BOOK TOUR: The Imposter by Anna Wharton

“Everybody lies.”

Released earlier this month, The Imposter by Anna Wharton follows newspaper archivist Chloe who lives a quiet life, working 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 away 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 gets moved into a nursing home, leaving Chloe takes a desperate step and answers 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 the couple isn’t all that they seem from the outside. With everyone in the house hiding something, the question is – whose secrets are the most dangerous?

Rating:

Today is my stop on the Random Things Tours book tour for this book. Thank you to Random Things Tours and Pan Macmillan for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Imposter is a mysterious and atmospheric page-turner that takes you on an unexpected journey as you try to pinpoint where the lies are coming from.

From the beginning, you know that something more is going on. It could go a few ways: things could be as obvious as they seem, or there could be something more sinister afoot.

So which path is your mind going to follow? Are the shocks going to come in how the story unravels? Or are you going to be left gasping from the constant wrong turns that you’re encouraged to make?

The sense of being deceived follows you throughout as you’re constantly waiting for somebody to slip up. Does Chloe know more than she is letting on? Is Patrick hiding something? Does Maureen have a secret of her own? Or is Chloe’s Nan who’s suffering from dementia going to give it all away in a state of confusion?

Just when you think something is going to give, you’re led somewhere else. I was constantly on the edge with intrigue, trying to piece everything together and hoping not to get caught in the tricks of whichever character it is being so deceptive. Because they all have something to hide, and I couldn’t wait to find out the truth.

With so much untrustworthiness going around, the final revelation comes as a huge shock. It’s curious, disturbing, oddly emotional but also deliriously entertaining at the same time. It’s the kind of twist that makes you laugh from surprise but then feel guilty for doing so as you begin to think about the reality of it.

Because although many people will come away from this book thinking that this story couldn’t possibly happen in real life, I’ve seen a documentary about a similar story so it quite clearly can. Since I had watched this documentary, I had some predictions about where this story was going. But I wasn’t disappointed by the likeness, I only hoped that Wharton’s book was going to be just as twisted. The ending still came as a big surprise to me and more than made up the long wait to get there.

Brilliantly-written and compelling at times, The Imposter is sure to play with your head. It is a little slow-paced, but the journey you take to find your way out of this maze is certainly one that will get your heart racing.

Details:

The Imposter by Anna Wharton
Release Date: 1st April 2021
Print Length: 416 pages
Genre: Psycological Thriller
Publisher: Mantle

Synopsis:

A girl who went missing. A family who never gave up. A lonely young woman who only wanted to help…

Anna Wharton’s fiction debut, The Imposter, is a gripping story of obsession, loneliness and the lies we tell ourselves in order to live with ourselves…

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 away 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 gets moved into a nursing home, 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 realizes this couple aren’t all they seem from the outside…

But with everyone in the house hiding something, the question is – whose secrets are the most dangerous?

About The Author:

ANNA WHARTON has been a print and broadcast journalist for more than twenty years, writing for newspapers including The Times, Guardian, Sunday Times Magazine, Grazia and Red. She was formally an executive editor at The Daily Mail. Anna has ghostwritten four memoirs including the Sunday Times bestseller Somebody I Used To Know and Orwell Prize longlisted CUT: One Woman’s Fight Against FGM in Britain Today. The Imposter is her first novel.