Publisher: Harper
Released: May 19, 2015
Source: Borrowed from the library
Rating: ★★★★½

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.

DISCLAIMER was so good, probably my favorite book I’ve read this year. It’s the best kind of psychological thriller – dark and suspenseful, gut-wrenching, emotional, and surprising. Wouldn’t you be terrified to find a book written about you, especially if you had a terrible secret to keep? Past what the blurb says, I don’t think you should know anything about the plot before reading this book, so my lips are sealed.

The author created a cast of complex and flawed characters, and it was easy to experience the whirlwind of emotions that they did. It was hard to decide who to be angry with, and who to sympathize with. As pieces of the puzzle were revealed, I kept changing my mind over how I felt about certain characters, and then the big twist was revealed, and I was stunned. Everything changed again.

DISCLAIMER is a well-crafted, suspenseful mystery, and despite its dark theme, I was left with a glimmer of hope. Fantastic debut novel. Okay, so when does Renée Knight’s next book come out?!?