon's distinctive tattoo. After a night with Bobbie, Lynch wakes up to finds he has been given that tattoo in the night…. Bobbie has left for rehab in LA as she had planned however she suggests he might go to her family home and gives him the PIN number for the key safe.

This is one of those "gradual reveal" stories where we get to add pieces to the jigsaw from time to time. The story follows Lynch, who initially agrees to pretend he is Heydon to try and find out what actually happened to him and why. It's fair to say that the family are not wholeheartedly behind this nor are some security personally who are working for the family. There is a roller coaster ride ahead. There are enough red herrings to go around here!

I'm a fan of some of Joseph Knox's work. I loved his Aidan Waits series and would recommend that to anyone. I wasn't particular happy with True Crime story though. In this one I really like Lynch as a character and there are a number of others who are decent too. The pace and tension are very good indeed (as was the case in the Aidan Waits books). It certainly kept me reading. I guess for me the ending was a little too convoluted - one or two of the twists were very strange. I would stress that I did enjoy reading this book however it left me a little less than satisfied I think. 3.5/5 however rounded up for the characters and the pace.

A really enjoyable read from Joseph Knox author of one of my a favourite ever books True Crime Story published in 2021.
This latest thriller is a must for fans of twisty fast paced mysteries centering around missing Heydon Pierce and the con artist set up to impersonate him; Lynch.
I loved how unflappable Lynch was, although couldn’t really get my head around why he went along with events given how deep he slipped into the intrigue. Some of his retorts, especially with Mike, were laugh out loud moments.
I’ll admit there were a lot of characters and events, which did leave me feeling confused at times, but Knox did recap through the narrative so I did feel able to keep up (mostly!)

I loved True Crime Story however I just struggled to get my head around this although I did persevere to the end. Con man ‘Lynch’ finds himself embroiled in a toxic super rich family due to his resemblance to their son who vanished five years ago and finds himself caught up with some very shady characters whilst trying to uncover what happened to the son. It was very difficult to like any of the characters in this and the concepts of their roles were extreme but also slightly scary. The action takes places over a short time but there’s a lot going on during that time frame however beyond trying to avoid his own life it was difficult to understand what compelled Lynch to continue investigating. This was a good consideration of what the super rich could be capable of with the right connections and how family secrets can come back and bite you hard.

I was hoping i’d enjoy this as much as i enjoyed True Crime Story but unfortunately that didn’t happen. It took me a while to get into the book and until the last few chapters i was enjoying it a lot more than when i started, however the ending for me seems misplaced. i am still left with a few questions (though that may be intended or i simply didn’t pick up what was being put down).

I loved ‘True Crime Story’ and was very excited to get a review copy of Knox’s latest! It’s an episode of ‘Slow Horses’ crossed with a Marx Brothers film, but a bit less slapstick and a bit more… murdery. Fast paced, bloody and excellent.

There was a lot of suspense in tension here as we explored the world of the rich and discovered how dangerous they can be.

Imposter Syndrome review

A whirlwind of a novel, rushing us round a contemporary London which most of us never see-the elevated world of the financial top 0.1%. A world which may not prove as appealing as the protagonist hopes.

Lynch newly back in London after an escapade gone wrong finds himself penniless and alone.

He falls into company with the mysterious Bobbie and her wealthy family-getting himself mixed up in the dubious impersonation of a missing family-member who he superficially resembles.

However the ultra-rich world he embraces proves more duplicitous, cunning and possibly murderous that he could possibly anticipate.

Ever the anti-hero, Lynch somehow becomes heroic, taking on the criminality he finds in the decadent billionaires he encounters. Ultimately he is redeemed, sickened by the sheer corruption of all around him and snatches one last chance to rebuild his life.

Tightly written, the twists and turns of the plot keep the reader guessing until the very end. Imposter Syndrome is sure to become a talking point of the summer as it matches the surprise and impact of the author’s previous novel, True Crime Story.

