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The Identity Thief
X is an identity thief extraordinaire who steals the identity of the worst possible person! He soon becomes a fugitive, hunted by every intelligence agency in the world. The international adventures of this sardonic and amoral anti-hero combine the irony of The Third Man with the fast-paced thrills of The Bourne Identity. To survive, X must use his talent for deceit and his chameleon-like ability to adopt one persona after another, as his predicament becomes steadily more harrowing and the stakes mount. A former writer for the satirical tabloid The Weekly World News, C. Michael Forsyth peppers The Identity Thief with sly humor and delicious twists. His acclaimed novel Hour of the Beast was hailed by Horror Fiction Review as a "fast-paced, rip-snorting, action-packed, sexy college romp." Critics called his epic romantic adventure The Blood of Titans "an engrossing and well-crafted tale."
- GenresFiction
298 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 2013
327 people want to read
About the author
C. Michael Forsyth
7 books77 followersC. Michael Forsyth's 2011 first novel Hour of the Beast was hailed by Horror Fiction Review as a “fast-paced, rip-snorting, action-packed, sexy college romp.” He is also the author of The Blood of Titans and The Identity Thief.
Forsyth is a Yale graduate with an MFA from NYU. For 10 year he was senior writer for Weekly World News, the outrageous satirical tabloid. Those stories can be found in a collection titled Batboy Lives, from Sterling Publishing. His first children’s book Brothers was published by the Greenville Family Partnership in August.
Forsyth taught film and journalism at Coker College in Hartsville, SC. He currently resides in Greenville, SC. His blog, featuring movie reviews and weird news, http://freedomshammer.wordpress.com, is visited by 300 to 500 fans daily.
Forsyth is a Yale graduate with an MFA from NYU. For 10 year he was senior writer for Weekly World News, the outrageous satirical tabloid. Those stories can be found in a collection titled Batboy Lives, from Sterling Publishing. His first children’s book Brothers was published by the Greenville Family Partnership in August.
Forsyth taught film and journalism at Coker College in Hartsville, SC. He currently resides in Greenville, SC. His blog, featuring movie reviews and weird news, http://freedomshammer.wordpress.com, is visited by 300 to 500 fans daily.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 9, 2017
It was a fun read.
May 28, 2016
The Identity Thief features an oddly likeable antihero—X an identity thief looking for a big score. If you take this character outside of the world of fiction, he would be a despicable person. Someone who assumes the identity of someone else and bilks them of their money. X does have a certain Robin Hood quality about him, looking for those who deserve it, in his mind. He gets in well over his head when he tries to take on the identity of a Middle Eastern playboy who turns out to be a terrorist. X then becomes a pawn of a shadow government agency who wants to use his skills to continue assuming the role of the terrorist he’s playing and to steal the funds of a major terrorist threat.
As I mentioned earlier, X is a fun and enjoyable character. He certainly has his warts, but he has enough personality to get you to root for him. Nothing comes easily for him and he gets himself into really difficult predicaments that he has to use his cunning and ingenuity to get himself out of. It was fun to see him dig himself out of one hole after another. My only real complaint was that there were some spots that stretched believability. I listened to the audio version of the book. The author narrates the book, and gives a top notch performance that enhanced my enjoyment of this novel. This is an excellent book that I highly recommend reading.
Carl Alves - author of Conjesero
As I mentioned earlier, X is a fun and enjoyable character. He certainly has his warts, but he has enough personality to get you to root for him. Nothing comes easily for him and he gets himself into really difficult predicaments that he has to use his cunning and ingenuity to get himself out of. It was fun to see him dig himself out of one hole after another. My only real complaint was that there were some spots that stretched believability. I listened to the audio version of the book. The author narrates the book, and gives a top notch performance that enhanced my enjoyment of this novel. This is an excellent book that I highly recommend reading.
Carl Alves - author of Conjesero
April 26, 2017
I'm not sure how Forsyth did it, but he has managed to come up with an action-packed thriller that's absolutely hilarious. This is one of the most creative stories I've read in a long time.
There are so many twists and turns in this story that it's difficult to say much at all about it without spoiling it, but I'll try. An identity thief greedily steals the identity of someone with a LOT of money with the intent of stealing some of said money and winds up in a really bad spot when the "mark" he is impersonating turns out to be a bad dude to be. He then spends the rest of the book trying to get himself out of the mess he's gotten himself into.
I'm not sure what else to say without ruining it. You should read it. There are plenty of details in this story that just aren't believable, but it's quite an entertaining read.
The only problem I have personally with this book is that there are some sections that I don't consider appropriate for my kids to read. Too bad, I think they would really like this story otherwise. I almost gave it four stars instead of five because of that, but I enjoyed the rest so much that I just couldn't. Beware of some sexually explicit material. Otherwise a really great book, in my opinion.
There are so many twists and turns in this story that it's difficult to say much at all about it without spoiling it, but I'll try. An identity thief greedily steals the identity of someone with a LOT of money with the intent of stealing some of said money and winds up in a really bad spot when the "mark" he is impersonating turns out to be a bad dude to be. He then spends the rest of the book trying to get himself out of the mess he's gotten himself into.
I'm not sure what else to say without ruining it. You should read it. There are plenty of details in this story that just aren't believable, but it's quite an entertaining read.
