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Disclaimer: A Novel Hardcover – May 19, 2015
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A brilliantly conceived, deeply unsettling psychological thriller— already an international sensation—about a woman haunted by secrets, the consuming desire for revenge, and the terrible price we pay when we try to hide the truth.
Finding a mysterious novel at her bedside plunges documentary filmmaker Catherine Ravenscroft into a living nightmare. Though ostensibly fiction, The Perfect Stranger recreates in vivid, unmistakable detail the terrible day she became hostage to a dark secret, a secret that only one other person knew—and that person is dead.
Now that the past is catching up with her, Catherine’s world is falling apart. Her only hope is to confront what really happened on that awful day . . . even if the shocking truth might destroy her.
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarper
- Publication dateMay 19, 2015
- Dimensions6 x 1.13 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100062362259
- ISBN-13978-0062362254
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Let me now acknowledge having done what thriller writers love doing: burying the lead. It’s Disclaimer that turns out to be the Gone Girl of the season.” — Janet Maslin, New York Times
“Disclaimer is something special. . . an outstandingly clever and twisty tale that’s been perfectly engineered to make heads spin. This novel’s opening promise of menace is not overstated. Ms. Knight lives up to the initial deal she made with readers and delivers fully on the threat she used to hook them. That’s a rare payoff in a genre full of letdowns. Its value can’t be stressed enough.” — Janet Maslin, New York Times
“Sensationally good psychological suspense…exactly what a great thriller should be.” — Lee Child
“Renée Knight’s debut book is being compared with Gone Girl. . . . Every book of fiction comes with the statement that it is just that: 'Any resemblance to actual events or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.'. . . . Disclaimer. . . turns that good-faith promise into a chilling premise.” — Wall Street Journal
“With pitch-perfect pacing and alternating narrators that leap off the page, Disclaimer is both a page-turning mystery and an artful exploration of the explosive intersection between marriage and motherhood, revenge and regret. A wonderfully compelling book.” — Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia
“The marvel of…Disclaimer is that it just about lives up to its unusually gripping premise…[and] forms a trinity alongside Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train as the best of domestic noir.” — New York Daily News
“Disclaimer stealthily steals your attention and by the end holds you prisoner—a searing story that resonates long after the final page. The best thriller I’ve read this year.” — Rosamund Lupton, New York Times bestselling author of Sister and Afterwards
“Knight’s pace…nuilds momentum and ends with a series of breakneck plot twists and surprises.… A seriously unnerving roller coaster…. It’s also a surprisingly sophisticated examination of marriage, motherhood and memory, as well as—naturally—guilt, grief and revenge.” — Richmond Times-Dispatch
“A mysterious book within a book, which contains potentially damning information about the protagonist, jump starts this remarkable debut by British scriptwriter Knight....This unsettling psychological thriller about guilt and grief briskly moves to a shocking finale enhanced by its strong characters.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The first requirement of a fabulous summer read is that it should be too enthralling to put down. Disclaimer meets that requirement mightily.… A gripping, well-written story for those who aren’t afraid of the darker side of summer reading.” — Charleston Gazette
“Knight’s elegant plot and compelling…characters keep the heart of the novel beating.… Atmospheric and twisting…a page-turner. An addictive psychological thriller.” — Kirkus Reviews
“This debut British psychological thriller engages the reader from page one; mystery aficionados will dash to finish it in one sitting. Deliciously captivating, brilliantly twisty, and enticingly addictive, it hits the trifecta for a strong thriller!” — Library Journal (starred review)
“Knight plays with our allegiances in this juicy domestic noir.” — BookPage.com
“This is a good psychological thriller with the ever-popular unreliable narrator, in this case two of them, along with lots of family drama. Sure to appeal to fans of Before I Go to Sleep, by S. J. Watson.” — Booklist
“A terrific novel with a brilliantly creepy central premise. One of the best debut thrillers I have ever read.” — Paula Daly, author of What Kind of Mother Are You?
“The control of the reader’s sympathies, the construction and pacing and the interweaving of [the] narratives, past and present, are remarkably accomplished in an addictive novel that has parallels with Gone Girl, but shows no sign of brazenly jumping onto that book’s bandwagon.” — London Sunday Times
“New authors need to stand out and Renée Knight has a doozy of an opening for Disclaimer…. Why is the driving question here, not how or who, and it’s really well done.” — Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“Disclaimer by Renee Knight is an obsessive read. It is not a book to be read a chapter at a time, but one that demands to be devoured at once.” — NY Journal of Books
“Unsettling…. The ending delivers more than one emotional wallop. Readers’ feelings about each character will likely be upended as they’re reminded that sometimes people commit atrocious acts out of love, and those who behave abhorrently can also be honorable.” — Shelf Awareness (starred)
“A brilliantly conceived, deeply disturbing psychological thriller about a woman haunted by secrets-and the price she will pay for concealing the truth.” — Quivering Pen
“Knight stretches the limits of. . . human emotions and struggles. . . [leading] the reader to a satisfactory and shocking conclusion.” — The Life Sentence
“Knight has twisted a story of decaying love, and built a psychological suspense tale that raises the hair on the back of your neck.… If psychological suspense is what interests you, look no further.” — BlogCritics.com
“Unsettling, yet impossible to set down…. A captivating read you’ll find lingers with you long after the final page has been turned.” — BookLoons.com
From the Back Cover
“Sensationally good psychological suspense. . . . exactly what a great thriller should be.”—Lee Child
What if you realized the terrifying book you were reading was all about you?
