Overall, I don't regret reading this second installment but felt the author missed an opportunity by not including more substance and engaging storyline depth to this book. Something else to note in relation to the setting, there are a couple of phrases in French that some people might have difficulty with.

Too many French named characters to remember and I got to a stage were I couldn't remember who was who (could be down to my age though). Acțiunea este la fel de alertă ca în primul volum, doar că acum aflăm și mai multe detalii despre Alex Gregory și motivul pentru care acesta are coșmaruri cutremurătoare și de ce preferă celibatul. In this instance you are presented with the French, and actually – mostly – a translation for the longer sentences is woven into the next piece of text; or the subsequent actions by the characters indicate the meaning. Beyond Gregory’s inner turmoil, we meet a number of troubled souls, all caught up in the fashion world. Alex is in Paris for a conference when he is pulled into an investigation as a young woman has been brutally attacked and left for dead in a hotel room.Dr Alexander Gregory is in Paris with his mentor Professor William Douglas, giving a speech about criminal profiling at the request of La Police Judiciaire, during what happened to be fashion week.

Don’t get me wrong – I love Ryan and co and want to keep seeing them too, but Gregory is slowing worming his way into my heart and it is a series that has a lot to offer. This story is set in Paris, where Alex Gregory is attending a conference on criminal profiling, a field in which he is an expert. Murder and mystery are peppered with dark humour in this fast-paced thriller set amidst London’s vibrant Theatreland. When the dust has settled, and all becomes clear, nobody could have guessed at the story that emerged.

Each character we meet has their own demons to battle, their own secrets that they are reluctant to share, each one of them drip fed to readers building tension and expectation perfectly. And speaking of guilt, I’m getting tired of this guilt-trip he’s been on in the beginning of this new series. After the big revelations about his past in book one, you'd think there was little left to learn about him as a person, and yet LJ Ross still manages to drip feed new tidbits into the story all along the way, and the more I know, the more I warm to him and understand what drives who, and how, he is. I’m enjoying the different settings that the author takes her readers to as well as the tangled web she weaves, ensuring we are kept on our toes, not knowing how things are going to conclude.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes in book three, and hoping that this series will continue on as Gregory is a character who has a lot to give. With bodies piling up and no new leads, Gregory and Hope realise they must look to the past to uncover the truth―before it’s too late. I read the first couple of chapters, but this series is just too dark, and the H is a wee bit depressing. His head and his heart are often in conflict and he really struggles with the split nature of his emotional personality. After an elite criminal profiling unit is shut down amidst a storm of scandal and mismanagement, only one person emerges unscathed.

When women are dying or being driven to extreme mental health conditions at the hands of powerful men in this community and around the world, I hope that we can learn one thing and remember it in times of sadness such as this. After reading two books by LJ Ross, I find both endings abrupt and somewhat incomplete, wishing the author provided more satisfying and developed conclusions. Louise is a keen philanthropist, and is pleased to have supported numerous non-profit programmes in addition to founding several of her own, including the Lindisfarne Reading Challenge and the Lindisfarne Prize for Debut Crime Fiction. Getting an understanding throughout the book of how Dr Alexander uses his profiling skills was very useful and adds to the story. After the big revelations about his past in book one, you’d think there was little left to learn about him as a person, and yet LJ Ross still manages to drip feed new tidbits into the story all along the way, and the more I know, the more I warm to him and understand what drives who, and how, he is.

Although it hasn't knocked Imposter off my Alexander Gregory number one spot, I really enjoyed it and wouldn't hesitate to recommend. With his occupation as a forensic psychologist and criminal profiler it means that his scope for interaction with new people and places is wide open. Book 2 of the series was okay but lacked the character development and storyline depth of the first volume. What I love about this series is that although there is a police element to it, for once it is not the main focus. The characterisation in the story is, as usual, spot on, with a wide variety of different personalities being brought to life before your eyes.Because I had agreed to read the book without reading the blurb (yes, I trust Louise this much) I had no idea I was embarking for a trip to my home country. Certainly the storyline reflects a number of revelations that have come out about the entertainment industry as a whole in recent years - the whole 'Me Too' movement being reflected in the women's rights protests which take place in the story.