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The Imposter

Marin Montgomery

3.63 · Rating details · 483 ratings · 276 reviews

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 h ...more

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Kindle Edition, 413 pages

Published March 9th 2021

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· 483 ratings · 276 reviews

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Jan 21, 2021 Bridgett rated it did not like it

Shelves: f-cking-awful, arc

If you enjoy reading an entire book full of characters who are totally gorked out of their heads and completely unreliable, this is the book for you.

The Imposter was chapter after chapter after chapter of confused ramblings...chapters which frequently made no sense. I personally hate this type of story. It's lazy misdirection. Who needs a plot when you can just make the characters seem totally off the wall? Further, the threads of the story simply didn't tie together well. It felt choppy.

Th ...more

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Feb 07, 2021 Mandy White (mandylovestoread) rated it liked it

Shelves: net-galley

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

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Mar 02, 2021 Lindsay - Traveling Sisters Book Reviews added it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, dnf

DNF @ 10%. Not connecting with the writing, characters or storyline.

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Dec 23, 2020 Jen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book starts off a bit slowly, but turns into a wild ride by the time it's over. It centers on mother and daughter Deborah and Sibley, who have been estranged for 16 years, since Sibley's father died. Sibley's marriage and job are both on the brink of failure, and she decides she needs to go back home and reconnect with her mother, as well as learn more about what really happened the night her father died.

The book starts out describing what is going on in both Sibley and Deborah's life sepa ...more

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Mar 02, 2021 Kristy rated it it was ok

Shelves: netgalley, fiction, read-in-2021, thomas-mercer, mystery, thriller, ebook, arc

A confusing mess of a thriller

Attorney Sibley Sawyer's life goes down in flames when her drinking finally catches up with her. Forced to take a leave of absence from her firm, Sibley seeks the perceived source of her problems: her mother, Deborah. The two have been estranged since Sibley fled home in her late teens. But when Sibley returns to the Midwestern farm where she grew up, she realizes her mother is acting odd. Perhaps it's due to her recent attack, when an intruder brutally beat her. Ei A confusing mess of a thriller

Attorney Sibley Sawyer's life goes down in flames when her drinking finally catches up with her. Forced to take a leave of absence from her firm, Sibley seeks the perceived source of her problems: her mother, Deborah. The two have been estranged since Sibley fled home in her late teens. But when Sibley returns to the Midwestern farm where she grew up, she realizes her mother is acting odd. Perhaps it's due to her recent attack, when an intruder brutally beat her. Either way, as Sidney tries to make peace with Deborah, she starts to recall why she left in the first place--and uncovers even more shocking secrets about long ago happenings on the farm.

Well, the synopsis for this one sounded interesting, but this was a hot mess for me. I did not like much of this book at all, but kept reading because I needed to find out what happened. I think I was as confused as these hapless and unlikable characters, honestly. Deborah is clearly disoriented and bewildered throughout the book--alone and terrified on the farm--and it's nearly impossible to muddle through what's going on in her brain. Sidney is drinking heavily, and while I have complete sympathy for the disease of alcoholism, having lost a beloved relative to it, I'm tired of authors using the trope to give us an unreliable narrator with no real effort for a backstory or anything else.

Neither character comes across as particularly sympathetic, and I got rather tired of reading a book with my brow perpetually furrowed. It was not exciting, just confusing. The plot is truly bizarre, with some weird twists, but I felt I was reading to work out a bad puzzle. Maybe all this befuddlement would have been worth it if the probable "bad guy" had not been telegraphed from a mile away, but I had the outline of this figured out from the start.

Overall, as much as I regret it, this thriller did not work for me at all. It's confusing--but not in an exciting, psychological way, predictable, and filled with narrative threads that never seem to link back together. Others seemed to enjoy it more, so I hope that's the case for you if you pick it up.

I received a copy from Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer in return for an unbiased review.

