DISCLAIMER by RENÉE KNIGHT

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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