FRIEND REQUEST

Review published on June 6, 2017.

I was intrigued by this book’s title and tag line “Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook but Maria has been dead for twenty-five years hasn’t she?”. I saw that and immediately wanted to read this book, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed this was an excellent psychological thriller that I couldn’t put down.

This theme for a book is so relevant to today’s society when almost everyone and anybody is on social media, particularly Facebook, considering we all live out our lives virtually these days – what would you do if you received a friend request from a dead person? The whole Facebook thing was interesting and relevant to today’s society in that so many people add friends to Facebook without actually thinking who they are or do they actually know them and do people really know who they are talking to or if they are who they say they are? Many people have a Facebook account, but to get a friend request from someone who you thought was long dead must have been very scary and is something that could happen in reality.

The book starts when Louise receives a friend request on Facebook from Marie Weston, a girl from her past who has been dead for 25 years … or hasn’t she? Louise is haunted by and has felt guilty ever since Marie died for the bullying and unpleasantness that she put her through all those years ago in high school. The story alternated between present day and Louise’s school days.

This multi-layered, multi-themed story is told from Louise’s point of view and it flips back and forth between the present day and Louise and her friends school days back in 1989. I enjoyed the mystery and intrigue of the present day chapters a lot more than the slow build up to what happened on the night of the leavers’ party during the chapters set in 1989.The characters in both time frames were well developed and realistic, and none of them seemed very trustworthy, which kept you on the edge of your seat as to what had actually happened on that night. There was a number of intense, edge of the seat moments in the present day chapters and the final reveal of what happened to Maria was truly chilling and shocking.

There were many twists and turns throughout the book and the tension mounted with every page.

I really don’t want to say too much more about this book as don’t want to give spoilers away, but if you love psychological thrillers you will love this.