Friend Request by Laura Marshall

Friend Request by Laura Marshall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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. However, when Louise gets a friend request on Facebook from Maria Weston her heart nearly stops as the past comes flooding back into her life and the memories that have haunted her for years are brought back to the surface.

Around twenty five years before Maria had disappeared one night and with a search turning up nothing it was assumed that she had died but the body was never found. Due to peer pressure Louise has blamed herself believing all these years that it was her fault that Maria had died that night…. but had she really? Is there a chance that Maria is really alive? Either way it’s now time for Louise to face the past that has haunted her since high school.

Just seeing the title of this book I knew that I needed to check it out seeing how today’s society is so focused on social media so I figured it would bring that creepy edge to it. I’m happy to say my instinct was correct as far as the use of social media in the story. Louise is like most people these days with being concerned with her Facebook and the friends she has and basically socializing through a computer instead of face to face.

Now the story in here takes a reader back and forth from the present time and the past high school days for Lousie. Adult Louise is dealing with what it means to have a dead girl that she felt responsible for popping back up in her life. Then the flashing back to the high school days shows the reader just what had happened to Maria that night to make Louise live her life full of guilt. I’m not even sure which side of the story had me more engrossed as they both certainly kept the pages turning looking for answers.

As for the ending to this one, I thought the author did a great job keeping it a believable outcome overall while adding in a few extra little twists to the story. Definitely one that I think most fans of thriller will enjoy quite a bit.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.