Blog ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~ PaperBackSwap ~ Smashbomb ...more

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Dec 01, 2020 booksNpenguins marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: arcs

ARC provided by NetGalley and Marin Montgomery in exchange for a review ^__^

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Feb 21, 2021 ʚϊɞ Shelley's ʚϊɞ Book Nook rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I remember reading Marin Montgomery's "What We Forgot to Bury" and I didn't like it much, but it wasn't because of the writing it was the story that didn't grab me. I also remember thinking I would give her another go if the opportunity came up. Well am I ever glad I did!

I wouldn't really call this book a thriller although there is a bit of mystery to it. It's more of a family psychological drama yet I really loved the writing and the tension the author managed to create. I always ...more

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Nov 19, 2020 Renee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Sibley and her mother Deborah have been estranged for many years. Deborah still lives on the farm where Sibley grew up, even though a tragedy that occurred there, made Deborah a pariah in the community, and made Sibley leave and never look back. But all that happened in the distant past, so could it still be controlling these women’s lives?
When we first meet Sibley, she is not having a good day. Her drinking may cost her everything; her career, her marriage, maybe even her life.Rather than check ...more

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Jan 24, 2021 Sherri Thacker rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley-books

This book was just ok for me. It was told by 2 different point of views - from Deborah and Sibley. I found myself skimming through parts of the book because it was just moving way too slow for me. I kept going until the end and there were a few twists thrown in that I did not see coming. Will definitely look for more books by Marin Montgomery in the future. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Mar 09, 2021 Laura rated it really liked it

Sixteen years ago a tragic event happened to this small family, that impacted the whole community. Deborah the young mother with an abusive husband and Sibley the Daddy's girl.

This story is full of the aftermath of abuse and covering it up to protect your children. The addiction that passes down genetically and the trauma that either pushes you up or drags you down.

So many secrets that you are never completely sure what happened or which event culminated to where they are now. Sixteen years of ...more

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Oct 27, 2020 Kathy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 rounded up to 4
Thak you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I'm not sure what I really expected here and going in cold was a bonus. I enjoyed the twists and while some were predictable, others were not. ...more

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Dec 05, 2020 Brandy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020

Sibley’s personal and professional life are spiraling out of control. In an effort to try to fix the root cause of her problems she decides to return home to reunite with her estranged mother in order to find closure on past events. Unbeknownst to Sibley, her mother has suffered her own recent trauma and is dealing with the aftermath.

I often felt confused as to what exactly what happening because both narrators are unreliable; Did she really just see that? Did that really just happen? Who is te ...more

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Jan 11, 2021 Melissa Sinicki rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021-read-netgalley

The Imposter by Marin Montgomery
Pub date March 9, 2021 by Thomas & Mercer
This was the first book I’ve read by Marin Montgomery, so I didn’t know what to expect. What I got was a wild ride that kept me guessing until the very end. The book features two narrators, Deborah, the mother, and Sibley, her adult daughter. They have been estranged for 14 years, since the time that Sibley’s father died in an accident on their farm that was considered suspicious by some in their small town. It was always The Imposter by Marin Montgomery
Pub date March 9, 2021 by Thomas & Mercer
This was the first book I’ve read by Marin Montgomery, so I didn’t know what to expect. What I got was a wild ride that kept me guessing until the very end. The book features two narrators, Deborah, the mother, and Sibley, her adult daughter. They have been estranged for 14 years, since the time that Sibley’s father died in an accident on their farm that was considered suspicious by some in their small town. It was always suspected by local gossips that Deborah was having an affair at the time, and in some way helped to cause the accident, but there was never any proof to back up this blame. Shortly after the accident, Sibley graduated from high school, packed up and left for good. She worked her way through college and law school, became a successful attorney and got married, all with very limited contact with her mother. In the present day, Sibley is struggling with depression and an alcohol addiction and seems to be suffering from blackouts when drinking – she sometimes can’t remember where she’s been or what she’s done. She is accused of sleeping with a client, and her law firm puts her on probation until she completes rehab. After a heart-to-heart talk with a friend, she can’t shake the gnawing feeling that she needs to resolve her issues at home with her mother before she can move on and heal. She crosses the country and shows up unannounced at her mom’s house, who still lives on the farm where Sibley grew up. Deborah is also struggling. Her relationship with her husband was not what Sibley always thought, and she is dealing with her own depression, anxiety and guilt over events surrounding her husband’s death years ago. To make matters worth, she suffers an attack one dark night outside her home which has long lasting physical and mental impacts. She has finally decided to start seeing a psychiatrist to work through some of her issues when Sibley arrives home. It becomes clear that both mother and daughter have been keeping secrets from each other for years. Together, they slowly begin to unravel the mysteries of their family.
I liked this book. It was entertaining. Both narrators were unreliable and confused at times, so it really kept the reader guessing about what had happened in the past and what was happening in the present. I liked the part when Deborah saw a strange man sitting in her living room – that really got my attention and had me wondering – is it a ghost or is she hallucinating? How serious are her mental issues? There were several interesting twists that I didn’t guess, and the ending was satisfying – the loose ends were tied up and questions were resolved. I gave this book 3 ½ stars – rounded up to 4.
It was a good, solid domestic thriller. Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. ...more

