Social media; in the 21st century you just cannot hide from it. Love it or hate it, social media features heavily in the majority of people's lives. When Louise receives a Facebook friend request from someone she least expects to, her life is turned upside down, forcing her to revisit a past she thought she had long left behind her. An excellent page turner, keeping me hooked, wanting to read more and more. Highly recommend.

One of the first things I did when I finished this book was to go on Facebook. Not to write a review or to share how much I enjoyed this book but to check my privacy settings!! The scary side of social media is shown off to sickening levels here when you realise just how much you leave yourself open to online! Now I know we have all Facebook stalked ex partners and friends (NO??!! Just me then??) to torture ourselves gazing at their Facebook perfect lives, with their subtly placed lifestyle boasts and carefully chosen, filtered photos but after reading this book you will rethink your online presence. Louise Williams has left herself open to more than she realises when she shares her normal everyday life on her Facebook page. Struggling to move on after her divorce has left her a single mum to 4 year old Henry she is shocked to receive a friend request from an old school friend especially when that friend is dead. Louise is keeping secrets about what happened the night Maria Weston went missing but it looks like they aren’t as hidden as she might have hoped. A school reunion may provide some answers but are they the ones Louise wants to hear?

Wow! This is one brilliantly twisted, knicker-grippingly suspenseful psychological thriller that fits perfectly into my favourite genre! I thought I had it all figured out, spotted all the clues and was sitting smugly thinking “I’ve got this one” but no, I was way off the mark! If you want an unputdownable, relentless but highly relevant nail biter then Friend Request needs to be on your Kindle right now! If this is the standard of her debut novel then I can’t wait to see what Laura Marshall has up her sleeve for any future books she writes. This is the exact quality of writing and plotting I want to read when picking a psychological thriller and it’s set the bar pretty high for the rest of my summer reads!

Friend Request is a dazzling debut, compellingly written with a thought provoking and credible storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute I spent reading it and highly recommend it to fans of this genre. It’s a good ‘un!!!

Louise is a single mum building up her business as an interior designer. Whilst scanning Facebook she is shocked to find a 'Friend Request' from Maria- who died after their school leavers dance many years ago!

Louise's teenage years had been troubled. She longed to be part of the 'in' crowd with the popular girls- especially Sophie, but she felt uncomfortable with their involvement in drugs. She felt slightly bad about dropping Esther, her Primary school friend and when Maria arrived it seemed they might be friends until the 'in' crowd made her choose. The night of the Leaver's dance and the things Louise was involved with have haunted her ever since.

Louise accepts the request. Soon she is communicating with Sophie. As a school reunion is announced she decides to go even though she feels increasingly threatened by messages she receives.

The story is told across two timelines- the present and the year Louise left school. It was at times an uncomfortable read. I wanted to tell Louse to run from the poisonous 'in' crowd and stick to Maria & Esther- needless to say she wouldn't have listened! As things grew darker I couldn't stop reading! Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for this great read.

Friend Request looks at the problems of social media, and is a frightening portrayal of what could happen to anyone. I like the fact this is novel is about something central to todays society and it is this which makes it the more frightening. The danger faced by the characters is disturbing, but very real. Louise had my empathy by the end of the book, she may have made some bad decisions in her life but Im glad she found redemption in the end. This is a fast paced, cleverly plotted thriller that will chill your heart.

This is a gripping story right from the start. Louise receives a friend request from an old school friend, Maria. But Maria is dead isn't she? She died at a school leavers party and even now, years later, Louise is still dealing with the deep guilt believing that she has some responsibility for Maria's death. So who is behind this friend request? Could it be Maria? As the layers of this tense story are peeled back one by one the story gradually becomes deeper and more murky with each layer.
It's a story of the far reaching effects of school bullying and how social media can leave us wide open to scrutiny and menace.
Highly recommended read!
My thanks to publishers Little, Brown Book Group UK for the opportunity of reading this ARC via Netgalley

A brilliant psychological thriller, enjoyed it thoroughly, it did take a few chapters to get into, but once I was hooked that was it. The ending had me on pins, wondering what was going to happen! I would definitely recommend.