The only problem I have personally with this book is that there are some sections that I don't consider appropriate for my kids to read. Too bad, I think they would really like this story otherwise. I almost gave it four stars instead of five because of that, but I enjoyed the rest so much that I just couldn't. Beware of some sexually explicit material. Otherwise a really great book, in my opinion.
March 2, 2014
I was a first reads winner for this book. I enjoyed the book; it was fast paced with tons of twists, only one of which I really saw coming. Some of the things they talk about are not realistic, but it was a well thought out story and worth the read if you like this genre. Basically, an identity thief whose karma catches up to him, and causes him to get himself out of a mess.
There were some explicit sections that some people who are sensitive to that kind of thing would dislike.
There were some explicit sections that some people who are sensitive to that kind of thing would dislike.
May 1, 2018
can't finish this one. struggling with the torture and rape and foul language. I tried twice but just can't stomach the content of the book. it is an I yersting story, we'll written and researched. just not my cup of tea.
February 23, 2020
A fun story of a con man who steals the identity of a Saudi national and then becomes hunted by intelligence services when it comes to light that Saudi is an Islamic Terrorist. A fast paced novel with many satirical elements
July 21, 2020
A fun story of a con man who steals the identity of a Saudi national and then becomes hunted by intelligence services when it comes to light that Saudi is an Islamic Terrorist. A fast paced novel with many satirical elements.
August 21, 2017
The identity thief was a fun ride. It was a little over the top. The narcissistic protagonist weaves the web that is fascinating fantasy with glimpses of true humanity.
June 13, 2015
Disclosure: I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Overall an enjoyable read.
It started off as I expected: following the Identity Thief as he was finishing up a "job" and moving on to the next one. However, this next job goes south and the Thief (referred to only as "X") suddenly finds himself caught in a Federal net.
It’s at this point that the story takes a turn and separates itself from preconceived expectations.
It turns out that he stole the identity of a recently killed terrorist and is now being coerced by the Feds into impersonating him for the purposes of infiltrating a particular cell and stealing their funds.
In one sense I was disappointed that it wasn’t a story about X swapping identities in an effort to stay one step ahead of the Feds (like what the cover art suggested) but I was also pleasantly surprised at the unique plot which elevated the story above the standard fare.
What I most appreciated was that X relied on his wits rather than brawn. Being a huge fan of MacGyver (reference in the story, nice!), I enjoy characters who think fast on their feet to get out of trouble. X did that, and did it well.
My one criticism had to do with the fact that the main character, as I said before, was introduced only as "X" and remained that way for the entire story. As a result, he was a distant main character and I wasn’t able to connect with him as personally as I would have liked. It was fine to refer to him as "X" when the story first started because he is mysterious and faceless, but once he is on his infiltration mission – to not even give him a name – did not allow me to invest in him very much. I found that I connected the most with the Female FBI Agent who is assigned to watch over him, because she is fleshed out and relatable, but she isn't around for the entire mission.
Still, that didn't detract too much from a well-paced and well-written story.
Overall an enjoyable read.
It started off as I expected: following the Identity Thief as he was finishing up a "job" and moving on to the next one. However, this next job goes south and the Thief (referred to only as "X") suddenly finds himself caught in a Federal net.
It’s at this point that the story takes a turn and separates itself from preconceived expectations.
It turns out that he stole the identity of a recently killed terrorist and is now being coerced by the Feds into impersonating him for the purposes of infiltrating a particular cell and stealing their funds.
In one sense I was disappointed that it wasn’t a story about X swapping identities in an effort to stay one step ahead of the Feds (like what the cover art suggested) but I was also pleasantly surprised at the unique plot which elevated the story above the standard fare.
What I most appreciated was that X relied on his wits rather than brawn. Being a huge fan of MacGyver (reference in the story, nice!), I enjoy characters who think fast on their feet to get out of trouble. X did that, and did it well.
My one criticism had to do with the fact that the main character, as I said before, was introduced only as "X" and remained that way for the entire story. As a result, he was a distant main character and I wasn’t able to connect with him as personally as I would have liked. It was fine to refer to him as "X" when the story first started because he is mysterious and faceless, but once he is on his infiltration mission – to not even give him a name – did not allow me to invest in him very much. I found that I connected the most with the Female FBI Agent who is assigned to watch over him, because she is fleshed out and relatable, but she isn't around for the entire mission.
Still, that didn't detract too much from a well-paced and well-written story.
February 22, 2014
For someone that was subject to credit card fraud within the last week, this was never-the-less a fun read. The premise of the story was interesting and I enjoyed character "X" immensely. I have not read this author before, but will seek him out in the future.
March 13, 2014
Except for the crude humor and some adult content, the book is really great. A smashing read, pacing and humor topnotch! I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking for light reading with easy prose and lot of funny situations and suitable jokes.
February 1, 2014
There were moments of disbelief but I enjoyed this book very much. A solid thriller with a quick story that worked well.
Read
February 11, 2014Good twist
Very wordy but a great read. twists and turns again and again. lots of verbal emotion written and believed. the claustrophobia experience seem real.
Very wordy but a great read. twists and turns again and again. lots of verbal emotion written and believed. the claustrophobia experience seem real.
February 27, 2014
Great premise for a story and fantastic twists.
Want to read
March 31, 2014This needs to come out in ePub format. Right now it's only available in Kindle format which sucks!!!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews