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The Friend Request: A Novel by Alex Ford
Alex Ford’s Dark Comedy. Have you accepted a 'friend request' when you should have clicked ignore? Do you really know all the people listed as 'friends' on your Facebook page? What if somebody from your past assumed the identity of someone from your present, so they could get close to you? What if they wanted to get close to you, just to hurt you - again.
David Andrews’ life is going well. With an imminent promotion at work he’s content in his job. His girlfriend is gorgeous and looking at the amount of friends on his Facebook page he’s very popular too. So, when he sees a friend request from a Barry Taylor, he doesn’t understand why it makes him so nervous, he’s not sure he even recognises the name.
Eventually he forgets all about it, until the day he is forced to remember a past that was erased from his memory by a terrible accident. Little does he realise that all the information on his Facebook page might make him a little too vulnerable, especially to a sociopath like Barry Taylor, who is intent on destroying David’s life – for a second time. This leads David, with a little help from his friendly shopkeeper, on a journey of revenge and self-discovery
David Andrews’ life is going well. With an imminent promotion at work he’s content in his job. His girlfriend is gorgeous and looking at the amount of friends on his Facebook page he’s very popular too. So, when he sees a friend request from a Barry Taylor, he doesn’t understand why it makes him so nervous, he’s not sure he even recognises the name.
Eventually he forgets all about it, until the day he is forced to remember a past that was erased from his memory by a terrible accident. Little does he realise that all the information on his Facebook page might make him a little too vulnerable, especially to a sociopath like Barry Taylor, who is intent on destroying David’s life – for a second time. This leads David, with a little help from his friendly shopkeeper, on a journey of revenge and self-discovery
342 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2010
53 people are currently reading
378 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
January 6, 2012
This was a free kindle book; we'll see how it goes.
THIS BOOK IS VERY VERY BAD. ABORT MISSION. I REPEAT, ABORT MISSION.
THIS BOOK IS VERY VERY BAD. ABORT MISSION. I REPEAT, ABORT MISSION.
July 24, 2011
The Friend Request
is an interesting cautionary tale about social networking. It is currently offered for free on the Kindle page, and I am a sucker for the free books, so I downloaded it.
David Andrews is a typical nice guy, struggling with nicotine cravings and whether or not he will get the promotion he is up for at work. As our story opens, he has received a Facebook "friend request" from someone he doesn't recognize...but it is making him nervous all the same.
As the story unfolds, we find out why the name makes him uneasy...and just how dangerous Facebook can be in the wrong hands.
The story is not bad. I enjoyed it for the most part, though there are some incidents about two-thirds of the way through that begin stretching credulity to the point where I was beginning to be pulled out of the story -- hence the 3 stars. Okay, not great. I'd still recommend it for the characters, most of whom are very nicely presented. I particularly loved Julie, who seemed to be the lynch pin holding a lot of the story together. Mr. Ford is good at creating dimensional people with a minimum of description. Even Mr. Ashwar's wife, who only appears in one scene and has no dialogue, feels like a rounded character.
I did not see a reason for one of the villain's chief characteristics to be caustic flatulence. By the end of the book, I was ready to scream if we heard one more description of Tony's gas attacks. Oddly, this appears to be a trend, as the book I am reading now also makes a big deal of farts. I thought that subject was only featured in bad stand-up and teen movies...
Still, if you can overlook the flaws in this story, the rest of it is quite nice. The character relationships are worth the time it takes to read it, and I do recommend giving it a try. You can't beat the current price.
is an interesting cautionary tale about social networking. It is currently offered for free on the Kindle page, and I am a sucker for the free books, so I downloaded it.David Andrews is a typical nice guy, struggling with nicotine cravings and whether or not he will get the promotion he is up for at work. As our story opens, he has received a Facebook "friend request" from someone he doesn't recognize...but it is making him nervous all the same.
As the story unfolds, we find out why the name makes him uneasy...and just how dangerous Facebook can be in the wrong hands.
