Review: Impostor by Jill Hathaway

Title: Impostor
Author: Jill Hathaway
Series: Slide, book #2
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: March 26, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

What if a killer took control of you?

Vee Bell’s gift (or curse) of “sliding”—slipping into the mind of another person and experiencing life, briefly, through his or her eyes—has been somewhat under control since she unwillingly witnessed the horrific deaths of her classmates six months ago.

But just as things are getting back to normal, Vee has a very bizarre experience: she loses consciousness and finds herself in a deserted area, at the edge of a cliff, with the broken body of the boy who took advantage of her on the rocks below.

As Vee finds herself in stranger and stranger situations with no memory of getting there, she begins to suspect that someone she knows has the ability to slide—and that this “slider” is using Vee to exact revenge on his or her enemies.

It's funny, I remember loving the first book in this series when I read the ARC last year, but when I started thinking about it, all I could remember was the ending.  And not the ending with Zane but, um, only Rollins.  I have tunnel-vision when it comes to that guy, I guess.  I do so adore the best friend turned love interest, though, so you can't fault me for it.

Needless to say, I had to do a quick re-read of Slide to catch myself up.  Only, you know what?  I didn't....I only thought I needed to.  (That's alright, though...skimming through the first book made me remember exactly why I'm so fixated on Rollins.  :D)  The author expertly called up key plot elements from the first book without dwelling on them too much, and I didn't feel like I'd missed anything.  The story picks up six months after the tumultuous events of Slide and not much has changed in that time, other than Vee dealing with the loss and heartache she suffered in the first book.

And not only is she having nightmares about that fateful night, but it seems that someone else has her ability and is using it to control her actions.  Someone who might be a murderer.  After a prank gone horribly wrong, a boy is left for dead and although Vee was there that night, she has no memory of what really happened.  All of the girls involved in the revenge plot swear to secrecy, but Vee's not sure who to trust anymore.

Including Rollins.  He knows about her ability now, but there's a new girl in his life, and Vee's not sure she can trust him with her heart anymore.  I cringed as this relationship developed because it was obvious to me that these two crazy kids belonged together, especially after all they've been through together, but trust issues will eat away at a relationship every time.  I wanted to smack them around a bit and tell them to just talk to each other instead of making undue assumptions.

Whereas Slide focused more on broken relationships and what had gone wrong, Impostor relies on fixing those relationships.  Even those that seemed permanently broken.  Mattie and Vee begin to bond.  Rollins and Vee work on their friendship before taking a bigger step in their relationship.  And then a couple of new characters enter the picture, throwing everything all out of sync for a bit.

But it all made for an intense story full of unexpected complications and surprising twists.  I absolutely love it when a story can get the jump on me.  This book is as unpredictable as it was fun to read.  And if that wasn't enough to keep me interested in the series, that shocker disclosed at the end makes it inevitable that I'll be picking up the next book.  Definitely recommended for fans of psychological thrillers that keep you guessing till the very end.


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