Netflix's new documentary is being called its 'greatest and most jaw-dropping' yet

A new "jaw-dropping" documentary detailing the haunting story of a young boy who went missing but came back has landed on Netflix.

Most of us believe that no changes in appearance or passing years would stop us from recognizing a loved one if they ever went missing.

However, that wasn't the case for the Barclay family in the new Netflix documentary titled The Imposter.

The doc follows the story of a Texas family, who - back in 1994 - lost their 13-year-old son Nicholas after he’d been playing basketball with a few friends.

The teenager was missing for about three years until the distraught family was informed that he had finally been located in Spain. They then welcomed their missing son back into their lives only to find out he was an imposter.

Check The Imposter trailer below:

The grief-stricken family thought that their ordeal was over, but that was far from the case. Despite them welcoming "Nicholas" back into their lives, people around them could sense that something wasn't right.

Firstly, the Nicholas that went missing was a blue-eyed and blonde-haired kid who lived his entire life in Texas. The one that returned in 1997 had brown eyes, obviously dyed hair, and a French accent.

Many questions came to mind such as how did the family not notice the obvious difference? Or were they just desperate to overlook their actual son?

However, it was soon revealed that the person pretending to be Nicholas was a 23-year-old serial con artist Frédéric Bourdin who has a form for deception.

But the strange incident doesn't end there. In the documentary - which was released in 2012 and was a BAFTA-winning film - the Barclay family told their story, while Bourdin also gave his account of events.

Many fans were hooked on the shocking developments in the true crime documentary and took to their social media pages to share their reactions.

One user wrote: "Netflix adding The Imposter today, it's genuinely one of the greatest and most jaw-dropping docs I've ever seen. Well worth a watch."

Another said: "Just released on Netflix - THE IMPOSTER. Amazing documentary story of someone pretending to be a missing child and accepted by his family. Well worth a watch!"

A third commented: "One of the best films of 2012 just landed on @NetflixUK. If you’ve never seen true crime doc The Imposter, bump it to the front of your Netflix queue *immediately*"

As reported by The Guardian, director Bart Layton was immediately intrigued after reading about the bizarre story in a magazine. He managed to contact the con artist for an on-camera interview and described his experience with him.

"When you meet Bourdin, you have quite a complicated series of reactions, because it's not straightforward. On one level, he certainly invites sympathy," the 47-year-old said. "You do feel he needs looking after."

"He can be charming and disarming, yet at the same time what he's telling you can be quite repellent. Which got me wondering whether the story was going to be specifically about him. Or was he the entry point for a bigger story?" he added.

However, the director also spoke about the family not recognizing their own son and said: "They're people who have seen a lot, and so they're not perhaps precious in the way you might imagine."

"It is laughable. It is absurd. But when you allow Bourdin to do what he does, you get a very different experience," he added.

The Imposter is available on Netflix now.

Featured image credit: True Images / Alamy