The story is not bad. I enjoyed it for the most part, though there are some incidents about two-thirds of the way through that begin stretching credulity to the point where I was beginning to be pulled out of the story -- hence the 3 stars. Okay, not great. I'd still recommend it for the characters, most of whom are very nicely presented. I particularly loved Julie, who seemed to be the lynch pin holding a lot of the story together. Mr. Ford is good at creating dimensional people with a minimum of description. Even Mr. Ashwar's wife, who only appears in one scene and has no dialogue, feels like a rounded character.
I did not see a reason for one of the villain's chief characteristics to be caustic flatulence. By the end of the book, I was ready to scream if we heard one more description of Tony's gas attacks. Oddly, this appears to be a trend, as the book I am reading now also makes a big deal of farts. I thought that subject was only featured in bad stand-up and teen movies...
Still, if you can overlook the flaws in this story, the rest of it is quite nice. The character relationships are worth the time it takes to read it, and I do recommend giving it a try. You can't beat the current price.
December 23, 2013
As an interesting story, this was great. The characters were well thought out, the plot was good, and Ford's style is typically British dark humor. I'm fairly certain this is a self-published work, and as such, it has typos. Quite a few of them. And they're not just stylistic issues. There is, the, overuse of, the, comma which is fairly distracting. Lastly, one minor plot point which is really a major flaw in the story is that David, the main character, receives a text message from his girlfriend in high school in 1992. Sorry, but no teen a) had cell phones in 1992. They were called car phones or bag phones, and b) texting didn't come about until 1994. So if you can overlook the typos, shrug off some of the plot points, and remember that this was probably written over a period between 2008 and 2010 when Facebook was new and fresh, you might enjoy it. I did. If Ford would have gotten a proofreader and taken a little more time to edit this, it would rate higher.
July 17, 2011
I finished reading The Friend Request last night. Generally well written apart from a few glaring spelling mistakes, and was a good read. Not sure if it was meant to be a thriller or a dark comedy, but I found it more a dark comedy. Huge problem I had with the plot was a text message supposedly sent between 17 yr olds in the mid 1990s. Unless the UK was technologically miles ahead of Australia, mobile phones just weren't that prevalent back then......
July 21, 2011
Somewhat interesting premise. Horribly written. Horrible characters.
October 16, 2011
A man comes back many years later to destroy the life of a former friend, who he tried to destroy as a teen, and uses Facebook as his main source of information and deception.
May 15, 2012
What does a friend request really mean to your social network? Does it mean your old friend is back, or is it somebody else? Stay tuned to your friends.
A good story.
A good story.
July 29, 2011
I get a feeling from this that the author is a proponent of online privacy and thinks that people should be more wary about what they share. Just this vague feeling...
I enjoyed this novel. It had a lot of great things going for it: the characters were all very believable, flawed yet sympathetic (well, most of them); the writing is sharp, witty and readable; the plot is interesting. There were just a few things that were meh, but I'll get to those in a bit.
David is a great character. He is written in a way that makes me like him, want to be his friend, overall convince me that's he's a fantastic person, yet he is far from perfect. Somehow, though, when he starts doing stupid things I find myself more wanting to help him calm down or whatever than being frustrated. Which is somewhat uncommon for me (I get annoyed with people/characters easily...). Mr. Ashwar is just fantastic; he's your usual guru/old wise man of sorts that a lot of stories have and he's fantastic. And so on with the other characters, since going into specifics is boring. Overall, all the characters created are full (well, the main ones, anyway) and never do anything that really doesn't make sense with their character. Which is always a strong point in favor of novels for me.
And then there's Barry. Oh my goodness. He's a piece of work. Towards the beginning, the author takes some time to give background on him as if to make him more into a sympathetic character. Yet, the background isn't enough to really feel like what he does is justified and indeed as the story continues it seems to be written more that Barry is simply sociopathic and manipulative and then the background given is only what set it off in the way that it happened. Viewed in that light (even with a different beginning, Barry would always be the antagonist - villain, even, in another genre) the author does a fine job with it. And oh my he is malicious. It's quite impressive.
