The synopsis of The Imposter really got my attention and I was thrilled to receive an ARC (e-copy) in exchange for my review.
This was also a first for me from this author and having read reviews of her work I was looking forward to this opportunity!
Sadly, this one falls short for me. I found it slow and confusing. Both narrators, Mother Deborah & Daughter Sibley, are completely unreliable. Which I think may have been the point given the dysfunctional relationship and family's past history.
By the time things were getting interesting it all felt so rushed and a little unbelievable. Interesting twists but overall this one was just OK for me. However I’m interested in reading more from the author.

The Imposter tells the story of Sibley and her estranged mom Deborah. Sibley moved away long ago from the farm where she grew up, but her mom still lives there. It was here that a tragic event occurred when Sibley was younger. This tragedy caused her to leave town & her mom to be judged by the community.
After Sibley experiences some very low lows in her life as a result of her alcoholism, she decides to head back to her old home on the farm to find out some more information from her mom about what happened to her dad years before.
We are told the story through the alternating views of Sibley and her mom. Because of Sibley's issues with alcohol, and her mom's seeming paranoia, we wonder whose truths we can trust! The twists kept me reading and interested in the outcome. It was a story with dark truths, but intriguing to say the least.

The Imposter, by Marin Montgomery, is an intense psychological thriller. Part murder mystery, part family drama, it begins slowly and builds to a dramatic, breath-holding conclusion.

The story is told from the points of view of its two main characters: Deborah and Sibley.
Part One introduces Deborah, a widow living in a small town in the Midwest, who struggles with a lonely life trying to manage a small farm. Her quiet existence is upended when she receives a letter from a long-estranged daughter and experiences a violent attack at her home.
Part Two introduces Sibley, a lawyer in her mid-thirties living in the desert Southwest, who has a drinking problem and trouble with co-workers and clients at her law firm. Her marriage is rocky and her husband is characterized as cool and remote in the relationship.

After the introduction of these two characters, the story really takes off in Part Three, as Sibley goes back to her hometown to confront her troubled past there, including her father’s suspicious death and her relationship with her mother. A few more local characters flesh out the plot nicely and add to the suspense. There are some flashbacks to Sibley's high school days that add details to the mysterious goings on, past and present. The ending is exciting and revelatory of the truth behind these complicated characters’ actions.
This story has enough twists to be interesting and demand the attention of the reader. All the threads of the character’s actions and motives are brought together nicely at the end.

The author’s bio reveals that she grew up in the Midwest and now lives in Arizona, hence her ability to draw believable descriptions of the two locales in which this book’s action takes place.
This is a very readable suspense novel and will be satisfying for those who enjoy a twisty story with the added element of complex family relationships.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for this eARC. This is my honest review.

Unreadable, sadly. According to the dedication of this book it was written during the entirety of the early-pandemic lockdown, so about 3 months. It shows every second of that rushed writing. It was so cluttered and hard to follow that I got a headache.

Despite some predictable moments, I enjoyed this book. Told in dual POV, The Imposter focuses on Deborah and Sibley - an estranged mother and daughter. Both have their demons and secrets. As the story unfolds and the two are reunited, the two start to question each other and themselves.

The story started off a bit slow and at times having the dual POVs was a bit confusing but the book is a solid suspenseful thriller. Definitely recommend.

* I received this book as an ARC for an honest review.

The Imposter by Marin Montgomery was such a good read! I would say it was hard to put down, but it gave me the creeps a couple times and I had to stop and catch my breath!

The characters are plagued by serious issues, but something seems off throughout and keeps you guessing as to what is real and what is imagined. In addition, you have a small town drama that happened years ago, but as the story goes on, you begin to realize it's impact is far reaching and potentially deadly! One of my favorite things was that the story is told little by little through both the daughter and mothers' POV. It is interesting to see how two people, living together, can have a completely different perspective and understanding of events that occurred during their lives.