I am already looking forward to the next brilliant novel from Joseph Knox!

I loved this.

It is such a twisty, clever story that will keep you on your toes as you navigate all the events and people.

The characters are intriguing, our main protagonist especially, it is also unpredictable and hugely addictive.

I won't give anything away but you'll.devour this, something a bit different and terrific writing.

Ok, disclaimer! I am a Joseph Knox fan. I really enjoyed the Aidan Waits Trilogy and the standalone True Crime Story and would always recommend his books to a friend.
I find he has a great knack of writing strangely relatable, albeit semi degenerate, self deprecating, lead characters that you envitably end up rooting for...So I was excited to receive approval for an advance copy of his new book Imposter Syndrome.

Anyone who has read my reviews, knows that I struggle with, what @nursefancypants calls the "ScoobyDooEnding"..... and to my horror Imposter Syndrome has an SfDB.... a Scooby feckin Doo Beginning! 🤯🤯

A con artist, Lynch, down on his luck and rushing away from his last "con"tract is mistaken by a rich heiress as her long time missing brother, Heydon, upon arrival to London.
Within a very short amount of time, the reader, is expected to buy that Lynch is so starved of options he is willing to pretend to be said brother to try unearth what caused his alleged doppelganger's houdini act. This involved him getting a face tattoo for authenticity which I might add happened without his consent and while he was asleep!

I mean come on! I acknowledge I am a light sleeper, but a tattoo! On the face! While sleeping! No, no, no!

So, if you can swallow all of that without an eye roll or two then this could be the perfect whodunnit, whosbehindit mystery thriller for you, it just is not for me.

Don't get me wrong, Knox can write and the dialogue is often times funny. But, I struggled to buy into the scenario Lynch found himself in, or warm to any of the main characters, himself included.
I found it jumped all over the place with lots of main dodgy characters who all seemed indistinguishable from t'other bad fella.
I genuinely couldn't have cared less if someone were to take the book from me at any point and I never found out what happened actually happened to the missing Heydon or Lynch himself.

I feel bad, JK is a lovely human, he is very generous with his spare proofs and replies frequently to twitter messages.But this one does him an injustice in comparison to his other work, so I hope to see some return to form in his next release. I am still a fan.

Many thanks to Randomhouse UK and Transworld Publishers for the @netgalley arc in return for an honest review.

Tense, exciting and dramatic, with some excellent characters. Couldn’t put it down!

A minor note to editors-please get rid of the Americanisms in a British book set in London. We don’t have cops.

An accidental encounter sees a con artist named Lynch meet Bobbie, a rich girl bound for a rehab clinic, in London. When she notes his resemblance to her missing (presumed dead) brother, Heydon, Lynch finds himself unable to perpetrate any type of con on her.

But after he meets Miranda, her formidable mother, he agrees to her offer to impersonate Bobbie's brother. Miranda's plan is to flush out her son Heydon's real killer. But what Lynch hasn't quite realised is that by doing this, he will put himself in the killer's cross hairs.

As he attempts to navigate an alien world of investors and influencers, Lynch becomes increasingly aware of the danger that he is in.

Soon, all bets are off. Because the rich, after all, ARE different...

This is an unusual take on a grifter's entry into the world of the wealthy. But the story is not only original, it is also quite suspenseful. All in all, a very enjoyable read!

Lynch is a con-artist. He arrives in London broke, with only the clothes on this back, running from his past. Then he bumps into Bobbie, a heiress bound for rehab. She has mistaken him for her missing brother and forms a bond of sorts. Lynch is lured into her family home, only to be drawn into the mystery of the missing brother - Heydon. As the story goes along, it is clear that there are more secrets hidden within this family and you just can't guess who can be trusted.

This was wild and twisted! Lynch impersonating Heydon to try and help the family get to the bottom of the mystery, all the while, the secrets bubbling to the surface make it clear no one can be trusted here. Another fabulous novel by the author. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House UK for this gifted review copy.

