Book Review: ‘Imposter’ by Susanne Winnacker

I’ve been looking for an X-Men like series that is in a similar vein of Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy or books like it. Susanne Winnacker’s Imposter seems to be the one I’ve been looking for.

Imposter follows a FBI agent-in-training, Tessa, who gets assigned her first real mission. Her mission is to transform into a dying girl’s body, pretend to be her and be used as bait for a dangerous and at-large serial killer. Wait… transform? How?

Oh yeah, Tessa isn’t just some regular FBI agent; she’s part of a top secret branch called Forces with Extraordinary Abilities (FEA, for short). All FEA agents are Variants, meaning they each have a special and non-human ability. Some can read minds or have super strength. In Tessa’s case, she can absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance.  With an ability like that, Tessa is a very important asset to the FEA, but it also makes her a target.

Imposter begins as we’re introduced to Tessa, the FEA, and her friends and fellow agents. It does feel slow in the beginning as we get to know Tessa’s world. However, once Tessa embarks on her mission, the pacing fires up, and the mystery and action packed aspects of the novel kick in. From that point, Imposter is really entertaining. Trying to solve who the serial killer is wasn’t as predictable as it seemed. There are some twists that I totally didn’t see coming. I found myself changing up my theories constantly while reading it.

There is some romance, which I thought was okay. I feel like the author is still building it up and appropriately was more focused on the plot at hand. Imposter also builds up to what could be an interesting long term story line. I like the way it ends. Even though this particular case gets solved, there’s still more to come and the stakes are higher.

I hope the next Variant books explore more extraordinary abilities, and we see something that still feels grounded in reality like this book, but with an added dose of fantasy/science fiction. I found Tessa and her ability to be fascinating. Along with that and the story’s pacing, the length was the right amount to find it, not overlong or underdeveloped, but fully enjoyable and satisfying.

Rating: 7.5/10

Imposter by Susanne Winnacker is now available wherever books are sold. Support The Young Folks and purchase the book at our TYF Store, powered by Amazon.

Book Info:

Publisher:  Razorbill (May 28, 2013)
Length:  288 pages (Hardcover)
Series: Variants – Book 1
Source: ARC (Provided by publisher)
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Murder Mystery
Completed: June 2013

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