Friend Request

I don't give out a lot of five stars, but it wasn't hard to give one to this book. I was completely gripped. The kind of gripped where you're reading frantically on the bus and are almost late for your haircut kind of gripped. This was such an emotive read.

Centred around school years and a school reunion, the book switches tenses and effectively tells two stories. Whichever side of the social divide you were on, this will undoubtedly bring back some uncomfortable school time memories. (Although hopefully not ones involving murder!)

There wasn't anything I didn't love about this book. All the red herrings and the ending that I definitely didn't see coming! An example of writing at its best. I can't wait to read more from Laura Marshall.

I was kindly sent a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Divorced single mum Louise Williams is shocked when she receives a message from someone from her past.

Maria Weston wants to be your friend.

But Maria disappeared on the night of a leavers party over twenty years ago and everyone believes that she is dead.Louise has lived her adult life knowing that she is responsible for Maria`s disappearance,but now Maria is back,or is she?

This multi layered,multi themed story is told from Louise`s point of view and flips back and forth between the present day and Louise and her friends school days back in 1989.To be honest I enjoyed the mystery and intregue of the present day chapters more than the slow build up to what happened on the night of the leavers party during the chapters set in 1989.The characters in both time frames were well developed,realistic,completely untrustworthy and most of them were unlikable for various reasons.There was a number of intense,edge of the seat moments in the present day chapters and the final reveal of what happened to Maria was truly chilling and shocking.

Although I liked some parts more than others I still enjoyed reading this page turning debut thriller.

As a huge fan of psychological thrillers and Facebook this book appealed to me immediately and I started it almost as soon as I was approved on Netgalley. Louise is a divorced, single mum who receives a friend request from someone she thought she'd left behind in her past over 25 years old. The fact that the friend request is from a girl who died and Louise has carried the guilt and secrets with since, only increases her paranoia and fear. Told through Louise's point of view and switching from past and present, this story has many layers and underlying themes including bullying and trying to fit in and being accepted at school. I raced through this book and was constantly trying to guess who/why/where and how. This is a gripping page turner and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers, Little, Brown Book Group UK