Fabulous book. I got hooked right from the start and could not imagine the ending!! A must read!!

Oh my! I think this book will be huge. Had me gripped from the first page. Alternating between the past and the present. A top notch psychological thriller which is so relevant in today's age. 4.5* from me. Highly recommend. My thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for the advance reader copy.

A well deserved five stars. Excellent plot full of twists made this one very hard to put down. One of the best books of this year so far.

I loved this absolutely addictive debut thriller. It kept me up all night reading - a brilliant combination of a sympathetic protagonist, nail-biting suspense and realistic emotional drama. More please!

Really rather excellent psychological thriller here from Laura Marshall. Its so relevant actually - the whole social media thing considering we all live out our lives virtually these days - what would you do if you received a friend request from a dead person? Even without the back story that means Louise is already guilt ridden, it would give you pause right?

Loved how this played out. I also liked its twisty sense of reality. Great stuff. Full on review nearer to publication - but put this in your diary psychological thriller fans.

When central character Louise gets a friend request via Facebook from an old classmate, this sounds more like the basis for a nostalgic trip down memory lane. However, when you realise that the request comes from a friend who disappeared at the school dance, is believed to be dead and who you know more about what happened than you're prepared to discuss, then would you accept the request?
This premise sets up a twisty-turny tale of school bullying, cliques, fitting in, and the follies of youth that haunt us in later life. There are some great tense moments (is Louise being followed, or is she just paranoid and on edge?), but there are also some slightly OTT bits that detract from the underlying narrative. In the end it suffered from its far-fetched-ness more than anything - which is a shame, as I really enjoyed the first half of the story.

We receive a friend request on Facebook.....Should we accept? Should we ignore? This Book will undoubtlyly have us thinking twice. A fast paced thriller which jumps from last to present but the Surprises in each time will have you hooked. Full of Suspense with an end you won't see coming. Friend request is gonna be BIG in 2017!

A well plotted tightly written page turner. I was up until 4.30am because I just had to finish this. I'll definitely be looking out for more books by this very talented author. I particularly liked the two time frames; the real sense of each time period shone through. It will remind many of their school days which is a testament to the evocative writing.

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