The main plot is an impressive display of manipulation and subversion, yet everything that Barry does makes a lot of sense and seems obvious after the fact. While Barry did have some advantages at apparently being inherently charming and personable (when he tries to be), it still seemed in some regard to be that anyone could do what he did if they wanted to. To me that made it effective seeing how it was so simple to be so incredibly malevolent.
As can probably be assumed from the title/back cover blurb, Facebook features prominently in the plot. As I tried to say in the previous paragraph, this helped make Barry's actions seem possible; unfortunately, something about the way that the author overdescribed every part of Facebook (I suppose there's a (very, very slim) chance that a reader hasn't seen/used Facebook) made it seem nearly contrived as a plot device. It felt at point that the author went on and on about, say, how people would use their walls to makes plans that were publicly visible so much that, were it something that didn't exist outside the story, I would feel like the author included it just for a single purpose and felt it necessary to establish it beforehand so it was more a super obvious Chekhov's Gun instead of a Deus Ex Machina or Ass Pull.
Sorry for all the TV Tropes links. But it is such a great site.
Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is that Facebook is used extensively in the plot and yet the way it is written at times makes it feel like the story was forced around it (and/or that it was forced into the story) rather than happening naturally as it could have been.
There was one section of the story (ugh, still don't like mentioning specific plot points, but this one really stuck out) where I couldn't decide if the author was being serious or not. David was going about it so seriously and determinedly yet what he was doing was so ridiculous to the point of being comical. What he was doing nearly felt out of place (but not quite) and the tone seemed to nearly change into satire (but not quite) and the few chapters or however long it was nearly felt out of place in the book. But it was funny, yet I felt like I shouldn't be finding it amusing.
Since I really liked the novel and feel like giving the author the benefit of the doubt, I'll say that he wrote it in such a way to make the reader feel as disoriented as David did . For David it was ridiculous that it was happening again and seemed completely out of place when his life had been going so well. Sure, we'll go with that.
However, the main reason that I'm not giving this five stars is the ending. Emma is amazing (that's definitely not the part that I didn't like; that was awesome) and David starts regaining control of himself. How lovely. What was less lovely was the lessons that the author seemed to want to teach readers. Mr. Ashwar, while fantastic, was in the unfortunate position of giving David the life lesson of the story. While such things aren't inherently bad, the way the author went about it in this novel seemed all too blatant and preachy to really make for a satisfying conclusion. Same with David's bit about Facebook privacy to his coworkers way at the end. It's nice when an author wants to make a point or two to the readers, but it should be and fundamental part of the story instead of just inserted at the end. Easy for me to say.
Great story, great writing, very enjoyable. And it didn't make me want to start a Facebook profile.
I enjoyed this novel. It had a lot of great things going for it: the characters were all very believable, flawed yet sympathetic (well, most of them); the writing is sharp, witty and readable; the plot is interesting. There were just a few things that were meh, but I'll get to those in a bit.
David is a great character. He is written in a way that makes me like him, want to be his friend, overall convince me that's he's a fantastic person, yet he is far from perfect. Somehow, though, when he starts doing stupid things I find myself more wanting to help him calm down or whatever than being frustrated. Which is somewhat uncommon for me (I get annoyed with people/characters easily...). Mr. Ashwar is just fantastic; he's your usual guru/old wise man of sorts that a lot of stories have and he's fantastic. And so on with the other characters, since going into specifics is boring. Overall, all the characters created are full (well, the main ones, anyway) and never do anything that really doesn't make sense with their character. Which is always a strong point in favor of novels for me.
And then there's Barry. Oh my goodness. He's a piece of work. Towards the beginning, the author takes some time to give background on him as if to make him more into a sympathetic character. Yet, the background isn't enough to really feel like what he does is justified and indeed as the story continues it seems to be written more that Barry is simply sociopathic and manipulative and then the background given is only what set it off in the way that it happened. Viewed in that light (even with a different beginning, Barry would always be the antagonist - villain, even, in another genre) the author does a fine job with it. And oh my he is malicious. It's quite impressive.
