Friend Request
By Laura Marshall
Friend Request has been kicking around on my Kindle for a little over two years. Yep, TWO WHOLE YEARS! With mixed reviews I'd not been in any great hurry to read it. However, I was very pleasantly surprised and I really enjoyed it. In fact I wish I'd read it ages ago!
When Louise Williams receives a Facebook friend request from Maria Weston she's filled with dread — Maria disappeared 25 years ago on the night of the school leavers' party and is presumed dead. But if by some miracle she IS alive, why choose now to get back in touch? Louise is terrified someone has discovered her secret and wants to even the score. Could it really be Maria?
Although the plot is a little far-fetched, I found it suspenseful and gripping. With dual timelines alternating between the present day and 1989, events leading up to Maria's disappearance gradually unfold. The twists and turns are executed extremely well — some I figured out and others I didn't — but I certainly didn't guess the ending. It was really good and totally satisfying.
Book Source: Purchased copy
Publisher: Sphere; 01 edition (11th Jan 2018)
When Louise Williams receives a message from someone left long in the past, her heart nearly stops.
Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook.
Maria Weston has been missing for over twenty-five 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 with a terrible secret.
As Maria's messages start to escalate, Louise forces herself to reconnect with the old friends she once tried so hard to impress. Trying to piece together exactly what happened that night, she soon discovers there's much she didn't know. The only certainty is that Maria Weston disappeared that night, never to be heard from again – until now...
Laura Marshall grew up in Wiltshire and studied English at the University of Sussex.
After almost twenty years working in conference production, in 2015 Laura decided it was time to fulfil a lifetime's ambition to write a novel, and enrolled on the Curtis Brown Creative three month novel writing course.
In 2016, her first novel, Friend Request, was runner up in the Bath Novel Award and shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize. It was published by Little, Brown in the UK in July 2017, selling over half a million copies in the UK to date and becoming a Sunday Times top ten bestseller in paperback, and kindle number one bestseller. Friend Request has sold in a further twenty territories around the world including the USA, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
Laura's second novel, Three Little Lies, was released on 28th June 2018.
Laura lives with her family in Kent.