The Request

Dollycas’s Thoughts

You just need to look at Ryan Francis’ social media posts to know he is happy. A new baby, a loving wife, and a great job. Then his friend Blake makes a request. A request that could cost him everything so at first, he refuses. Then Blake threatens to make public a deep, dark, secret he and Ryan vowed to keep forever. Blake keeps pushing until Ryan finally accepts his request.

Blake wants Ryan to break into a woman’s house to remove some things that would prove Blake was having an affair. Instead, he finds the lady of the house dead on the floor and realizes that he knows her. When he instantly receives a Facebook friend request from the woman he freaks out. Did Blake set him up? He hears the sirens and knows he has to get out of the house, find Blake, and find out what the hell is going on.

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Secrets, blackmail, murder, The Request has them all and more.

Bell continues to create interesting characters, those we root for, instigators we grow to hate, and a few that keep us on the fence until all the twists and secrets are revealed.

David Bell has penned a compelling mystery where he turns the lives of people who could be your next-door neighbors inside out. The past comes back to bite in unexpected ways. The pace is fluid as it picks up with almost every turn of the page.

I anxiously await each new title from David Bell and this one was sure worth the wait. I was unsure where he was going to take these characters when I started reading. I thought “the request” was a little strange but Mr. Bell quickly drew me in with the first twist and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. The ending was amazing! I never saw it coming. I was totally entertained the entire way.

I read an early copy of this page-turner. Twists and turns and red-herrings galore! Thriller fans should definitely pick this one up when it comes out in June!

Another great read by David Bell! Fast paced with some twists thrown in to keep the reader guessing!

Ryan and Amanda seem to have the perfect life. Ryan is always posting on social media about his family and his business. He b lives to see how many likes he receives. However, Ryan has a secret. He is afraid to tell Amanda, because he believes it would destroy her.
Ryan’s college friend, Blake, knows Ryan’s secret and uses it to make a special request. Blake and Samantha will be married in a few days, and he needs something done before that happens.
Lots and lots of secrets in this book, and the author keeps throwing misdirection into the mix. But I had it figured out about 40-50% through the novel.
Moral- don’t keep secrets and don’t post your life on social media!
#TheRequest #DavidBell

I found this a well-written book that provided a good story. The problem was that I couldn’t work up any enthusiasm or sympathy for any of the characters. I didn’t care about any of them, but I had no problem believing that any one of them could have committed murder. They’re all screwed up and weak, not a backbone among them. It could have been a smashing book if the characters were more believable.

I had figured out who the culprit was by halfway through the book. There were a few twists here and there, but nothing that kept me riveted and turning pages. I thought the ending was lame. While it does tie up all the loose ends, it really didn’t answer the question of why . . . at least for me.

Takeaways from this book include that what you do in your college years can come back to haunt you later in life. It also shows young adult drinking as a real problem; which I agree with, and that you need to understand who your friends really are.

Not the best mystery I ever read, but not a bad one.

I won an ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I thank all involved for their generosity in offering this book, but it had no effect on this review.

Bestselling author David Bell creates characters who are ordinary people suddenly thrust into situations that spiral, In The Request, Ryan Francis is that ordinary guy. On the surface, his life is stable and happy, and he enjoys sharing the details on social media. To outside observers, it appears that Ryan has an idyllic family life and prosperous career — but they have no idea, of course, that he has harbored a horrible secret for many years. Even his wife, Amanda, does not know about his past.

Ryan has spent years quietly trying to atone for a past mistake by making cash gifts anonymously to the family he harmed. Six weeks ago, the local newspaper ran a story about the family’s unidentified benefactor, a presumed Good Samaritan who left money in their mailbox from time to time that they used to purchase medical and home supplies. But one morning, Ryan got caught by the family’s oldest daughter. Now she is demanding a cut of Ryan’s donations. Although she doesn’t know the extent of Ryan’s involvement in the incident that took the life of one of her sisters and permanently injured another, she has figured out that Ryan is motivated by guilt. And she threatens to go to the policy and reveal her suspicions if Ryan does not pay her.