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Dec 15, 2020 Larissa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is the twisted story of an estranged mother & daughter duo - Deborah and Sibley. Not only a few thousand miles of distance and 16 years of disaffection separate our main characters, but also a fatal event that remains a mystery.
This is better than your typical family psychological drama, this thriller will make any reader unsure of what is reality as neither of them consistent narrators.
.
Told by dual POV, the books starts with Deborah suffering an unexplained attack in her our home. She i ...more

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Dec 13, 2020 Claire Livingstone rated it liked it · review of another edition

Deborah, a mother with a daughter who left and never returned. Deborah hasn't talked to Sibley in several years, she was not invited to her daughters wedding and has no relationship with her besides those of her teenage years. Deborah still lives on the family farm trying to move on with her life, she has started seeing someone in secret, going to therapy, and living. Until her daughter unexpectedly returns home.

Sibley, is a divorce attorney who's drinking problem has caused the partners at the ...more

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Oct 25, 2020 Amber rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Twist and turns galore!
This is a book that has a lot going on in it. The story starts out with Deborah. She begins hearing banging on her front door so when she goes to the door with the gun she ends up slipping on the ice but then someone kicks her in the head and she becomes unconscious.
Thousands miles away her daughter Sibley, a really successful amazing divorce attorney, ends up getting suspended at her firm and her husband is completely convinced that she is having an affair. So, during h ...more

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Sep 28, 2020 Doris Wiggins rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Seeing Sibley as an outstanding divorce attorney, no one would guess she'd come from a small midwestern town.
Looks can be deceiving. She is a functional alcoholic. What's more her firm has suspended her until she goes to rehab. Her husband is upset at her because he thinks she had an affair. Her life sucks.
She decides to go back home and see if she can mend the relationship with her mother. They haven't seen or spoken to each other for years. Ever since Sibley left her hometown.
What she encoun ...more

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Jan 24, 2021 ReadingTilTheBreakOfDawn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller-suspense-mystery, netgalley-arc

The Imposter is a psychological thriller that focuses on a mother and daughter that have been estranged for many years. Only when the daughter is being forced into rehab by her husband and work does she return to where she grew up to seek answers to her past. She hopes in getting closure to her past that she will get to continue and move on with her future.

The beginning of the book starts out a little slowly in Deborah's POV. She's a woman (the mother in this case) that is seeking out help in he The Imposter is a psychological thriller that focuses on a mother and daughter that have been estranged for many years. Only when the daughter is being forced into rehab by her husband and work does she return to where she grew up to seek answers to her past. She hopes in getting closure to her past that she will get to continue and move on with her future.

The beginning of the book starts out a little slowly in Deborah's POV. She's a woman (the mother in this case) that is seeking out help in her local town. I don't know what it was about the beginning, but I just wasn't connecting to Deborah. Perhaps it was because her parts were told in third person? I can't pinpoint it, but I felt distanced from her.
After we are introduced to Deborah in the small town in the midwest, we meet Sibley in Arizona. She is the daughter of Deborah and a high profile, successful lawyer that seems to have a drinking problem. She appears to have a lot going on, but she brings it all back to alcohol. While I didn't love Sibley, her character had a lot more promise to me. Her parts were told in first person, but both of them were so unreliable because of whatever issues they faced. It was hard to pull for either of them, but at least with Sibley, I felt something towards her.

