Disclaimer by Renee Knight

It's been a while since I've done a book review, so today I thought I'd share with you, my thoughts on the novel Disclaimer by Renée Knight.

I'm a big fan of the thriller genre, having read just about every popular thriller novel of recent times and I had seen this slowly creeping up the bestseller charts for weeks until I finally bought a copy. The comparisons to Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train are typical - why must every thriller novel be compared to these books!? The synopsis sounded very appealing though. Catherine, the female lead, finds a novel in her house, not knowing how it got there and once she starts reading it she quickly realises that the book is written about her and so starts off a chain of events which sees the reader travel between 2013 and 1993 as four characters tell the story from their perspectives. We soon discover that happily married Catherine may have had an affair on a family holiday which ultimately led to Jonathan, her lover's death. Jonathan's father then seeks revenge, blaming Catherine entirely for the death of his son. 

We then discover that Jonathan's late mother was an author who discovered some very questionable photos of Catherine in compromising positions that she had developed from Jonathan's camera after his death. This inspires her to write memoirs about the incident, making up her own version of events which blames Catherine for everything. Jonathan is perfect in his parent's eyes and they truly believe he is incapable of harming anyone. Jonathan's father turns the memoirs into a novel entitled The Perfect Stranger and sends a copy to Catherine, her husband and her son and even delivers piles of them to her work which in turn leads to her having a break down. 

  I found that this novel took a while to get into the real action but once it began, I was unable to put it down, each night I stayed up late desperate to find out what happened next, it is very unusual

 for a novel to grip me in such a way as Disclaimer did!

This is a novel that will stay in your mind for a while, with plenty of twists and turns, the reader is torn between feeling sorry for the old man who is threatening Catherine and wondering whether she is covering something up or if she's as innocent as she first appears. This book keeps you guessing right up until the last few chapters with a twist that will leave you questioning all the characters. For a debut novel this is seriously impressive, I did not want to finish it. It will be difficult to find a book as good as this and I would highly recommend this to everyone who enjoys the thriller genre.

Jen

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