Friend Request

When you log into Facebook and see a friends request its usually you know, that you’ve met or have a similar interest, it can even be somebody from your past, but, what do you think when your request is from someone who everybody thinks is dead? That’s exactly what happened to Louise Williams.

1989 in the last year at school a new girl starts and she’s everything that Louise usual friends aren’t, Maria is funny, brash and almost immediately they are firm friends.

2016 and Maria wants to be friends on Facebook, but, Louise hasn’t seen her since the leavers party. Just seeing Maria’s name brings all those hidden memories back to the surface, the secrets.

Maria’s reappearance threatens everything that she has, her freedom, job and more importantly her son. As the messages become more threatening the more she finds out that she really didn’t know the whole story of that dreadful night.

I liked the fact that this entered the social media world, most of us have an account either facebook, twitter or one of the many other options, but, can we honestly say we ‘know’ all of our ‘friends’?


Read for an honest review for Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group
Amazon will not let me add a review at this time

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 . . .

I really enjoyed this book ... I love it when things appear to be going one way then in a massive twist things are turned upside down. I never suspected where this book led to 4*

4.5 Stars

Bewildering set of circumstances that kept me guessing right until the end. It seemed to me that I believed every last lead or piece of information as it came up, potentially making me even more gullible than Louise, the main character.

But the question is, would you accept a friend request from an old school acquaintance who has been presumed dead for 25 years? After all anyone can pretend to be anyone online. Well Louise did accept a request in those circumstances, made all the more chilling by the secret Louise has held about the girl for her whole life.

The tension really starts to ramp up as the story progresses and I loved the sense of danger, as though you knew something big was going to happen but you just weren't sure what or possibly why. There is also a school reunion coincidentally that has been organised for Louise's year group, and it leads to her rethinking about her last year of school, how she was a teenager, and a whole host of other emotions.

This is the sort of book that almost everyone can relate to in some way, from a bad childhood, fear over losing your own child if a secret gets revealed, ex husbands, walls protecting your innermost feelings, or just receiving friend requests from unknown or unexpected sources.

Friend Request is a gripping story that once I got into it properly, I found quite hard to put down. It's a great debut novel, and I would definitely look at reading more by the author in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sphere for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Friend Request is an interesting psychological thriller set in the world of social media. Louise Williams is a mother with one child. Her life is going well until her husband leaves her for another woman starting events that will change her world. It is interesting to note that with the event of her divorce, Louise starts reflecting back and due to social media being what it is, she starts reflecting back to a time when life is supposed to be innocent but things are never that easy.

The author, Laura Marshall, has created a realistic world exploring the world of social media whilst reaching out to the past to rekindle lost relationships. This is done very well and this first time author is able to migrate through the different strands and exploring the past and fitting this into the present. The book is a masterclass on dealing with a psychological thriller that deals with typical problems of today and how modern life has enabled people to become closer.

The book handles the romanticism that we have for the past and how sometimes the pain, though it becomes buried beneath the surface, but never truly goes away. This is handled very well and when the past becomes more evident, the novel runs at a great pace to its ultimate conclusion.

The juxtaposition between the past and the present day are very well handled and the dealing of relationships as teenagers and as adults and how these difference. Marshall is also very adept in handling the two periods of time by mirroring situations and how they different but share a similar bond.

The mystery of the past is very well handled and this is a definite page turner. The characters are very well rounded and the narrative and plot are very well handled. The story is very relevant to today and would be a perfect book club property as there is so much to digest, discuss and explore within the pages.

This is definitely a page turner and I highly recommend to fans of modern fiction and who love a good mystery thriller.

This is the story of Louise, a single mum recently divorced from the love of her life, Sam.

The timeline is 2016 and Louise is dealing with life as best she can, she runs a successful business and she adores her little boy, Henry. One day she receives a notification on Facebook 'Maria Weston wants to be your friend' and Louise is catapulted straight back to 1989 and the school leavers party where Maria Weston is believed to have been killed and Louise thinks she was partly responsible.