Their stories are told separately at first because their are in different places, but once they come to the same farmhouse in the midwest, we get their stories together. They both have different memories and different ways to cope with what is happening around them, but we are getting snippets of what makes these characters tick.

This is a story of two women trying to figure out how their pasts line up to the futures and it is a twisted tale of lies and schemes and delusions. But what is real and what is not? Two unreliable characters due to alcohol and medication. Who can you believe? What is the real story here??

"Sometimes, what we forget is more important than what we remember."

I was excited to receive The Imposter by Marin Montgomery since she is a "new to me author". I liked the pacing of the story after getting the two women together in one place, although Sibley's introduction was pretty exciting. I don't think I ever connected to Deborah, but Sibley had potential. She was just so darn unreliable and I hope she wasn't endangering those around her by her mistakes. The story itself was good, but not great. I honestly cannot pinpoint what was not so great other than I really disliked most of the character's other than Sibley's friends and husband. Everyone she grew up with seemed like they had an ulterior motive. Small towns aren't always what they are cracked up to be.

Overall this would be a 3.5 star. Plot was good, characters unlikable, and the pacing was pretty smooth. ...more

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Dec 03, 2020 Alison rated it really liked it · review of another edition

**Release date is March 9, 2021**

"Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets." ~ Paul Tournier

Sibley is a successful divorce attorney, but a raging alcoholic. Her marriage and career are on the brink of collapse. Instead of heading to rehab, she decides to travel to her hometown in hopes of getting some answers regarding her tragic past.

Deborah is somewhat of an outcast in her small Midwestern town. Locals have cast judgement on her based upon rumors. She lives in an old, run-down farmhouse that ...more

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Mar 07, 2021 Savitri (IG: bookishcatsavant) rated it liked it

Thank you to the author for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.
——
I like to keep my reviews as positive or neutral as possible because it’s incredibly daunting to write a book but much easier to read and review someone else’s book.

That being said, this book was in one word, a challenge (ok, two words). In the beginning 25% of the book, I was drawn to the first of the 2 main characters, Deborah. As a woman living alone in a small town and having a lot of tumultuous his ...more

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Jan 29, 2021 Michelle Beginandendwithbooks rated it liked it · review of another edition

Thank you author Marin Montgomery and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of The Imposter.

The novel opens during a Midwest winter, and I immediately related to the author’s sentiments regarding the seasons. Part one focuses on a widowed mother, Deborah, living alone on her family’s farmland. The novel moves between the points of view of Deborah and her daughter, Sibley. Part two focuses on Sibley, a 34-yr-old attorney, and the pace picks up with her storyline. By part three, ...more

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Dec 17, 2020 Hannah Rumohr rated it liked it · review of another edition

Thank you to Netgalley and Marin Montgomery for my ARC of THE IMPOSTER in exchange for a review!

Sibley Sawyer has the model life- she is married and is a very successful attorney. However, the cracks in the foundation of her life start to make themselves known in more ways than one. When she gets into trouble at work, she is forced to attend rehab to get herself back on the right track, only she chooses to change up the plans a little bit and visit her estranged mother. As Sibley gets back to he ...more

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Dec 07, 2020 Amanda McHugh rated it liked it · review of another edition

Sometimes, I go into a book without any expectations, and after a string of particularly heavy books, I was eager to start a title with a psychological bent that would keep me on my toes.

When Sibley is forced on sabbatical from her law firm, she decides to return to her childhood home in order to face her demons. Upon arrival, however, she finds her mother Deborah in waning health. She's seeing things. She's hearing things. And running beneath their familial tensions is a deeper, darker secret Sometimes, I go into a book without any expectations, and after a string of particularly heavy books, I was eager to start a title with a psychological bent that would keep me on my toes.

