Sunday, August 2, 2015

Book Review - "Disclaimer" by Renee Knight

My thanks to old pal, Fred Egler, for the recommendation of "Disclaimer", a thriller in the same vein as Gone Girl, Girl on the Train, and The Kind Worth Killing, all of which I have read and written about on this blog.

Catherine Ravenscroft is a successful documentary film maker who has just moved into a new home with her husband after their only son has moved out into his own apartment.  One night , Catherine starts reading a novel, she's not sure where the book actually came from, when she notices that the standard boilerplate of "any resemblance between the characters herein and any actual persons living or dead is strictly a coincidence" has been crossed out.  Then she gets a VERY uncomfortable feeling when she starts reading, because the book seems to be about her, and it is most unpleasant to her.

The story then proceeds to be told from the point of view of several different characters in addition to Catherine, and there are number of flashbacks to events that took place about twenty years prior to the present day.

I found the novel to be a bit confusing at first until I got the hang of who was telling the story at any given point in the book, and I got the timeline straight in my mind.   However, once I got over that hump, it was a pretty fast and exciting read.  As they literary snobs might put it, this is an "entertainment", and a darn good one.  Perfect for vacation time.

I was especially pleased with how it ended, in that I felt that each of the main characters got exactly what they deserved in this one.

On a scale of five stars, I give this one 3 and 1/2 stars.  Thanks, Fred!


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