Impostor Syndrome

“The Silicon Valley spy novel we’ve all been waiting for, with a side order of biting satire and furious feminism” (Crimereads).

“John le Carré filtered through Tom Wolfe.” —The Millions

A Good Morning America Buzz Pick * A Best Book of Summer: Entertainment Weekly,New York Post, Buzzfeed, TheSkimm, PopSugar, Bustle, HelloGiggles, Ms. Magazine, Oprah Daily, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Lit Hub * A Most Anticipated Book of the Year: The Millions, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Crimereads

In 2006 Julia Lerner is living in Moscow when she’s recruited by Russia’s largest intelligence agency. By 2018 she’s in Silicon Valley as COO of Tangerine, one of America’s most famous technology companies and funneling intelligence back to the motherland. But now Russia's asking for more, and Julia’s getting nervous.

Alice Lu is a first generation Chinese American whose parents are delighted she’s working at Tangerine. Too bad she’s slogging away in the lower echelons, recently dumped, and now sharing her expensive two-bedroom apartment with her cousin Cheri. One afternoon, while performing a server check, Alice discovers some unusual activity, and now she’s burdened with two distressing suspicions: Tangerine’s privacy settings aren’t as rigorous as the company claims, and the person abusing this loophole might be Julia Lerner herself.

The closer Alice gets to Julia, the more Julia questions her own loyalties. Russia may have placed her in the Valley, but she built her career herself; isn’t she entitled to protect the lifestyle she’s earned? Part page-turning cat-and-mouse chase, part shrewdly-observed examination of women in tech and Silicon Valley hubris, Impostor Syndrome is “a sharp take on the illusion of the American Dream” (People).

“Featuring Russian espionage [and] commentaries on data privacy, class disparities, and immigration, Impostor Syndrome seems to build a genre of its own.” —NPR’s 1A

“Wang . . . sharpens her teeth on [Silicon Valley’s] self-mythologizing and excesses.” —San Francisco Chronicle