The main plot is an impressive display of manipulation and subversion, yet everything that Barry does makes a lot of sense and seems obvious after the fact. While Barry did have some advantages at apparently being inherently charming and personable (when he tries to be), it still seemed in some regard to be that anyone could do what he did if they wanted to. To me that made it effective seeing how it was so simple to be so incredibly malevolent.
As can probably be assumed from the title/back cover blurb, Facebook features prominently in the plot. As I tried to say in the previous paragraph, this helped make Barry's actions seem possible; unfortunately, something about the way that the author overdescribed every part of Facebook (I suppose there's a (very, very slim) chance that a reader hasn't seen/used Facebook) made it seem nearly contrived as a plot device. It felt at point that the author went on and on about, say, how people would use their walls to makes plans that were publicly visible so much that, were it something that didn't exist outside the story, I would feel like the author included it just for a single purpose and felt it necessary to establish it beforehand so it was more a super obvious Chekhov's Gun instead of a Deus Ex Machina or Ass Pull.
Sorry for all the TV Tropes links. But it is such a great site.
Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is that Facebook is used extensively in the plot and yet the way it is written at times makes it feel like the story was forced around it (and/or that it was forced into the story) rather than happening naturally as it could have been.
There was one section of the story (ugh, still don't like mentioning specific plot points, but this one really stuck out) where I couldn't decide if the author was being serious or not. David was going about it so seriously and determinedly yet what he was doing was so ridiculous to the point of being comical. What he was doing nearly felt out of place (but not quite) and the tone seemed to nearly change into satire (but not quite) and the few chapters or however long it was nearly felt out of place in the book. But it was funny, yet I felt like I shouldn't be finding it amusing.
Since I really liked the novel and feel like giving the author the benefit of the doubt, I'll say that he wrote it in such a way to make the reader feel as disoriented as David did . For David it was ridiculous that it was happening again and seemed completely out of place when his life had been going so well. Sure, we'll go with that.
However, the main reason that I'm not giving this five stars is the ending. Emma is amazing (that's definitely not the part that I didn't like; that was awesome) and David starts regaining control of himself. How lovely. What was less lovely was the lessons that the author seemed to want to teach readers. Mr. Ashwar, while fantastic, was in the unfortunate position of giving David the life lesson of the story. While such things aren't inherently bad, the way the author went about it in this novel seemed all too blatant and preachy to really make for a satisfying conclusion. Same with David's bit about Facebook privacy to his coworkers way at the end. It's nice when an author wants to make a point or two to the readers, but it should be and fundamental part of the story instead of just inserted at the end. Easy for me to say.
Great story, great writing, very enjoyable. And it didn't make me want to start a Facebook profile.
July 1, 2020
A quick read if you just sit down to read. Plenty of twists to keep you interested in the storyline, for sure. This one will likely make you rethink what you share on social media. For an older (2011) Kindle selection that was in my TBR queue, I enjoyed it.
June 29, 2017
Be careful what you share on Facebook...
March 10, 2021
this is enough to scare you away from facebook forever!
December 21, 2011
The story is a cautionary one: We, unintentionally, reveal too many things about ourselves on social media, and that can be exploited. The story, while intriguing, does not make up for the other faults of the book. I will not get into the plot itself, there are plenty of reviews here that will give you the gist of the story.
I did not find one of the main characters, Barry, believable. He pins all his failures on his inability to achieve his parents' love. While tragic and somewhat true (from the explanations of his parents' actions that we get from Barry's point of view, his selfish parents should have given him up for adoption when he was born), this does not excuse his entire existence. His entire life revolves around one small phrase his parents, according to the story, uttered once... parents he hasn't even heard from since he was abandoned at age 17.
