Disclaimer by Renee Knight

Posted first to Blog Critics as Book Review: "Disclaimer,' A Novel of Psychological Suspense by Renee Knight.

Renee Knight’s Disclaimer is a complicated novel, weaving together feeling and fear. Knight has twisted a story of decaying love, and built a psychological suspense tale that raises the hair on the back of your neck. 

Disclaimer takes us into a psychological story of pain and destruction. Catherine and Robert have been together for a very long time; love has gradually turned into affection and friendship. With their son Nick leaving home, Catherine is not sure how she will fill her time, however, but she is motivated to move forward.

There is a dark secret simmering within Catherine’s life, creating tension, bleeding into her relationship with both her son and her husband. Suddenly it appears that someone else may know what happened. Is it finally time to share her dark past with her husband?

When she finds a book on her porch, she is horrified to discover that it is connected to her secret. Sleep becomes elusive as she relives her transgressions. Can she bring herself to tell Robert the terrible secret she has kept for many years?

Before she can decide, a copy of the book is also delivered to her son Nick. Although he’d been too young to remember, he had been there–witness to the worst moment of her life.

At the same time, and unknown to Catherine, an elderly man continues to mourn the death of his only son years earlier. Finding photos that link Catherine with his death the man is determined to ruin her life. His anger is relentless and he vows to bring  Catherine’s secret to light.

As he moves forward with his vendetta, Catherine’s life begins to fall apart. Her husband abandons her, and colleagues question her integrity. What everyone now believes to have been a romance and adultery has become something more deadly and violent. Having held this secret so long can she bring the real truth to light?

Knight delivers a mystery that on the surface seems mundane. Yet, with the gradual unveiling, you find a depth of depravity and guilt. His characters are flawed, and have limited understanding the triggering incident, and as often happens with secrets, in the end, it becomes both more and less than what really occurred.

If you enjoy intense and mysterious work, you will find this a great fit for your library. If psychological suspense is what interests you, look no further; it is all tightly wound with a raw and gritty grief.

This would be a great book for a reading and discussion group.

Rating 5\5