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Friend Request - Laura Marshall



Description

Maria wants to be friends. 
But Maria is dead . . . isn't she?
When Louise Williams receives a message from someone left long in the past, her heart nearly stops.
Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook.
Maria Weston has been missing for over twenty-five 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 with a terrible secret.
As Maria's messages start to escalate, Louise forces herself to reconnect with the old friends she once tried so hard to impress. Trying to piece together exactly what happened that night, she soon discovers there's much she didn't know. The only certainty is that Maria Weston disappeared that night, never to be heard from again - until now. . .

Review

This is a book with a very now feel as it features strongly social media, particularly Facebook and the title of the novel is of course a Friend Request on Facebook. Nothing unusual in that until you realise that the friend Louise thought had been dead for 25 years now has an account and wants to be her friend.

There is a flip flop story line between the present day and a looming school reunion in 2016 with Louise's school days in 1989 and a leavers' party. They say you should never go back, but Louise is intent on finding out if the girl she knew in 1989 and tragically died is actually still alive. But what mainly happens is the person she is today becomes tangled up in the teenage girl insecurities she once had. Except now she has a young son to safeguard. 

The only time I got a tiny bit confused is when both timelines where at a party, one for the 1989 leavers and the other the 2016 reunion. As they alternated and both were at a party with the same people I had to concentrate on which era was being featured. Otherwise this was a real page turner of a book. With the author writing characters who all seem to be holding the smoking gun!

There is another story running through the book, which until the end you are not quite sure which character's voice is narrating it. I had various theories, but all were shot dead in the water when the final truth begins to surface and I for one did not see it coming.

I'm giving this book five out of five stars for an excellent read. My thanks to Netgalley for a copy for review. 

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  1. Jane Willis26 March 2018 at 10:25

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