The other primary and secondary characters are mostly believable, all of them flawed in their own way. My favorite character has to be Mr. Ashwar, the local Sikh convenience store owner. His playful view on life is a welcome respite to the depressing nature of the main character, David.
What, in my opinion, gave this tree stars was the way the tedious way the story was told. As part of the story, we see Barry learning how to use Facebook. And Ford walks us through every menial detail of his learning how to use Facebook. If one has never used social media, this is rather useful exposition. But, with more than 400 million users logging into Facebook every day, chances are good that someone reading this book is familiar with the ins and outs of the media site.
Completely secondary, but it bugged me nonetheless, Ford does not mention the story is set in England until 2% (4-5 pages) into the story. For anyone who has read modern English literature before, it is fairly obvious, but is not, in our modern-day small world, explicitly stated until David comments on the typical "bloody English weather." Whether an artifact created in the transfer to Kindle or the author's own writing style, there is a plethora of commas and some of them not in opportune places. Even as an author who, myself, probably uses commas more than I really need to, this was absolutely distracting. (However, having handled the transition from .doc to .mobi, I have a sneaky suspicion it's an artifact, which is the problem of the publisher for not proofreading before publishing.)
Overall, it was an ok read, and a scathing commentary of the unintentional openness of our privacy-loving society.
I did not find one of the main characters, Barry, believable. He pins all his failures on his inability to achieve his parents' love. While tragic and somewhat true (from the explanations of his parents' actions that we get from Barry's point of view, his selfish parents should have given him up for adoption when he was born), this does not excuse his entire existence. His entire life revolves around one small phrase his parents, according to the story, uttered once... parents he hasn't even heard from since he was abandoned at age 17.
The other primary and secondary characters are mostly believable, all of them flawed in their own way. My favorite character has to be Mr. Ashwar, the local Sikh convenience store owner. His playful view on life is a welcome respite to the depressing nature of the main character, David.
What, in my opinion, gave this tree stars was the way the tedious way the story was told. As part of the story, we see Barry learning how to use Facebook. And Ford walks us through every menial detail of his learning how to use Facebook. If one has never used social media, this is rather useful exposition. But, with more than 400 million users logging into Facebook every day, chances are good that someone reading this book is familiar with the ins and outs of the media site.
Completely secondary, but it bugged me nonetheless, Ford does not mention the story is set in England until 2% (4-5 pages) into the story. For anyone who has read modern English literature before, it is fairly obvious, but is not, in our modern-day small world, explicitly stated until David comments on the typical "bloody English weather." Whether an artifact created in the transfer to Kindle or the author's own writing style, there is a plethora of commas and some of them not in opportune places. Even as an author who, myself, probably uses commas more than I really need to, this was absolutely distracting. (However, having handled the transition from .doc to .mobi, I have a sneaky suspicion it's an artifact, which is the problem of the publisher for not proofreading before publishing.)
Overall, it was an ok read, and a scathing commentary of the unintentional openness of our privacy-loving society.
July 3, 2013
If you aren't paranoid about giving out too much information on your facebook page, you should be. Alex Ford slaps us in the face with this story that points out how little privacy that we have in today's world, and it is at our own hands. How many personal items have you revealed on facebook thinking that only your FRIENDS would be bothered to read? How many people do you actually KNOW on your friends list? How often do you accept a friend request without actually knowing the person who sent it? These are all questions that we should ask ourselves.
After a horrible car accident and 3 days spent in a coma, David Andrews suffers from a limited case of amnesia that erases two years of his memory. When David receives a friend request from Barry Taylor, he doesn't remember who Barry is, but Barry sure remembers David. Ex-con/con man/sociopath Barry Taylor uses facebook to gleam personal information from the staff at The Free Friday Weekly, where David works, and creates an entirely new persona for the soul purpose of ruining David Andrews' life - again.
Very scary and incredibly possible, this dark comedy may hit a little too close to home for those who tend to overshare on social media. I'm not sure why, but this book is currently out of print, but is still available in Kindle form. Get it before it is gone!