Louise needs to know who is behind the friend request and why now, after all this time? When she hears that there is going to be a school reunion she thinks she may possibly get some answers to what happened that fateful night.

This book is the epitome of social media and makes you question whether the person you know is really the one behind that keyboard. It also shows how far people will go to fit in with their school friends and what effect peer pressure has on us all. Laura Marshall has depicted this story so accurately and makes you realise things are not always as they seem. I tried to second guess who was behind it all but was surprised when it was revealed and the twist when it came was a real shocker.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by this author. Thank you to Little Brown Book UK for the approval. I will post my review on Goodreads now and on Amazon and Twitter on publication day. 4 stars

Give yourself some reading space and time for this read as you may find yourself racing through it with a late night!!
When Louise receives a friend request from Maria, someone from school who she feels she treated badly, it is a shock ... even more so because Maria is believed dead.
This is an intriguing look at how easily people get caught up in bullying, the notion of how guilt impacts our lives, plus the dangers of the internet and how people can track you down ... but the internet hides people so you can't be sure who is getting in touch and why.
It is an intriguing and layered book with a character that you sympathise and feel for in the present day story [2016] but feel frustrated and saddened by in the story from her past in 1989. It provokes discussion and questions about how you might respond from a variety of viewpoints and I feel makes some telling points about human nature and how we feel affirmed.
Overall, at its heart, it is an engaging and pacy psychological thriller with much to enjoy and several atmospheric sequences that ramp up the suspense. Unlike many thrillers where I have become frustrated by decisions made by the lead characters I can see logic in the majority of their choices even though I did think "tell the police" at a few points in the story [!!]. Also, I didn't find it a totally predictable read which is always good in a thriller. A great choice to pack away for your summer holiday.

Friend request was a great book I loved it and struggled to put it down I ended up reading it in a day.
The book switches between 1989 and 2016 and the power of social media to connect with old friends.
A great psychological thriller that will keep you guessing right to the end.
Well deserved 5 stars from me.

I really enjoyed reading this. We live in a world of social media and it makes you think about how much info we give out. I felt sorry for Louise. Punishing herself for a mistake she made in the past and someone out for revenge. A real page turner

Laura is a single mum, unhappily divorced from the love of her life when she found out he was having an affair. He life is all about her son and her work when she receives a Facebook friend request from an old school friend - the problem is that she believed that the friend had died, and that she was responsible for her death. Who is contacting her - is it the friend? And what are the repercussions if what she did many years ago come out?

The story is told in 2 timelines, and keeps you guessing until the very end. Highly recommended.

You just never know who will ask to be your friend on Facebook, it could be absolutely anyone, even someone who died years ago. So when Louise gets a request from an old school friend she doesn't really want to accept. This is a now and then book from Louise's point of view. If anyone needs a reminder of what school life is like then is a great one to choose. Selfish and mean spirited, the desperate need to fit in, leaving people out and playing nasty tricks - all par for the course. There aren't too many nice characters, nor did I feel any empathy for Louise at all. She was irritating as a young girl and not much improved as an adult either. Loved this from the very first page, found it gripping and creepy and has put me off school reunions for life!