When a mysterious novel appears at Catherine Ravenscroft’s bedside, she is curious. She has no idea who might have sent her The Perfect Stranger—or how it ended up on her nightstand. At first, she is intrigued by the suspenseful story that unfolds.
And then she realizes.
This isn’t fiction.
The Perfect Stranger re-creates in vivid, unmistakable detail the day Catherine became hostage to a dark secret, a secret that only one other person knew—and that person is dead.
Now that the past Catherine so desperately wants to forget is catching up with her, her world is falling apart. Plunged into a living nightmare, her only hope is to confront what really happened on that terrible day . . . even if the shocking truth might destroy her.
About the Author
Renée Knight worked for the BBC directing arts documentaries before turning to writing. She has had TV and film scripts commissioned by the BBC, Channel Four, and Capital Films. In April 2013, she graduated from the Faber Academy “Writing a Novel” course, whose alumni include S. J. Watson. She lives in London with her husband and two children.
Product details
- Publisher : Harper; 1st edition (May 19, 2015)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062362259
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062362254
- Item Weight : 1.21 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.13 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,821,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11,577 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
- #22,240 in Psychological Thrillers (Books)
- #32,822 in Contemporary Women Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author
Renée Knight worked for the BBC directing arts documentaries before turning to writing. She has had TV and film scripts commissioned by the BBC, Channel Four, and Capital Films. In April 2013, she graduated from the Faber Academy "Writing a Novel" course, whose alumni include S. J. Watson. She lives in London with her husband and two children.
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A successful documentary film maker finds a book in her house and assumes her husband bought it. Opening the book, she sees that a red line has been drawn through the "disclaimer" that the characters are fiction and not based on living people. At first she is intrigued, then horrified, as she recognizes that the book's plot centers around an episode in her life which haunts her but one she has never revealed, even to her husband. The end of the book has the narrator pushing the film maker, Catherine, in front of a moving train.
The narrative jumps around in time and is told from the perspective of the writer of the novel and that of Catherine. The writer, Stephen, is a retired teacher who was fired from his last job. His wife died shortly after his retirement and Stephen's existence is bleak. In their youth, Stephen and his wife, Nancy, aspired to write fiction but reality intervened when their son, Jonathan, was born. As Jonathan grew up, Nancy remained more mother than wife and Stephen spent his productive years teaching English to middle or secondary school students.
Several years after the death of his wife, Stephen gets around to cleaning out some of her belonging and finds a stack of photographs of a woman. Some include a child and are taken on a beach but there are also nude photos of the woman, some sensual and some even pornographic. Seeing these photos inspires memories in Stephen but also clarify a mystery which he believes killed his wife and which he only now believes he understands. This realization wakes Stephen from his lackluster existence and, after more searching through Nancy's belonging's, he finds a written novel which validates the conclusions he has drawn from the photos. Stephan begins to plot the psychological and physical destruction of Catherine. Once he knows she has read the book, he insures that her son also get a copy. Then, he sends the photos to her husband.
The story jumps back and forth in time and the reader wonders what horror lurks in Catherine's past that reduces her to a shadow and leads Stephen to go even further in his quest to destroy not only her but those closest to her.
Stephen wants Catherine's destruction to be total. Knowing her husband now can't stand to be in the same room with her, Stephen begins to erode the slender thread holding together her relationship with her son.
Had I stopped reading at this point, this novel would have been a 5 star for sure. However, from that point, the characters begin to act in ways that make absolutely no sense. To take this even one step farther would be stepping into spoiler territory but I would be most interested to know if other readers had the same HUH moment where this book just went completely off the mark.
I liked Catherine -- even at her most annoying -- although if the novel has a flaw it's the motivation and rationale for keeping her secret. In this day and age, it seemed anachronistic and the rationale for this never really worked. As for Stephen, he started out creepy and just got pathetic, but in his embrace of the truth about his family, he also achieved a kind of nobility. While his "end" was a bit melodramatic, it worked in the context of the novel, as did the promise of a new (or renewed) mother/son relationship.
Top reviews from other countries
Can barely wait for another novel from her!!
But in doing all these things, the story somewhere lies in range of 'above average' but below 'wonderful'. The reader might not enjoy this as a 'thriller'. Still very enjoyble read! Go for it if you are beginner for this genre.
And please don't be fooled by looking it as pscyhological thriller. In my opinion stories like this come under 'domestic noir' or 'suburban noir'. Fans who wished for something like Shutter Island, Silence of the lambs better be 'careful what you buy for'!!
* The plot is really original, well-thought out and neatly tied up like a rubber band at the end, with everything explained in time. Just when you least expect it, more surprises come along. The sting in the tail was completely unexpected - just breathtaking!
* The characters are very well developed, credible and their stories tug at your emotions - even those who are no longer with us. I don't want to give the plot away!
* So well-written - loved the author's writing style - her choice of words and the way it flows and grips you.
I couldn't put it down and am sorry I have finished it. I do hope we are going to hear more from Renee Knight.