After a horrible car accident and 3 days spent in a coma, David Andrews suffers from a limited case of amnesia that erases two years of his memory. When David receives a friend request from Barry Taylor, he doesn't remember who Barry is, but Barry sure remembers David. Ex-con/con man/sociopath Barry Taylor uses facebook to gleam personal information from the staff at The Free Friday Weekly, where David works, and creates an entirely new persona for the soul purpose of ruining David Andrews' life - again.
Very scary and incredibly possible, this dark comedy may hit a little too close to home for those who tend to overshare on social media. I'm not sure why, but this book is currently out of print, but is still available in Kindle form. Get it before it is gone!
July 22, 2011
I'll confess--I read this because it was a free Kindle book. I will also confess that I don't have a Facebook account. I don't see the point of being friends with someone on line that I would not be friends with in person!
David is a successful writer for a local weekly newspaper and is happy in his relationship with his girlfriend Emma. His life take a a turn when he accepts a "friend" request from "Barry Taylor." As the story unfolds, we learn that Barry and David had a connection in the past, but that Barry enters David's life as a new personality, Tony Richards.
This book can be thought provoking in that we see how easily Barry can enter the lives of David and everyone he knows simply by following Facebook. The plot is interesting and keeps the reader's interest however, there was one point that just didn't sit right with me. Barry had abdominal surgery a number of years earlier. By the description of the surgery, I would guess that he would have a large scar from it. Yet, as Emma and a friend are trying to prove who Barry really is, the scar never comes into play.
I'm giving this book three stars. I liked the book, yet it wasn't one that I would tell my friends that they must read. I would consider it a good summer read.
David is a successful writer for a local weekly newspaper and is happy in his relationship with his girlfriend Emma. His life take a a turn when he accepts a "friend" request from "Barry Taylor." As the story unfolds, we learn that Barry and David had a connection in the past, but that Barry enters David's life as a new personality, Tony Richards.
This book can be thought provoking in that we see how easily Barry can enter the lives of David and everyone he knows simply by following Facebook. The plot is interesting and keeps the reader's interest however, there was one point that just didn't sit right with me. Barry had abdominal surgery a number of years earlier. By the description of the surgery, I would guess that he would have a large scar from it. Yet, as Emma and a friend are trying to prove who Barry really is, the scar never comes into play.
I'm giving this book three stars. I liked the book, yet it wasn't one that I would tell my friends that they must read. I would consider it a good summer read.
July 11, 2011
We've all heard the warnings before. Because of social networking we can kiss privacy goodbye. Well, The Friend Request attempts to detail just how bad the scenario can get.
This is the story of two men who met as boys in high school. One was cool and popular, the other awkward and a loner. Fast forward some 15 years amidst the technology age where they meet again, sort of.
I can't totally decide how I feel about The Friend Request. In some respects it's filled with nuggets of dark humor that of course in some respect, ring true. But in another respect it's like a suspenseful horror story along the lines of Single White Female. That being said, I could totally see how this could be a movie one day. In fact, I'd be curious to see how they'd mix both genres on the big screen.
I would have given it a higher score than 3 stars because it did keep me interested, but not unlike out there comedies or horror films, it started to get a bit out of control and unrealistic towards the second half. This alone prevented me from requesting The Friend Request wholeheartedly to others.
This is the story of two men who met as boys in high school. One was cool and popular, the other awkward and a loner. Fast forward some 15 years amidst the technology age where they meet again, sort of.
I can't totally decide how I feel about The Friend Request. In some respects it's filled with nuggets of dark humor that of course in some respect, ring true. But in another respect it's like a suspenseful horror story along the lines of Single White Female. That being said, I could totally see how this could be a movie one day. In fact, I'd be curious to see how they'd mix both genres on the big screen.
I would have given it a higher score than 3 stars because it did keep me interested, but not unlike out there comedies or horror films, it started to get a bit out of control and unrealistic towards the second half. This alone prevented me from requesting The Friend Request wholeheartedly to others.
