The Favour: The gripping new thriller from an author 'at the top of British psychological suspense writing' (Observer)

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By the mid-nineties Sean had had two novels published, The Imaginary Monkey and The Dreamer of Dreams, as well as numerous non-fiction books, including biographies of Jane Fonda and Brigitte Bardot. The premise of The Favour immediately drew me in and intrigued me. Just what was Liam up to? What did he want? Unlike Jude - oblivious, indebted and confident - I was a little less trusting and I soon began to detect a few red flags. But still I didn't know why Liam had asked Jude to do this favour. It was like an itch I couldn't scratch. It consumed me. I had to know. This is my first book from best selling British authors Nicci French (Nicci Gerard and Sean French). I enjoyed the writing and The Favor started out with a bang - literally a car crash involving four teens and with the driver Liam under the influence suffering much of the blame and affecting the course of his life. Jude in the other hand became a successful doctor, and soon to be married. Eleven years later, Liam appears at the hospital asking Jude for a favor. Given their history Jude really feels she owes Liam at least this favor that is simple enough and involves no illegal activity. Except things didn’t work out as planned and Liam is dead, and now Jude is in the middle of a murder investigation.

BRINGING DANGER CLOSE TO HOME . . . THE GRIPPING NEW THRILLER FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR NICCI FRENCH, shortlisted for the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards for Best International Crime Fiction​

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Het moment dat Jude op hem staat te wachten in Norfolk en Liam niet op komt dagen vond ik best spannend. Is er misschien iets met hem gebeurd of heeft hij zijn trein gemist? Dr. Jude Winter hasn’t seen her high school boyfriend in over a decade, since that one heady summer night when a car crash changed everything. She’s never forgotten her first love, and when he suddenly reappears after all these years asking for a favor, she finds herself not only saying yes but also lying about it to her fiancé. When Liam is murdered, Jude finds herself in a tangled web that seems to pull more tightly around her at every turn. Since Nicci French’s engrossing Frieda Klein series, I’ve found their standalone novels a little more unpredictable quality-wise. ‘The Favour’ begins promisingly. Junior doctor Jude is on the cusp of marriage; after a night shift she finds that Liam, her ‘bad boy’ first boyfriend, whom she hasn’t seen since she left school, is waiting for her to ask a favour – and a very strange favour it is too. Jude accepts and, from then on, her predictable safe life becomes anything but.

As Jude gets herself more and more enmeshed in what was Liam’s bohemian life, do her choices stretch the bounds of credibility? Most decidedly. But, a bit like a train crash, it’s hard to look away. In 1995 Nicci and Sean began work on their first joint novel and adopted the pseudonym of Nicci French. The Memory Game was published to great acclaim in 1997 followed by The Safe House (1998), Killing Me Softly (1999), Beneath the Skin (2000), The Red Room (2001), Land of the Living (2002), Secret Smile (2003), Catch Me When I Fall (2005), Losing You (2006) and Until It's Over (2008). Their latest novel together is What To Do When Someone Dies (2009). I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and William Morrow and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased. In this twisty new stand-alone novel from internationally bestselling author Nicci French, a young woman agrees to do a favor for an estranged former boyfriend—but when things go horribly wrong, one small task turns into a murder investigation that completely upends her life, ensnaring her in a deadly web of secrets and lies. It's been eleven years since they last saw each other but Liam has come to ask a favor and Jude agrees, how could she not? Part of this favor has her lying to her fiancé so she can travel for hours to a cottage to await Liam's arrival and this is when and where he'll explain more.Doordat het begin zo goed was had ik misschien ook te hoge verwachtingen voor het verdere verloop. Helaas kwam dit dus niet helemaal uit. Wel is de schrijfstijl weer super prettig! Leila later tells Jude that she’s already performed the favour, in the form of providing Liam with an alibi, using his car, his credit card, taking his phone to Norfolk. But for what had Liam needed an alibi? That is a mystery. Liam’s murder would have looked like a mugging, except for Jude’s involvement. I don't expect this to be a very popular read because it's marketed as a thriller, when it isn't. Like Good Husbands by Cate Ray, readers may be disappointed by the "false advertisement" of sorts. I enjoy a character-driven story, so having to 'adapt" to the content wasn't a negative for me. An enjoyable yet melancholy, poignant tale. Jude’s intention to go home to Nat and say nothing is scuppered when someone leaks her role in this strange crime to the press. Her fiancé is even less convinced than DI Fox, and suddenly, that one decision turns her life upside down. And if Jude thinks that’s the worst that can happen, she’s got another think coming…

Turns out shortly before his murder he chose Jude as the executor of his will which has everyone baffled including Jude herself. He also left her his favorite bowl. Yup, a bowl, and his girlfriend is not too pleased about this because she loves that bowl. 🥣 = 😡 BRINGING DANGER CLOSE TO HOME . . . THE GRIPPING NEW THRILLER FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR NICCI FRENCH, shortlisted for the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards for Best International Crime Fiction In 1989 she became acting literary editor at the New Statesman, before moving to the Observer, where she was deputy literary editor for five years, and then a feature writer and executive editor.I always seem to have an unpopular opinion, but this time it's because I seemed to enjoy the book more than the other reviewers. I consumed The Favour in two sittings, fascinated by the ambivalence of many of the characters, Liam's housemates in particular. They are a colourful and unconventional bunch but perhaps not quite as unconventional as they believe themselves to be. That said, THE FAVOUR unfortunately turned out to be one of my least favourite books by the author team, partly because believing the main character’s actions and motivations stretched my ability to suspend disbelief way past its limits. Maybe it would have worked better for me had Jude not been a doctor. How did this indecisive, insecure and naïve person ever get through medical school? Medicine is a science, it’s about trouble shooting and problem solving, and it involves logical thought processes. But here is Jude, bumbling her way from one disaster into the next and making one terrible decision after another. I think the only way I could have believed Jude’s actions would have been either a) if there was an implicit threat to Jude if she didn’t agree to the “favour”; or b) if Jude was a totally different personality type (i.e. an arty / spiritual person believing in karma or a person undergoing a deep personal crisis such as substance addiction / bereavement etc). The detective in charge was a hot mess too. She spoke and acted like no other detective ever and I'm a little surprised she carries a badge at all.