Unfortunately the title was archived prior to me downloading for a weekend read and review up next week. The archive date wasn't near whatsoever. And the release date is a month away. This is quite unfortunate. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The premise of Friend Request intrigued me when I was looking for my next book to review. Initially, I wasn’t sure if Friend Request was going to be a pretty run of the mill crime book of the kind you can pick up anywhere but thankfully it was quite good.
Laura Marshall’s writing was suspenseful and the plot contained many twists which I didn’t see coming at all. There were many times I thought I knew where it was going but I was wrong. Laura Marshall’s writing style was very similar to Mark Edward’s, one of the few crime writers I actually like.
Friend Request was eerie, particularly in the latter part of the book. It definitely left me with a vague feeling of dread even after I had finished the book.
“The email arrives in my inbox like an unexploded bomb: Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook.”
When Louise receives this seemingly routine notification she is shocked, her hands can’t stop shaking and she thinks she must have misread it. When she logs back on she can’t stop herself from accepting and looking at the account. She notices the profile picture shows Maria in her old school uniform.
“Maria Weston wants to be friends. But Maria Weston has been dead for more than twenty-five years.”
Louise is alone in her house when she opens this notification as her son Henry is at his father’s house. The message has put her on edge, an unwelcome reminder of the past.
The story is told in two different times – 2016 and 1989.
In 1989 Louise wakes up feeling guilty because of some action she has performed the night before.
“It’s as though I am moving in slow motion. My brain struggles to make sense of it all, my thoughts moving sluggishly through the last couple of months, trying to figure out how it has come to this.
I suppose it all began a few months ago the day the new girl started.”
Maria’s arrival at the school shook up Louise’s friendship group. Until then Louise was a desperate hanger on in her friendship group. Her ‘best friend’ Sophie had been hanging around with a couple of other girls and only had time for her when they weren’t about. The other girls spent time talking about their sexual experiences and the drugs they had been taking. Louise is always on the fringes of these conversations so when Sophie suggests playing a prank on Maria she is only too happy to oblige.
In 2016 Louise is invited to her high school reunion and reluctantly accepts it to see if she can get to the bottom of the friend request. When the body of a former classmate is discovered at the reunion Louise realises she is in over her head.
This is primarily a book about the problems that can arise when you succumb to peer pressure.

Louise Williams is a middle aged, divorced mother. She lives with her four year old son, Henry, and has her own business. In fact, she is re-building her life, after divorcing her childhood sweetheart, Sam, who she met at school. One day, Louise is at home when she receives a friend request on Facebook, from Maria Weston. The only problem with that, is that Maria has been dead for twenty five years….

This psychological thriller switches from the present to 1989, when Louise was at Sharne Bay High School. The friend request from Maria comes at the same time that Louise is invited to a school reunion and these events combine to force Louise to examine what happened all those years ago – memories that she has tried to bury for years. For Louise has spent her life placating others – not believing she was good enough for her husband, Sam, trying to fit in with the popular girls at school and doing things she is ashamed of in order to retain the friendship of Sophie Hannigan.

Fitting in at school involved Louise being involved in the bullying of new girl, Maria, and her old friend from primary school, Esther. Without doubt, this novel will remind everyone of the intense relationships of school years, and this is mirrored in problems that Louise’s friend, Polly, is having with her daughter, Phoebe, who is also being bullied at school. When Louise feels that she is being followed and fears that her son, Henry, is in danger, it forces her to try to find out what happened all those years ago. However, when she does try to speak to those involved, she finds that they are, understandably, defensive about the past.

This is a fast paced, well plotted debut novel. Despite the fact that Louise has behaved unwisely in her life, she is a sympathetic main character and it is obvious that her own lack of self esteem and confidence still affect her as an adult. I thought this was a good read and look forward to reading more from this author.

Ooooh this was a proper page turner that uses the tried and tested 'then' and 'now' formula that kept my eyes firmly glued to the page. I'm not a big fan of Facebook but found the idea of getting a friend request from someone you thought was dead was an absolutely brilliant storyline. You immediately know that there are buried secrets to uncover and become suspicious of everyone, thinking that nobody is what they seem.

The last time this group of old schoolfriends got together was the school leaving party when one of them didn't make it home, although her body was never found. Trying desperately to fit in with a crowd of 'mean girls' at school, Louise feels that she is to blame for Maria's death and Maria comes back to haunt her big style by requesting her friendship on Facebook. Surely it must be a cruel joke, but with the school reunion looming Louise wouldn't be surprised to see Maria turn up...and then she starts to wonder who organised the reunion in the first place.

I loved the past and present storyline and it was almost like the rewind button was pressed at the school reunion as people lapsed into their school characters: the popular bitchy one, the boy everyone fancies, the one trying desperately to fit in and the swot who now has the flashy job and perfect life. I found myself questioning everyone and I'm not going to tell you whether Maria is alive or dead as Laura Marshall kept me guessing right up to the very end.

Friend Request is a twisty fast-paced psychological thriller, choc-ful of secrets with a generous helping of mind-bending smoke and mirrors style deception.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest an unbiased opinion.