3.5 out of 5

Sibley Sawyer has not been home since she left upon high school graduation, she left without looking back. A big time divorce lawyer in Arizona, who happens to be an on again/off again alcoholic. It all begins to crash down around her when she is again drinking. After the law firm gives her an ultimatum, along with her husband, go to rehab or you are out of the firm.

Deborah has a very tainted past, one that holds more rumors than truth. She avoids people in her town and stays to herself. Deborah lives alone, on a midwestern farm, that was in her family for generations. One night she is brutally attacked outside her home, left badly beaten she is encouraged by a neighbor to seek a therapist, one on his recommendation. She begins to think she is being watched and is shocked when her estranged daughter, Sibley shows up out of the blue.

There are so many unspoken truths between the two. Deborah recognizes Sibley's alcoholism and Sibley begins to think her mother is gradually losing her mind. The two are both unreliable people and their navigation of things is very bumpy. Sibley came home to ask questions about what happened one night that changed their lives forever. Deborah isn't so sure Sibley is who she says she is.

The story is told from Deborah's POV and Sibley's POV. At times it was confusing with it jumping between the 2 women's POV in different situations and as to who was really being truthful but I think that's what made the story so enticing. It does all come together in the end.

I'd like to thank Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an advanced ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

The Imposter by Marin Montgomery A family drama with two unlikeable characters, Sibley and Deborah, and a multitude of secrets. A slow beginning and confusing narrative made it difficult to get interested in the story.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Unable to shake the tragic circumstances that caused her to flee her rural Midwestern hometown, Sibley wants nothing more than to reunite with her estranged mother, Deborah, and bury their past tensions.

This book felt like other books I have read. Nothing new here.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview The Imposter by Marin Montgomery. I think i will describe this novel as a family tradgedy. The plot centers on a mother and daughter and provides the reader with some information, but not all of it so it leaves you wanting to know more of the background and history of the two.
There's some tough subject matter, the book starts out a bit slow, and the characters are not too likeable.
3 stars - twisty turns till the end.

The description for The Imposter by Marin Montgomery immediately caught my attention. I love a good mystery and this one did not disappoint. First you read the story of Deborah who lives alone on a farm and is the victim of a violent attack outside her home. The second part of the book focuses on Sibley who is a lawyer dealing with substance abuse issues and is asked to take a leave of absence from her job to get help. While reading these two stories you are not told how they are connected and I certainly didn't put it together on my own. Part three you learn that Sibley is Deborah's estranged daughter and instead of going to rehab Sibley heads to her mother's in hopes to resolve past conflict so she can move on with her life. Her father had died under suspicious circumstances leaving Sibley to question things for many years.

I really enjoyed this book! The third part of the book switches back and forth from Deborah to Sibley's POV. I had a feeling we were dealing with two unreliable narrators but I couldn't figure it out! I was guessing up until the end and really liked the way it was all tied up in the end. It was my first time reading Marin Montgomery but I definitely plan to look into her other books!

The Imposter starts off a bit slow, then takes off at full tilt, full of twists and turns, sometimes confusing, sometimes not. Completely unlikeable characters, which isn't a bad thing to me. Good writing and I'd love to read more from this author!

The Imposter by Marin Montgomery is a twisty and confusing psychological thriller. Neither of the main characters are at all likeable and the story jumped all over the place. A divorce lawyer with a serious drinking problem and her estranged mother reunite and try to uncover the family secrets and lies.

Thanks to Thomas and Mercer for my copy of this book to read

This book was just full of twists from start to finish. Mother Deborah, and daughter, Sibley, had been estranged for a number of years. Sibley is a functioning alcholic divorce lawyer who has an affair with one of her clients. Her firm and husband find out. She is to go to rehab, or lose everything. Instead, Sibley decides it's time to go and see her mother, Deborah, which she believes has the answers to all of her problems. Deborah, is a having her own crisis. Both women have to come to terms with their past, inorder to get on with their future. This was an interesting story. Once some of the secrets came out, things really started to make sense. Each woman had to earn the others trust. Some unknown force was out to destroy them both. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book. 3.5 out of 5.

