Impostor | Susanne Winnacker | Review

Impostor | Susanne Winnacker | Review

• Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Tessa, a Variant, is a teen with a special and unique skill; shape-shifting. Working for the FEA, aka Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, Tessa is called upon to assist in catching a serial killer by posing as one of his victims who has been left in a coma. Tessa must go undercover posing as Madison, living the other girl’s life amongst her unsuspecting family and friends who have been led to believe that she has made a miraculous recovery, searching for clues as to who the murderer is before it’s too late.

The story set off to a promising start with strong opening paragraphs and an intriguing concept but unfortunately my interest did start to waver a little when I found that I was around a quarter of the way through the book and yet Tessa’s important mission still had not begun. This was in part due to the ample character and world-building, a necessity as this book is the first in a planned series.

There seemed to be a fair amount of emphasis on the relationships and interactions between Tessa and her fellow Variants at the FEA which I’m sure will be of importance throughout the rest of the series however these sections of the book were my least favourite. On the other hand the premise that Tessa would have to use her unique Variant skill to impersonate Madison, effectively making her a target of the mysterious serial killer herself was certainly very intriguing and I was looking forward to discovering how her dangerous mission would play out.

As a main character I didn’t really connect with Tessa although it was possibly more difficult to get to know her as she was impersonating someone else for a huge part of the novel. As I mentioned earlier I didn’t feel much of a connection with the other FEA characters either and therefore wasn’t overly interested in their personal stories. Not feeling invested in the characters, the element that was driving me to read on was the mystery of the serial killer. Unfortunately I did find the final reveal a little underwhelming and predictable which was a shame, although I did enjoy looking out for clues along the way.

On the whole Impostor was a fairly enjoyable quick read and an intriguing start to a series which has the potential to become a favourite amongst YA Science Fiction fans. Although I myself wasn’t a huge fan of the characters I found the mystery element enjoyable and appreciated the unique idea behind the book.

*Review copy c/o Netgalley