July 11, 2011
The premise is very good - a psychopath uses Facebook to effect an identity theft and terrorize his old schoolmate.
The execution was at times terrible - one of the most poorly edited books I've ever read (maybe this was only a problem with the Kindle edition?) Misspellings and way too many, commas, making it very, hard to read, in places.
I had a couple of nitpicks with the plot as well that I think good editing could have fixed. The attempt to explain why the psychopath was targeting David, the main character, was not believable, and a throwaway line about getting text messages back in high school was jarring coming from the 30-ish David.
All that said, the book was actually enjoyable (when I could wade through the commas). The ending was very satisfying. I wasn't sure if this was meant to be a serious, sinister tale or a dark comedy; it ended up being a dark comedy with several farcical elements (let's just say, the psychopath has a flatulence problem). Again, I think good editing or one more draft could have unified the tone throughout the book.
The execution was at times terrible - one of the most poorly edited books I've ever read (maybe this was only a problem with the Kindle edition?) Misspellings and way too many, commas, making it very, hard to read, in places.
I had a couple of nitpicks with the plot as well that I think good editing could have fixed. The attempt to explain why the psychopath was targeting David, the main character, was not believable, and a throwaway line about getting text messages back in high school was jarring coming from the 30-ish David.
All that said, the book was actually enjoyable (when I could wade through the commas). The ending was very satisfying. I wasn't sure if this was meant to be a serious, sinister tale or a dark comedy; it ended up being a dark comedy with several farcical elements (let's just say, the psychopath has a flatulence problem). Again, I think good editing or one more draft could have unified the tone throughout the book.
July 23, 2011
I downloaded this free book onto my Kindle because I was curious about the Facebook stalker storyline. This book started out a little bit slow, but as I got further into the story it picked up and the suspense peaked my interest and pulled me in. What I liked most about this book is that the author really knew everything about Facebook, social networking in general and the ramifications that could arise from belonging to these groups. The only thing that I did not like about the book was the far fetched ideas of handling the stalker by David, it was a bit to unbelievable for me and I rolled my eyes a lot while reading that portion of the story. The author does a great job at getting people to really think about the very real threat of putting all of their personal info onto their social network pages (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc). No one really knows every person that sends them a friend request, and this book is very thought provoking and will make you think twice before telling the whole world your business and clicking the accept button on that friend request!
August 3, 2011
This is definitely not the most engaging book I've read but I can't say it's a bad book. The story started really slow and that was a bit boring but once the author presented all of his characters the plot started to move forward quite smoothly. I was actually quite satisfied with the book until I reached the last few chapters of the book which was when things started to get a bit confusing and messy. I felt the author was in a big hurry to finish the story and he was also trying to tie in the knots picture perfect, which to me in the case of the type of thrillers I like is kind of a turn off. Anyways this book was really entertaining to read and it was also very short. It got me thinking about the lack of protection one has in these social network sites and how vulnerable one actually is. If you have a kindle and are into semi thriller books you might want to try it out because it's one of the free books that you can purchase in amazon which is great if you want to read something fast but don't want to spend money on another book.
January 13, 2012
I decided to try out a few free Kindle books and for being free, I was surprised how entertained I was by it. The basic premise is about a man, hurt in his childhood seeking revenge made possible by the information he finds on Facebook pages. The underlying goal of the story is to show just how much information we really give away on these social networking sites; relationship status, vacation plans, what you’re reading, who you’re angry with. It’s all in one place for all your friends to read, and how well do you really know those people?
Overall, it was entertaining, moved quickly and the characters were developed pretty well....I found the bully to be slightly unbelieveable though in his thirst for revenge stemming from his resentment of not being more like a childhood friend who had tried to extend a hand to him. A deviation from what I normally like to read, but a decent message and overall, not too bad.