Ryan’s best friend from college, Blake, is the only person who knows the whole truth about what happened on that fateful night when they were college upperclassmen. Well, other than Aaron Knicely, the awkward kid who was with them that night. But neither of them have had any contact with Aaron since then. As the story opens, Ryan hasn’t seen Blake for many months, either. But Blake suddenly resurfaces and threatens to destroy the life that Ryan has built and the family he loves if Ryan doesn’t agree to sneak into the home of Jennifer Bates, the woman with whom Blake had an affair, and retrieve the letters Blake wrote her in which he confessed the truth. And she is refusing to return the letters. Blake threatens that if Ryan doesn’t do what he is asking, everyone will learn the one thing Ryan doesn’t want anyone to know.

So Blake’s demand is the situation Bell employs to send Ryan’s life spiraling out of control. The Request is a fast-paced, engrossing mystery. With everything he values on the line, Ryan has no choice but to accede to Blake’s demand, but when he sneaks into Jen’s house, he finds her bedroom has been ransacked, the letters are gone, and she is dead. In addition to dealing with his blackmailer, Ryan must find out who killed Jen. Was it Blake? Did he set Ryan up to take the rap for her murder? Or someone else? And if it was someone else, do they have the letters and what do they plan to do with them?

The Request is populated with morally ambiguous characters. Ryan failed to do the right thing years ago. Rather, he moved on with his life. But he has never been free — he has spent years being weighed down by guilt and trying to make amends in the only manner he found feasible. Because of Amanda’s own family history, Ryan is certain that neither she nor her parents could ever forgive him for what he did. And he has his infant son, Henry, to consider. He wants to see Henry grow up and be the father to him that he never had. All of those considerations factor into Ryan’s struggle. Each time he is tempted to let the truth surface and accept the inevitable consequences, he knows that he must forge ahead in an effort to find the murderer, pacify his blackmailer, and keep the past hidden.

In Bell’s tautly-crafted story, several characters become suspects as their motivations are revealed. Especially Blake, whose drinking problem has wreaked havoc in his life over the years and interfered with his ability to establish a stable relationship with Sam. Amanda, still on leave from her job after giving birth to Henry, is frightened and confused by Ryan’s behavior and the threats to her family she perceives. She takes refuge with her parents, who are protective and supportive. And Sam has wanted to marry Blake for years. They have broken up numerous times, but she insists that he has his drinking under control this time and is determined to proceed with the wedding.

As Ryan gets closer to learning the truth, Bell ramps up the story’s pace and tension as Ryan frantically moves from his own home to his in-laws’ and back again, looking for clues. His blackmailer intensifies her demands, Blake goes missing, and the police are closing in. After several shocking revelations and plot developments, Bell delivers a jaw-dropping conclusion.

The Request is an exploration of friendship and what happens when it is put to the test, manipulated, and exploited. Friendship offers Bell’s characters the opportunity to be morally courageous at several junctures, and he explores the choices his characters make, their reasoning, and the resultant consequences with insight and compassion. Bell’s writing evinces his affection for and unwillingness to judge his characters, especially as they make matters worse for themselves and those they love. Rather, he leaves that to his readers.

Through various inventive and effective plot developments, Bell injects wry observations about social media and its potentially far-reaching ramifications. No one knows what really goes on behind the facade of the perfect Instagram filter. Indeed, in the case of his characters in The Request, that proves to be true, particularly with respect to Ryan, who seeks the validation from his Instagram followers that he can’t give himself because of his guilt and shame.

David Bell demonstrates again that he is a masterful storyteller. The Request is an entertaining, compelling story about, as Bell promises, ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances and an intriguing look at how they respond. It is one of 2020’s best thrillers.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.

Ooooh, this was a tangy little tale.

