My Review:
Friend Request is a term most of us will take for granted, you use Social Media you connect with people you know and sometmes you get a friend request from someone you haven't seen in a while. It's happened to me ....
Usually it's a pleasant surprise ....
But not for single Mum Louise Williams it isn't!
The friend request she receives is a bit of a shock - it's from her old classmate Maria Weston. She hasn't heard a thing from Maria since leaving school, unsurprisingly, because Maria died, 25 years ago, didn't she?
Louise can't resist having a little peek at her profile though, because Maria has never strayed very far from Louise's thoughts. Not when she was married to Sam who subsequently left her for another woman, even throughout her struggle to conceive her only child Henry, now 4 years old and the centre of Louise's universe, Maria was there in her deepest thoughts and fears.
Because Maria disappeared the night of the leavers ball at High School and Louise was one of the last people to speak to her.
Louise's school days weren't the happiest, they were filled with trying to fit in, making an effort to be accepted and make friends and impress the people she wanted to be seen with and amidst the bullying and, lies, the duplicity and drugtaking she managed to create her own little niche.
Now she is older, she has made a successful business and she's a good Mum. But following the friend request, nothing's ever going to be quite the same again. Sinister messages and veiled threats begin to haunt her and secrets she has kept buried for years emerge to haunt and taunt her and she gets reluctantly drawn back into a circle of acquaintances she'd hoped were firmly behind her, which isn't great for Louise but makes for tense and gripping reading.
The tension cranks up, its a very fast paced book with lots of dark deeds just waiting to burst forth. The big mystery is - Could Maria still possibly be alive? and if not just who is posting messages and why?
This exciting and mystery filled who-dunnit thriller is deserving of the description "grip-lit" I ripped through it in no time because I just kept wanting to know if the secret Louise has been concealing is in fact as bad as she feels it to have been or has she allowed it to build up out of all proportion and dominate her inner peace? You'll have to read it to find out, there are some very clever twists and red herrings along with some rather dark and unpleasant characters. Even the main protagonist with her dark secrets and distinct flaws, makes it hard to sympathise fully with her.
This novel grabs you and keeps you held tightly in its grip throughout and its very relevant to todays reader, though the dual storylines of "then and now" create appeal for a wider audience than purely the Facebook generation.
A brilliant read I feel will appeal to fans of Ruth Ware and Julia Crouch.
The blurb
MARIA WESTON WANTS TO BE FRIENDS. BUT MARIA WESTON'S DEAD. ISN'T SHE?
1989. When Louise first notices the new girl who has mysteriously transferred late into their senior year, Maria seems to be everything the girls Louise hangs out with aren't. Authentic. Funny. Brash. Within just a few days, Maria and Louise are on their way to becoming fast friends.
2016. Louise receives a heart-stopping email: Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook. Long-buried memories quickly rise to the surface: those first days of their budding friendship; cruel decisions made and dark secrets kept; the night that would change all their lives forever.
Louise has always known that if the truth ever came out, she could stand to lose everything. Her job. Her son. Her freedom. Maria's sudden reappearance threatens it all, and forces Louise to reconnect with everyone she'd severed ties with to escape the past. But as she tries to piece together exactly what happened that night, Louise discovers there's more to the story than she ever knew. To keep her secret, Louise must first uncover the whole truth, before what's known to Maria--or whoever's pretending to be her--is known to all.
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