When Sibley is forced on sabbatical from her law firm, she decides to return to her childhood home in order to face her demons. Upon arrival, however, she finds her mother Deborah in waning health. She's seeing things. She's hearing things. And running beneath their familial tensions is a deeper, darker secret that no longer wishes to remain buried.

I liked this book.

First, I'm a huge fan of unreliable narrators, and in Deborah and Sibley, we get two. You never know which one you can trust most, if either, and because of that, this is a read that will keep you turning pages. Their voices are distinct and in terms of painting a troubled relationship between mother and daughter, Montgomery succeeded. Indeed, the most interesting parts of this story were the moments when Sibley and Deborah butted heads or confronted each other.

I had some issues that kept me from falling in love. The characterizations (and sometimes descriptions) felt inconsistent and a little scattered at times. While I found the mind-bending questions of who was telling the truth fascinating, I didn't care for the fact that some of the more bizarre or "out there" moments were left unexplained--which is surprising considering I also found that the action of this story is almost entirely in reiterations of the past. We get different accounts of what happened back in the day, but we're never really in that moment, partially to propel the mystery and suspense, but also because the narrative switches from first to third, and I think if we'd had a flashback, the structure wouldn't have worked for the big twist in the end. So I understand the choices, but I wished the conflict was more present tense than relayed through conversations.

Overall, The Imposter is an interesting read that explores complex mother/daughter relationships and touches on several relevant social issues. I'd recommend to fans of quiet psychological suspense, as I think readers will relate to the story at its core.

Big thanks to Thomas and Mercer and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review considerations. ...more

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Dec 18, 2020 Katharine Reppert rated it really liked it · review of another edition

❌❌BOOK REVIEW❌❌
The Imposter by @marin
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
—
Thank you so much @marin for giving my this ARC of her new novel. I was very excited to read this!
—
The beginning was very slow doing the back story and establishing the main characters. I did find myself very intrigued with the main charter Sibley. Her life is wild and has a lot going on.
—
The story goes between 2 different POV and I enjoy reading different perspectives of the story. This twisted tale was a psychological thriller between a mother ...more

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Dec 15, 2020 Larissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

✨Book Review✨
📖: The Imposter
✍️: Marin Montgomery
.
This is the twisted story of an estranged mother & daughter duo - Deborah and Sibley. Not only a few thousand miles of distance and 16 years of disaffection separate our main characters, but also a fatal event that remains a mystery.
This is better than your typical family psychological drama, this thriller will make any reader unsure of what is reality as neither of them consistent narrators.
.
Told by dual POV, the books starts with Deborah suf ...more

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Feb 18, 2021 Rebecca Patrick rated it liked it

TW topics such as alcohol and medication misuse, domestic violence and loss of an infant.

THE IMPOSTER follows Sibley, an in denial addict who’s life is crumbling around her. Her husband wants her to go to rehab, Sibley wants to go home to find answers, and resolve the relationship with her estranged mother. Once there, it becomes clear to both women that neither are who they left behind.

A slow burner to begin with but I raced through the last 60%! I enjoyed the chapters alternating between Sible ...more

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Mar 04, 2021 Jessica Laguna rated it liked it

Shelves: march-2021

"'Sometimes what we forget is more important than what we remember.'"

Holy unreliable narrator Batman.

Sibley and her mother Deborah are estranged, and both have their own problems. Sibley is an alcoholic headed for divorce and possible disbarment, and Deborah has been attacked in her own home and is having trouble believing what she sees and hears. Together, these two are the queens of all unreliable narrators. The entire time I was reading I kept saying whatttttttt? Did that really happen? Did ...more

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Dec 20, 2020 Shalee rated it really liked it

Fast paced and thrilling, The Imposter is everything you can ask for in a book! Sibley’s life is, for lack of a better phrase, a sh**show, slowly spiraling down the drain. When she makes her way back home to visit her mother for the first time in years, nothing is how it should be. Her mother is acting weird, and the events surrounding her father’s untimely death keep being dredged up. The ending is truly insane. The only thing that kept this from being a 5 star read for me is that I felt some p ...more

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Feb 15, 2021 literallymc rated it it was ok · review of another edition

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 ...more

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