Starting ‘Imposter Syndrome’ the week Netflix’s new take on ‘Ripley’ arrived, I began the book with the smallest amount of trepidation - was this going to be another take on a con artist trying to wheedle their way into a rich family and we follow the long drawn out ‘will he be found out or won’t he’. And that’s what it was – for all of half a chapter. Then? Then it drives forward as a gloriously twisted take on a modern day outsider investigator, a complex web of mystery and some very shady operators where our protagonist is far from the worst in terms of morals and motives.
Lynch, the protagonist of Joseph Knox’s new novel, arrives, penniless, in London as the nation mourns the Queen’s death and he laments ‘something’ in his recent past. Initially mistaken by Bobbie, a wealthy young woman on her way to rehab, as her brother Heydon, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances, he is encouraged by her to try and infiltrate her family for a quick money grab at their London home.
That’s the ‘opening pitch’ – to him, and to us, as readers. But on arrival at the home everything changes as Miranda, Bobbie and Heydon’s mother, sees an opportunity to use his likeness to try to find out who was responsible for her son’s disappearance that night five years ago.
From there we’re into an ever spiralling world of duplicity as Lynch finds himself more and more embroiled in something much bigger than he could have expected where he’s dependent more on his skills as a con artist than Reacher style muscle.
This was a two-sitting reading where I had no idea where the story was going (in the best possible way), pulled along in the same confusion, scalation and gradual reveals the protagonist himself goes through among a vividly drawn cast of characters.
A common theme I see in a lot of novels is the author’s determination to ‘show their workings out’: to put the research on every page to prove their ‘authenticity’. One of the things I thought worked so well here was the restraint in this: the protagonist is having to figure things out in a world he does not know: be it influencers/ investments, the super-rich or even the more luxurious establishments in London: and we as the reader join him in this: no info dumps, just economically revealed detail dripped out in a completely authentic voice: detail that establishes the circumstances but never once lets up in the breakneck action. And this certainly has ‘action’: clever, intelligently written without ‘superhero’ antics. It’s an ordinary joe (albeit one with a very shady past and questionable morals) in extraordinary circumstances where no-one, including himself, are what they seem.
There have been some really strong releases already in 2024 and this one is right up there with the best of them in terms of what I’ll be recommending to friends and family: published in July, I think this one will thrill the author’s fans and new readers alike.

My thoughts about Joseph Knox’s Imposter Syndrome is a Riveting Tale of Deception, Identity, and Deadly Secret. Joseph Knox delivers a gripping narrative in Imposter Syndrome, weaving together elements of suspense, deception, and psychological intrigue. The story follows Lynch, a burned-out con-artist who stumbles upon a fateful encounter with Bobbie, a rehab-bound heiress, mistaking him momentarily for her missing brother, Heydon. What begins as a chance encounter quickly escalates into a tangled web of lies and danger as Lynch is drawn into impersonating Heydon at the behest of Bobbie's formidable mother, Miranda. Joseph Knox’s Imposter Syndrome sets the stage for a thrilling ride, but Joseph Knox's masterful execution takes the story to greater heights. One of the strengths of Joseph Knox’s thriller lies in its portrayal of the dynamics between the characters. Lynch's interactions with Bobbie, Miranda, and other key players are fraught with tension, mistrust, and hidden agendas. Each character is meticulously crafted, adding layers of depth to the narrative and keeping readers guessing about their true motivations. Overall Joseph Knox’s Imposter Syndrome is a riveting thriller that captivates from beginning to end. Joseph Knox's skillful storytelling, complex characters, and deft handling of suspense make it a must-read for fans of the genre. And with the blend of heart-pounding action, Joseph Knox’s thriller is sure to leave a lasting impression on readers long after the final page is turned. I would like to say a big thank you to author Joseph Knox and publishers Transworld books and Doubleday books, for kindly letting me read and review this breathtaking thriller on netgalley. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