Friend Request
-
-
3.8 • 126 Ratings
-
-
- $1.99
-
- $1.99
Publisher Description
A paranoid single mom is forced to confront the unthinkable act she committed as a desperate teenager in this addictive thriller with a social media twist.
Maria Weston wants to be friends. But Maria Weston is dead. Isn't she?
1989. When Louise first notices the new girl who has mysteriously transferred late into their senior year, Maria seems to be everything the girls Louise hangs out with aren't. Authentic. Funny. Brash. Within just a few days, Maria and Louise are on their way to becoming fast friends.
2016. Louise receives a heart-stopping email: Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook. Long-buried memories quickly rise to the surface: those first days of their budding friendship; cruel decisions made and dark secrets kept; the night that would change all their lives forever.
Louise has always known that if the truth ever came out, she could stand to lose everything. Her job. Her son. Her freedom. Maria's sudden reappearance threatens it all, and forces Louise to reconnect with everyone she'd severed ties with to escape the past. But as she tries to piece together exactly what happened that night, Louise discovers there's more to the story than she ever knew. To keep her secret, Louise must first uncover the whole truth, before what's known to Maria--or whoever's pretending to be her--is known to all.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
There’s a certain thrill when you receive an unexpected Facebook friend request right before a school reunion. And Laura Marshall’s protagonist, Louise, had conflicted feelings about that reunion to begin with. More than a possible-murder mystery hinged on a twist-laden cold case, Friend Request is an exploration of the lasting damage done by high school bullying. There’s an emotional heft to Marshall’s writing that will make you want to give your younger self a hug and tell them everything will be okay…eventually.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of British author Marshall's suspenseful if heavy-handed first novel, recently divorced London single mom Louise Williams receives a startling friend request from Maria Weston, a high school classmate who disappeared on the night of their graduation party more than 25 years earlier, and was presumed drowned. Unfortunately, the emotionally vulnerable interior decorator can't simply ignore Maria's Facebook overture which is followed by an invitation to a class reunion in their hometown of Sharne Bay, Norfolk, and a series of increasingly alarming messages because of guilt over the part she believes she played in the tragedy, and fear that someone is finally about to make her pay. Raising the stakes is Henry, her young son with ex Sam Parker, another high school classmate (and about the only person who shares her guilty secrets). Marshall leaps skillfully back and forth between past and present, but her inexperience shows in hamfisted manipulation of characters to serve the plot, as well as transparent attempts at misdirection.
Customer Reviews
Mean girls
Louise, receives a friend request from a woman she bullied in high school. The only problem is it’s been 25 years and the woman died on the night of their senior prom.
The friend request kicks off a chain of events for Louise, bringing back her pain and fear from those years, long ago. It was difficult to read how Louise and her friend, Sophie, were so cruel to Maria back then. Teenage girls can be so vicious, yet they suffer too in their own lack of esteem and self importance.
This is a well-written book, with clues and lies that change the direction of the story more than once. Louise’s fear is palpable. She is now a single mother who adores her 4 year old son. So she feels the stabs of her past transgressions all the more. But how far will she go to hide truths and protect the lies of the past and her part in Maria’s fate?
There’s a bit of repetition in the book, but it held my interest to the point that I wanted to know how everything played out and how such innocence turned so tragic. It’s interesting as we don’t understand the lasting effect of people who’ve been bullied and traumatized at young and impressionable ages. I think many of us have been bullied before, but not to the degree displayed in this book (hopefully).
All in all this was an excellent read where I both detested Louise, but also rooted for her based on her self imprisonment. Most of all this book broke my heart a little.
Great page-turner
I devoured this whilst enduring COVID; a great thriller
Easy Read
An easy read and relatively quick paced, but decidedly predictable at the end. It’s not really a heart pounding kind of book that keeps you on edge, but still keeps you turning the page. Writing is decent, and overall a good read. I enjoyed it!