Title: The Request
Author: David Bell
Published: June 2020, Berkley Books
Format: ARC Paperback, 416 pages
Source: Publisher via GetRed PR
Summary:
When a man agrees to
do a favor for a friend, he gets more than he bargained for as he
becomes embroiled in a woman’s murder in this new thriller from the USA Today bestselling author of Layover.
Ryan Francis has it all–great job, wonderful wife, beautiful
child–and he loves posting photos of his perfect life on social media.
Until the night his friend Blake asks him to break into a woman’s home
to retrieve incriminating items that implicate Blake in an affair. Ryan
refuses to help, but when Blake threatens to reveal Ryan’s darkest
secret–which could jeopardize everything in Ryan’s life–Ryan has no
choice but to honor Blake’s request.
When he arrives at the
woman’s home, Ryan is shocked to find her dead–and just as shocked to
realize he knows her. Then his phone chimes, revealing a Facebook friend
request from the woman. With police sirens rapidly approaching, Ryan
flees, wondering why his friend was setting him up for murder.
Determined
to keep his life intact and to clear his name, Ryan must find the real
murderer–but solving the crime may lead him closer to home than he ever
could have imagined.
My thoughts: I
am a huge fan of David Bell and his writing. I find that he writes such
addicting, thrilling novels, ones that totally consume me from start to
finish and I have a hard time putting down and this latest one is no exception.
This story is full of twists and turns and I love how David Bell uses social media to show how our past is only a click or two away. Do our secrets ever really stay buried in the past? If Ryan wants his secrets to stay hidden, he will do whatever it takes to keep it that way, even if it means doing a friend a favor, a friend he hasn’t necessarily seen in quite a while.
What happens from there is quite a ride and with the short chapters and a fast pace, this book will have you flipping those pages trying to figure out just what is going on. While the characters are not all completely likeable and they often make some questionable choices, I found myself quite hooked by what was going on, plus who doesn’t love a good blackmail story? I needed to see how everything would be resolved and ended up really enjoying this one. David Bell’s writing is so addicting and I just can’t walk away! I’ve read almost all his books and look forward to his new one each year!
