The Imposter

By: Anna Wharton

Narrated by: Rebecca Lee

Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

They say you can't choose your family.... But what if they're wrong?

Chloe lives a quiet life. Working as a newspaper archivist in the day and taking care of her nan in the evening, she's happy simply to read about the lives of others as she files the news clippings from the safety of her desk.

But there's one story that she can't stop thinking about. The case of Angie Kyle - a girl, Chloe's age, who went missing as a child. A girl whose parents never gave up hope.

When Chloe's nan is moved into care, leaving Chloe on the brink of homelessness, she takes a desperate step: answering an ad to be a lodger in the missing girl's family home. It could be the perfect opportunity to get closer to the story she's read so much about. But it's not long until she realises this couple isn't all they seem. In a house where everyone has something to hide, is it possible to get too close?

Anna Wharton’s debut, The Imposter, is a thought-provoking story of obsession, loneliness and the lies we tell ourselves in order to live with ourselves.

©2021 Anna Wharton (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd

Critic reviews

"Evocative and compelling." (Karen Hamilton, author of The Perfect Girlfriend and The Last Wife)

BOOK REVIEW of The Imposter by Anna Wharton 🎭

🐨This book was not what I hoped it would be. The premise was good, and it was meant to carry a good punch but it fell a bit flat for me. It was a slow burn, too slow for my liking and I wish where it ended could have happened in the middle and carried on from there. For most of the book I felt a lot of suspense and when the twist emerged, I was disappointed? 

🐨I think what I hoped was going to be the twist didn’t happen and instead was exposed as a red herring a few chapters from the end of the book.

🐨The book only picked up its pace in the last 10 chapters, and I really wish the other chapters had been as interesting as the final chapters. 

🐨Nonetheless, Chloe, the main character, a newspaper archivist did grow on me and she was a strange one, but an endearing character. Her growing obsession with a case she came across during her time at work does add to the suspense aspect of the book but also made me incredibly sad for her, it felt very similar to the emotions I felt for Eleanor Oliphant whose mundane life was quite lonely and uneventful. 

🐨The case of the missing 4-year-old girl that Chloe began to obsess over did feel reminiscent of Madeline McCann

🐨All in all, the end was brilliant and very intriguing but it took too long to get there. By the time the shock came, it wasn’t a tsunami, it was a small splash in a paddling pool. 

What I liked: 

🐨The cover was cool 

🐨The premise was epic 

🐨The shocking end - brilliant 

What I didn’t like: 

🐨Took too long to get interesting 

🐨The pace of the book was just not where it needed to be 

🐨The supporting characters were not well-rounded

🐨There needed to be more character development generally 

Thank you @panmacmillansa for this review copy 

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