Friend Request

July 31, 2017
At the start of British author Marshall’s suspenseful if heavy-handed first novel, recently divorced London single mom Louise Williams receives a startling friend request from Maria Weston, a high school classmate who disappeared on the night of their graduation party more than 25 years earlier, and was presumed drowned. Unfortunately, the emotionally vulnerable interior decorator can’t simply ignore Maria’s Facebook overture—which is followed by an invitation to a class reunion in their hometown of Sharne Bay, Norfolk, and a series of increasingly alarming messages—because of guilt over the part she believes she played in the tragedy, and fear that someone is finally about to make her pay. Raising the stakes is Henry, her young son with ex Sam Parker, another high school classmate (and about the only person who shares her guilty secrets). Marshall leaps skillfully back and forth between past and present, but her inexperience shows in hamfisted manipulation of characters to serve the plot, as well as transparent attempts at misdirection. Agent: Felicity Blunt, Curtis Brown (U.K.).

July 15, 2017
A Facebook message dredges up painful secrets from a woman's past, one that she's spent decades suppressing.London freelance interior designer Louise Williams works hard to maintain the life she's built for herself and her 4-year-old son, Henry. Sure, she doesn't have many friends and still wishes her ex-husband, Sam, hadn't left her for another woman. But she's still safe from her past deeds, which Marshall parcels out to the reader in dribs and drabs through halting flashbacks to Louise's high school years at Sharne Bay in Norwich. Semipopular by association, the younger Louise stayed on the fringes, loosely tethered to the cool girls by her friendship with sleek Sophie Hannigan. When new girl Maria Weston arrives, Louise thinks the two could be friends. But nasty rumors follow Maria, making her undesirable to the popular clique, so much so that she's shunned to the point of bullying. Then, on the night of an end-of-year party, things go too far and Maria disappears, presumed dead. Louise takes this tragedy with her as she does everything possible to distance herself from Sharne Bay...until an unexpected Facebook friend request pops up, from Maria Weston. The virtual reappearance of Maria sends Louise into a tailspin as she tries to see if anyone else from Sharne Bay has been contacted. With a high school reunion coming up, Louise debates whether it's worth attending and confronting her past head-on, as the messages from Maria become more threatening. The unveiling of Maria's fate and the person or persons responsible is not much of a revelation given Marshall's unfortunate habit of telegraphing plot twists. This debut suffers from a few too many cliches but contains important truths about the effects of peer pressure and bullying.

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August 1, 2017
Louise's darkest secrets threaten to surface when she receives a Facebook friend request from an old schoolmate, Maria Weston. In school, their brief friendship imploded after Louise helped her popular friend Sophie target Maria in a ruthless bullying campaign. Maria disappeared the night of the senior-class party, and although her body wasn't found, it's been assumed that she jumped from the cliff behind their school. For decades, Louise has been terrified that her role in Maria's disappearance would be discovered, and now a person claiming to be Maria is stalking her, bent on retribution. Could Maria have somehow survived? Or is she being terrorized by her ex, Sam, who knows Louise's secret. When Louise's friend Sophie is murdered, Louise recognizes that she is in danger several different ways. A strong thriller debut featuring a compelling protagonist whose self-discovery and mounting paranoia create gripping suspense.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)