What happens when your perfect life gets rear ended by a “frenemy” who asks you to do him a favor? And what if your life isn’t really so perfect and said favor flings the closet door of your life open and there are skeletons everywhere?

Blake asks his friend Ryan to run over to his side piece’s apartment and grab some documentation that implicates both of them in some pretty serious past shenanigans. When Ryan gets there the above mentioned side piece is croaked and the docs are gone.

Mayhem ensues but it’s delicious, twisty and a very fun ride.

I love David Bell’s writing, timing, observations and endings.

This isn’t one to miss, my friends!

What would you do to save your perfect family?

Ryan lives with his family in the small town of Rossingville, Kentucky. He loves his wife and baby son. So when he is approached by an old college friend to sneak into a woman’s house and steal some papers, he rightfully refuses. But then this “friend” makes it impossible to refuse. He threatens to implode Ryan’s perfect life.

Ryan does sneak into the house and when he finds the woman dead, he is furious about being set up.

“Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” – Sir Walter Scott

What a mess Ryan finds himself in after he has lied about a terrible event that happened in college. And he just keeps digging himself deeper and deeper into trouble as this story progresses. This was really a tangled web of deceit from the beginning for all the parties involved.

This was quite a convoluted storyline that I usually wouldn’t have liked and might not have finished but Ryan was such a hot mess that I found myself rooting for him.

I did figure out part of the story almost from the beginning but there were still surprises in store for me by the end.

I guess this was kind of a “guilty pleasure” book for me but I did end up enjoying it (even with the very obvious message against social media pervasiveness).

I received this book from Berkley Publishing through Edelweiss in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Talk about taking the reader on a twisted, curvy, upside down, and right side up ride. David Bell is the master of writing this way, but this book is his best at it so far. I had no clue; I could not even guess. Well I did guess, but I knew right away that I was wrong. The Request is a book that is guaranteed to keep you guessing from the beginning to the end.
How do you go about not helping a friend who was there for you when your dad died, when you got married, and throughout other important events in your life? You cannot. That is what Ryan decides and what a decision that is. He had no clue all that his friend, Blake, was up to. I got to the point that I was not sure if Blake would ever come clean with all that was happening in his life and how all of those happenings would affect Ryan and the others around him.

The Request is a book that even when finished will stay with you. While reading, I kept thinking about what I had read and trying to put it all together to figure out what would be happening next. Now that I am finished, I keep thinking about it.

I have already discussed it with my book friends that they have to read this book, that I need to know if they figured it all out easier than I did. If you love a good mystery, a good who-dun-it, and a good story with twists and turns or turns and twists The Request is a book that you have to read.

I liked this book a lot, but I didn’t love it because the characters were more annoying than they were likable. Okay, so Blake coerced Ryan into breaking and entering. I had a problem with that picture because I was really into Ryan telling Blake “not gonna happen.” But, because of a past incident that could upend Ryan’s life if it were known, Ryan follows through, discovers the occupant of the home dead and then proceeds to try to finagle his way out of trouble by lying to various and sundry people, including his wife and the police. The premise of the book is a good one and I think that author did a great job of coming up with an original and imaginative story line. However, there were parts of the book that just fell flat for me, so I wanted to just skip to the end. I persevered with my reading and enjoyed getting to know how social media can be so deceptive and dangerous and how Ryan’s portrayal of his life was nothing like what he was hiding. I felt bad for Ryan’s wife because she suspected a lot but knew very little. So much for honesty with your spouse! Ryan sets out to solve the murder by himself so that he can prove himself innocent and in so doing makes a lot of trouble for himself along the way. And Blake was the man that no one wants to have for a friend, much less a fiancé since he was a womanizer who lied about everything, and besides, he got Ryan into this mess to begin with. Like I said, I liked the book, but I didn’t love it. It was a mystery/suspense/kind of police procedural that was entertaining but I didn’t find it totally engrossing.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”