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Friend Request: The most addictive psychological thriller you'll read this year

£9.9£99Clearance
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For me Facebook is a way of connecting with people with whom I'd otherwise wouldn't be able to keep in touch, like some of my school mates, or friends who live abroad. Probably this is just my own limited empathetic skills preventing me from being able to fully appreciate the fear engendered by this contact from a girl believed dead so long ago, but it took me about half way through the book to appreciate that her paranoia had some grounds, and it wasn’t til the ending that I understood her and completely appreciated her fear. Maria’s sudden reemergence threatens it all, and forces Louise to reconnect with everyone she’d severed ties with to get away from the past.

Memories come flooding to the surface of dark secrets kept; the night that would change all their lives forever. So whilst the title might not inspire much confidence Friend Request is an undoubtedly superior debut psychological thriller effort that taps into the insecurities of our teenage school days that we are often loathe to revisit. And although there was no social media when Louise and her friends were tormenting Maria, this is the means someone has chosen to let her and her friends know that their actions have not been forgotten, and that there will be repercussions.This was a great way to draw me in and had me constantly wondering and changing my mind as to what was going on. And it definitely explorers the affects high school have on people long after they have left, whether it’s good or bad. And now, with the proliferation of people living out their lives in the public arena, it has become almost impossible to hide. A little unsatiated with how everything ended, it seemed things were even left a bit unresolved, unfortunately. I don’t even know if there is such a thing as the truth when it comes to relationships, or only versions of it, shaped by love and fear and the way we lie to ourselves and others.

What makes this one so suspenseful is not only the way it is written, but the steady pace, and how things keep changing as you read. Whilst Louise’s narrative is far from upbeat it does evidence clearly just how much she has already suffered and the effect that night has had on her life. Maybe that was the problem all along; Maria Weston wanted to be friends with me, but I let her down.Actually, I wasn't too happy with the way "grand finale" was resolved, so easily and kind of unlikely.

She's spineless, insecure, self-centered, cowardly, and horribly flawed, and yet, because it's narrated in first person, we get to see all of the mental gymnastics she performs to try to make herself out as the good person, even when she's doing terrible things. Louise Williams has spent most of her adult life trying to forget the past and make up for the mistakes she made while in high school. becomes more and more paranoid, afraid of a person who's standing behind Maria's profile and secrets that could come out.

Nicki came up with such an excellent ending about Maria that I was so sure she had got it right because it would have been amazing! Outside the French doors, my tiny courtyard garden is wearing its bleak late-autumn clothes, paving stones slick with the earlier freezing rain. So imagine my surprise when this book revealed itself to me as a grounded, smart, nail-biting thriller with a powerfully dark conclusion. I move over and open one of the French windows, feeling the need for fresh air but an icy blast slams it shut again. To keep her secret, Louise must first uncover the whole truth, before what's known to Maria-or whoever is pretending to be her-is known to all.

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