First I want to thank the author for allowing me to read this before it’s release. This is the first advanced copy I’ve been invited to read. This book is about a mother daughter estranged situation with a complicated and deadly backstory. The whole time I was reading it I was trying to figure out what was going on and what the ending would be. It’s a psychological thriller that kept me reading. Look for this in stores March 2021!

From the outside looking in, Sibley Sawyer has a perfect life. As a successful attorney, she’s worked hard to get to the top of her game—but when her personal and professional lives implode, Sibley looks for a way to turn the page.
Unable to shake the tragic circumstances that caused her to flee her rural Midwestern hometown, Sibley wants nothing more than to reunite with her estranged mother, Deborah, and bury their past tensions.But as she reenters the life she left behind, she realizes her mother isn’t the same person she remembers, and she’s not the same daughter either. As both women struggle to piece together a tangled web of deceit and lies, and the shocking circumstances that caused Sibley to leave in the first place, it becomes clear there are secrets rooted deeper than either mother or daughter could ever have imagined.
Can you really deceive your past and those around you?

This book has a few TW so approach only if you are in a great headspace. I loved alternate POVs and the books was overall okay. Not knock my socks off but would recommend to others. Especially impactful for those of us with strained relationships with our mother. It’s hard to understand what goes through someone else’s mind when they are making decisions.

Written in two POV- barely functional alcoholic Sibley and her estranged mother Deborah.

Sibley is a successful attorney and her life seems to be doing well overall, but things are beginning to take a turn for the worse around her. She returns to her old life in her hometown which she has avoided since one tragic night years ago.

It leaves you questioning everything and everyone. It even becomes clear the two narrators are unreliable in their perception. A great twisty psychological thriller that I didn’t guess the ending to (a rare occurrence these days).

The story held my interest throughout with interesting, disturbed and engaging characters, the appropriate amount of description and the right amount of suspense.
I must admit I found a tiny part of it confusing towards the end and had to go back to reread a part but that may have been due to me reading it so quick to find out the ending.

Overall, I would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys a good psychological thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end. I enjoyed the style in which this story was written and will be seeking out more books written by Marin in the future.

I thought this book was confusing and it just wasn't for me. So much information, which is fine, but it was just so confusing. The ending was fine, but not enough to save this book for me.

This book follows Sibley and her mother Deborah. We begin the book with Deborahs perspective, and we kind of know right away that she going to be an unreliable narrator. Then we switch to Sibley just as her world starts falling apart. She is being accused of having a dating profile up by her husband, and her law office seems to thinking that she was having an affair with one of her clients.. Added to the fact that she seems to be an alcoholic and her husband and the people she works for decided to send her off to rehab. Instead of going she decides that she needs to go see her mom who she hasn't seen in like 10 plus years..

As soon as they come together in the same house even more weirdness starts.. Both Deborah and Sibley seem to be blacking out, Deborah especially seems to be spiraling and getting worse every day.. Now Sibley is trying to overcome her own issues, figure out why her mom acting super bizarre, and shes trying to learn some dark secrets from both her and her mothers past.

For most of this book, I was pretty confused as to what was actually supposed to be going on.. but at about maybe 70% or so things definitely started to become clearer.. Even with being confused I couldn't put it down.. I just had to see what the ending was going to be..

There were some unexpected twists, that had me saying wtf? and while I did peg who was behind it all I was wrong about the motives..

𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤🌻: The Imposter got me so confused and annoyed that I don’t even know what to say about it. I was scratching my head in confusion from the beginning of the book until almost 75% of it.

I just have no idea was happened with the story, it’s like everything was jumbled together in a way that made no sense to me. While the characters main purpose was to get me to hate every single one of them.

All Sibley cared about was when she would get to have her next drink and don’t get me started with Deborah cause I have no idea what to say about her. Miles, Robert, Tanner, Holden, Johnathan, every single one of those characters were just getting on my nerves.


𝑀𝑦 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔🌻: ★☆☆☆☆