Catherine Ravenscroft
was dumbfounded to find her long-kept, dark secret exposed in The Perfect
Stranger, a book she didn’t know existed. She was even more unnerved when
copies landed in the hands of her husband and son. Who did it and why it surfaced
when she thought it was just her left who knew about it kept on getting in the
way of her life. She was bound to face her past one way or another in order to
put an end to her nightmare even if it meant jeopardizing her relationship with
her family.
The act of keeping the
secret a secret has almost become bigger than the secret itself. – Catherine
Ravenscroft
A thought-provoking
and heart-wrenching suspense is what Disclaimer is.
It literally gave me
the nerves. It was good like that. There was something rather eerie about the
writing that made my heart thump as the anticipation grew. The darkness and
weight of the story also lured me in deeper.
What a sad story –
it was just heartbreaking to experience through words the tragedy of two
families broken by secrets and further destroyed by revelations. I couldn’t
consider it a common real-life scenario, but still it hit home and became
relatable for me.
It is extraordinary
how much strength anger gives one. – Stephen Brigstocke
Truth be told, it
was a bit of a struggle for me at first because I couldn’t find the connection
between what seemed to be two separate stories. I couldn’t get a hold of where
the story was headed and what it was about. Disclaimer was told at
different intersecting and overlapping time frames matched with alternating
character points of view, most of which were Catherine’s and Stephen’s. It was
easy to think that to confuse was one of the intentions of this novel.
You have to be cruel
to be kind. – Stephen Brigstocke
This is not to say
that I didn’t enjoy such complexity. Though the play on the shifting time
frames and character perspectives was very tricky, this was also one main reason
this book had been way more intriguing and thrilling, as it really stimulated
my mind to make my own assumption of what was going to happen and further focus
on every event on the book. It just made me not want to miss any detail.
Gripping!
The big twist in the
end was a jaw dropper. I couldn’t believe how the characters were reversed and
the plot turned upside down. What a twist! I also loved the little revelations
along the chapters, which were real page turners as well. Because this book was,
I think, intentionally slow-paced, they helped keep the momentum going. There
goes the reason suspense will always come first before romance in my heart over
and over again.
Basically, Disclaimer
teaches us that our secrets can haunt us forever. And the truth, especially the
uncomfortable and ugly ones, it will always have a way of coming out to catch
up with us, so either act on it or let it trap you forever.
Are you done reading
this book? What are your thoughts? I’d like to know them! Feel free to share
them below!
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