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.

Friend request had elements which I absolutely adore. Friendship and social media, when I saw the blurb for this book I thought I have to read this and gladly it didn’t disappoint. When I thought I had sussed out what was happening the author took the carpet right from under me and made me second and third guess what was the heck was going on! Laura Marshall is certainly an author to look out for, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Thanks goes to net galley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review. This will be published July 27th

What a great read, literally couldn't put it down. Such an example of the pros and cons of Facebook in the modern world. The ending..... didn't see that coming. Great book, easy to follow. Easy shifting between the past and present which made the story flow nicely. Great storyline, thank you

First of all i would like to say thank you to netgalIery for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

Well what can I say this book was amazing the story line was action packed I couldn't put the book down when I thought I knew something was going to happen or I thought I could guess what was going happen something else happened. It left you wanting to know what was going to happen next.

This book was written very well a superb read!

What a roller coaster of a thriller. I love thrillers but find I spend my whole time trying to work out who did it, it can sometimes spoil my experience. With this book i didn't try and second guess it once. The twists and turns just kept coming making the book hard to put down. You can't help but put yourself in Louise's shoes and how we all hate the thought of school reunions. Louise had every reason to not want to go to hers though!!!!

Not a bad read, but I did find myself losing interest towards the end.

An easy read, rather slow moving, with a surprising twist in it's tail.

I enjoyed this novel very much and read it quickly because it was so good! It is contemporary and well-written and I would recommend it to friends. I like the way the author uses social media to make Louise feel more and more under threat. I didn't see the big twist coming and thought it was clever. Readers will relate to Louise and understand her feelings of disquiet about her school days and her part in the unhappiness of another girl. This is a well-written, entertaining and assured read, much enjoyed by me!

When Louise receives a Facebook 'friend request' from former school friend Maria, it stops her world in its tracks, because Maria died 25 years ago!

The story is told in dual timelines and flips between 1989 and 2016. Maria transfers to Louise's school in the senior years, and initially Louise finds her a refreshing change. The girls Louise normally hangs out with are pretty and popular but are also mean minded and cruel. There are rumours surrounding Maria's transfer to her new school, and of course Louise's friends are happy to exaggerate, and elaborate on these rumours. Eventually, Louise begins to feel isolated from her friends and turns her back on Maria in a particularly cruel manner.

Fast forward to 2016, and Louise is divorced with a 4 year old son Henry. She's having a tough time after her divorce and now the 'friend request' threatens to unearth a 25 year old secret, that could change her life, along with the friends who also share that secret.

As storyline's go, this is really current, and I found that it worked rather well. The psychological fear to be contacted out of the blue by someone who died years ago is truly chilling. If I have any reservations at all it's the fact that I didn't connect with any of the characters. But the storyline did keep me interested right the way through.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for my ARC in exchange for an honest review*

This book captures the teenage years so well - and as adult looking back on their school days with a combination of wistfulness and regret.

Did you ever wonder what happened to all those people you were at school with? Would you go to the school reunion?

Friend Request is full of suspense, angst and intrigue. There's so much to this story that it really makes you think. Elements of it could be far fetched but so much so that they really could have happened.

Really enjoyed this - a pacy thriller 5*

Absolutely loved this book, it's packed with twists and turns all the way through. How could a simple friend request on social media cause so much upset? Surely it's just a simple story of someone trying to reconnect with a friend from the past. Not so simple when the request comes from someone who died years ago and you were responsible for their death.
A page turner that will keep you reading late into the night

Although the premise was interesting, intriguing and current (I mean, you don't get much more 'now' than Social Media these days), this novel was a little bit of a slow burner, which is great for some people, but for the rather more impatient (like myself) it started off a little tediously. That being said, I did enjoy it and the twists and turns did peak my interest. I was especially horrified at the reveal and felt like the ending answered all of the questions I'd been asking throughout the novel. Overall an enjoyable thrill ride, but not one of the best I've read recently. 3.5 stars out of 5 from me!

I thought this was a good idea for a book - who amongst us hasn't received a friend request from someone we'd rather not connect with? But the fact that Maria - the friend in question - has been dead for many years gives this story a unique spin. It kept me intrigued and I didn't guess who was behind it until right at the end. It was a good story, and one that I'd recommend to people who enjoy an easy thriller, but I thought that the characters were a little one dimensional and so I didn't care for them as much as I would have liked to.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. A real suspense thriller that will keep you guessing til the end

The title of this book drew me to it because of the trend in social media and the 'friend request' idea. It is an odd feeling when someone from you past sends a request, but in this case the request is from a dead girl.

The search to find out how or why this request was received leads Louise to a School Friends Reunion which has been planned. She visits one of her school friends prior to the Reunion even though they haven't had any contact for years. Throughout her search for the reason why she had been sent a Friend Request from the late Maria Weston leads her into some dark places and more questions than answers. Who can she trust?

A 5* read.

Louise has lived with a terrible secret since her school leaver's party twenty five years ago. A girl disappeared and nobody knows what happened to her.
She is shocked therefore to receive a Facebook friend request from the missing girl.
I read this book in two days, it's a story for our time with social media dominating the way we live our lives.
I liked Louise even though she was less than perfect as a teenager. She made some bad choices as far as making friends was concerned but the guilt that she has suffered since leaving school has more than made up for the schoolgirl errors she made as a teenager.
When someone organises a school reunion events take a sinister turn.
A great read for lovers of psychological thrillers.