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The usual disclaimer contained in works of fiction “…any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental” has been crossed out. Catherine finds that she is the main character in the book and that it reveals a secret that she thought only she could now know. My once certain opinion swept away in a single sentence as another piece of information is casually dropped into the narrative. A faultlessly constructed, page-turning debut, Disclaimer delivers its twists and surprises with ease.
The descriptions were extremely vivid; this work of fiction just about came to life before my eyes and well. Catherine Ravenscroft has built a dream life, or close to it: the devoted husband, the house in London, the award-winning career as a documentary filmmaker. I could almost see Catherine’s face freeze the moment she came to that part in the book which is the big bang! At first it's not obvious how the two of them would be linked, but as Stephen's perspective advances — it began two years before Catherine's — the conections are made clear. Cathrine discovers an intriguing novel on her bedside table but is soon horrified to learn that she is one of the key characters.The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Disclaimer was my first step into the entirely unventured-before world of fictitious psychlogical thrillers (for me).
It mattered less that I didn't like much about the central cast than that Knight never really gave me a reason to care about the outcomes or even instil much belief in her portrayals of family life. Confesso que não criei empatia com nenhuma delas, talvez por todas terem demasiados defeitos e esqueletos no armário para que me pudesse rever. It is almost taken for granted that the revelation will at some stage involve infidelity and sadly this all felt a little too familiar especially given the fairly bland narration and hand-wringing along the way.So the London setting of this debut novel from a former film documentary maker had ground to make up from the start. And she sees that it’s about the terrible, life-destroying secret that she’s kept for 20 years and thought no one else could possibly know. I can tell you that our chief protagonist, Catherine Ravenscroft has just moved house to a new apartment with her husband Robert when she comes across a novel. Atmospheric and twisting and ripe for TV adaptation, this debut novel never strays far from convention, but that doesn’t make it any less of a page-turner.
Author Renee Knight leaves enough ambiguity throughout the novel to keep the narrative suspenseful and interesting. Catherine remains rather distant, but I suppose this is intentional, to keep the reader guessing about whether she's supposed to be sympathetic or not. DISCLAIMER stealthily steals your attention and by the end holds you prisoner – a searing story that resonates long after the final page. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. And frankly, we all want to put in our two cents worth when it comes to airing our opinions on the novels that create a buzz and Disclaimer certainly hits the ground running, dropping readers straight into an unfolding drama.As happens so often with these novels, the 'secret', when it's revealed, appears at first to be mundane and really pretty ordinary compared to the desperate paranoia and fear that's come before it. One thing I can't complain about is the twists that follow as Knight takes her readers from past to present day and charts the "coupling" ( thanks Gwyneth) of two families who were both troubled before their initial involvement in each other's orbits.
Disclaimer” starts a bit slowly, as Stephen gets himself into position to stalk Catherine and Catherine tries surreptitiously to find out how the book got into her house. When Stephen shares his son's intimate pictures of Catherine with her husband the alternative truth seems to be the reality everyone believes which will end in Catherine falling under a train. ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,qode-title-hidden,qode_grid_1300,footer_responsive_adv,qode-content-sidebar-responsive,qode-child-theme-ver-1. However, the premise was let down by a keep-you-in-the-dark plot and a series of shallow, weak and generally unlikeable characters.
With a dual narrative throughout and a switching of timeframes, credit must be given to Knight for telling these stories side by side and coherently, thereby delivering a satisfying knitting together of every strand. Catherine's third-person narrative is accompanied by the first-person narrative of the man who is tormenting her; an odious and now retired but much loathed teacher, whose aim seems to be inflicting the misery that has marked his life onto others. He’s tired and old, but he’s got a mission and it’s finally time to get the masks off and see who some people are. The idea for this book is very exciting and the plot is well constructed and certainly towards the end, well developed. Renee shows such magnificent skill in plotting amazing characters and creating dark and atmospheric story.
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