Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Impostor Syndrome by Andrew Mayne Narrator: Susannah Jones, Will Damron, Jennifer O'Donnell, James Anderson Foster
Series: The Specialists #2
Published by Brilliance Audio on October 21, 2025
Genres: Mystery
Length: hours, 43 minutes
Format: Audiobook, eARC
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible
The FBI calls on former agent Jessica Blackwood to look at a puzzling crime. A wildlife officer has found the body of a popular YouTuber encased in an obelisk made of salt in a remote refuge. When the agency is tipped off to a second body, that of a TikTok star chained to the bottom of Nevada’s Pyramid Lake—her hands clasped in prayer—Jessica recruits a trusted colleague of her Floridian underwater investigator Sloan McPherson.
It appears to be the work of a ritualistic serial killer preying on influencers. That tracks when a third victim—a fantasy-game live streamer—barely survives a pipe bomb attack. But in navigating the social media world of instafame, manipulation, and deception, Jessica and Sloan know how illusory appearances can be. As the threats multiply across the country, they fear they’re playing with something more extreme than they a killer’s endgame that could be nothing less than apocalyptic.
I love the books of Andrew Mayne. They have action and mysteries with lots of science / math type aspects. The Specialists is the combination of 4 series, the Underwater Investigation Unit series, the Theo Cray & Jessica Blackwood series, which is preceded by a Jessica Blackwood series, and the Trasker series. The chronology seems to be the Jessica Blackwood series, then the Theo Cray & Jessica Blackwood series, then the UIU, and newest Trasker, and now The Specialists. So if it’s not clear from all those series, I would not recommend this series without reading at least one of the previous series. I’ve gone back and read all of them now, having started with the UIU.
I enjoyed Mr. Whisper which brought together main characters from all the series. Impostor Syndrome was different. There was an FBI case with weird things happening and they called Jessica in to consult. They didn’t want to listen to what she said though, which literally blew up in their faces. Anyway, Jessica continued to work the case on her own, just feeding some info to one of the FBI team.
When one of the victims was found in water, she called in Sloan. The whole thing was kind of weird because neither of them was official. So they were working unpaid? Probably the FBI was still funding their travel and stuff because they were the only ones finding any solutions. Anyway, they did work together well and their unique intelligence moved to the solution faster than any others. It was just Jessica and Sloan with none of the others this time.
There were some phone calls or discussion about their families and personal issues. It turns out Jessica’s mother lived in Las Vegas where this was happening and Jessica went to see her. She hadn’t seen her since she was young so it was an interesting view to history and shared some of each of their personal development.
I missed some of the other characters, but these two women are definitely my favorites. I’m leaving a lot out about the case so as not to spoil it. I really hope there will be more books with various teams of their unique talents.
Narration:
I enjoyed the different narrators that are the usual ones for the two characters featured here. Susannah Jones is a talented narrator and the one I know from the UIU series. Jennifer O’Donnell was also very recognizable from the two series with Jessica Blackwell. I easily recognized their voices for Sloan and Jessica. I was able to listen at my newer 1.75x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Andrew Mayne
Andrew is the founder of Interdimensional, an artificial intelligence service consultancy that helps companies deploy AI solutions. Prior to founding Interdimensional, Andrew was the Science Communicator for OpenAI and their first prompt engineer. At OpenAI he worked on GPT-4, ChatGPT and GPT-3, creating many of the original prompts and examples used today.
Alongside his AI contributions, Andrew writes mystery-thriller novels. His works have been nominated for the Edgar and Thriller Awards, with series featuring characters including Theo Cray, Sloan McPherson, Jessica Blackwood, and Trasker.
Andrew was also featured in the Discovery Channel Shark Week special Andrew Mayne: Ghost Diver where he used AI and stealth technology to swim next to great white sharks in the Isle of Jaws.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 25-Audio
- 25-COYER
I wanted to get this one but know I need to read the other series first. Great review, Anne💜
yes I would read at least some of the others first.
This sounds well written, glad you enjoyed it.
These have interesting science aspects and I enjoy them.
Another author I’d like to try. Good to know I should start with a previous series before picking up this one.
You could read most all of the series first but this one. It’s also a good idea to read Jessica and Theo’s series before you read the one where they are together. Jessica and the UiU with Sloan are my favorites.
This made me want to read a good mystery!!!!
These are all action packed and sciencey sort of mysteries.