Friend Request by Laura Marshall

Publication date: 27 July 2017

Published by: Little Brown

Purchase from Amazon here

The Blurb:

When Louise Williams receives a message from someone left long in the past she feels sick.

Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook.

Because Maria Weston has been missing for over twenty years. She was last seen the night of a school leavers' party, and the world believes her to be dead. Particularly Louise, who has lived her adult life knowing herself responsible for Maria's disappearance. But now Maria is back. Or is she?

As Maria's messages start to escalate, Louise forces herself to reconnect with the old friends she once tried so hard to impress, to try to piece together exactly what happened that fateful night. But when another friend's body turns up in the woods outside their old school, Louise realises she can't trust anyone and that she must confront her own awful secret to discover the whole truth of what happened to Maria . . .

My Review:

I was drawn straight to the title of this book, and then when I saw the synopsis I couldn’t wait to start reading. Many of us, myself included, use social media as a way to connect and converse with friends past and present, and it is becoming almost part of our daily life. I am guessing most of us have received friend requests from people we used to work or go to school with, but I am betting you won’t have received one from someone you believed to have died many years before. This is exactly what Louise receives…..

From this moment the book is narrated by Louise, telling the story from two moments in time, the year she left school and the present day. Alternating between them both I got insight not only into who Louise is and the life she leads now, but also the events of her teenage self that bought her to this moment and make her so scared of receiving this request.

Friend Request provides a fast paced, psychological thriller that had me guessing what was really going on until almost the last page. The book is cleverly written, with a cast of supporting characters who along with Louise’s existing fears transported me into the mystery as it took twists and turns, and kept me captivated. I felt compelled to keep reading and was totally engrossed throughout.

As the events of the past and present reveal themselves and clash I found myself bamboozled and not sure who to trust and what to believe. I felt myself trapped in a game where I needed to piece the clues together to solve the puzzle. But there are traps in there and I got caught in some of them!

Friend Request reminds me of my experience of reading Before I Go To Sleep. Both books totally grabbed me, made me question who and what is real and had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. I loved Friend Request and find it hard to believe that it is a debut piece of work by the author. Written with real talent I cant wait to see what they write next!