Overall, it was entertaining, moved quickly and the characters were developed pretty well....I found the bully to be slightly unbelieveable though in his thirst for revenge stemming from his resentment of not being more like a childhood friend who had tried to extend a hand to him. A deviation from what I normally like to read, but a decent message and overall, not too bad.
March 16, 2012
I will be honest, I had my trigger finger on my Facebook page, poised and ready to delete it at one point in reading this book. But, I remembered that I did not have an archnemisis from high school that nearly killed me, causing me to develop a bout of amnesia to erase all my memories, so I calmed down. I appreciated that this was a free Amazon Kindle read, I would NEVER have picked it up otherwise. It was so interesting in the end (or I was that bored) that I gave my husband an entire blow by blow of all the details (particularly when he decided he was going to be a killer) one afternoon.
Not sure what the author's objective was in this, but I can promise you that I make sure that when I get on the computer that I do not write anything on my wall to let anyone know where I am, who I am with and the little green light in the bottom right corner is always greyed out... They may not have given me amnesia, but I'll never know who WANTED to do me in, but did not get the chance...
Not sure what the author's objective was in this, but I can promise you that I make sure that when I get on the computer that I do not write anything on my wall to let anyone know where I am, who I am with and the little green light in the bottom right corner is always greyed out... They may not have given me amnesia, but I'll never know who WANTED to do me in, but did not get the chance...
April 10, 2014
This is a book about revenge. Facebook is the mechanism that allows the connection to be made. The characters are drawn almost comically broadly but I didn't feel that it took too much away from the story. I was still drawn in to the events that unfolded, and felt bad for those who were hurt along the way.
Only when the revenge turns the other direction did I find myself rolling my eyes at points -- suspension of disbelief only goes so far -- but even then, the humour of the situation is highlighted.
Other reviews have pointed out the Facebook is relied on too heavily by the author but I felt like it just pinpointed the year in which events take place. Since it mentions functions of Facebook that have since been phased out or fallen into disuse, it serves as a snapshot of the service circa 2008.
If you enjoy dry British humour, and tales of con artists and revenge, you should enjoy the intersection within The Friend Request.
Only when the revenge turns the other direction did I find myself rolling my eyes at points -- suspension of disbelief only goes so far -- but even then, the humour of the situation is highlighted.
Other reviews have pointed out the Facebook is relied on too heavily by the author but I felt like it just pinpointed the year in which events take place. Since it mentions functions of Facebook that have since been phased out or fallen into disuse, it serves as a snapshot of the service circa 2008.
If you enjoy dry British humour, and tales of con artists and revenge, you should enjoy the intersection within The Friend Request.
August 15, 2011
This isn’t a brilliantly written novel, but I was surprised how entertained I was by it. The story is about a man who chooses a victim based on the information he finds on Facebook pages. The underlying goal of the story is to show just how much information we really give away on these social networking sites; relationship status, vacation plans, what you’re reading, who you’re angry with. It’s all in one place for all your friends to read, and how well do you really know those people?
A satisfying read, though I would have liked to see the characters developed more. There were a couple of twists but no mystery involved. You saw the story from all sides and just watched it unfold, which was kind of interesting. Ford also did a good job of focusing of the antagonist as much and the protagonist, so it was a well rounded story.
A satisfying read, though I would have liked to see the characters developed more. There were a couple of twists but no mystery involved. You saw the story from all sides and just watched it unfold, which was kind of interesting. Ford also did a good job of focusing of the antagonist as much and the protagonist, so it was a well rounded story.
August 10, 2011
David Andrews' life is going well. So, when he sees a friend request from a Barry Taylor he doesn't understand why it makes him so nervous - he's not sure he even recognises the name. Little does he realise that all the information on his Facebook page might make him a little too vulnerable - especially to a sociopath like Barry Taylor, who is intent on destroying David's life - for a second time
At times it kept my interested and wanting to read more. The story could of been told quicker without dragging out certain parts of the books. Some of the characters were alittle annoying and really didn't belong in the story.
The concept of the story was great. It makes you think about who to except as a friend on facebook, because you never known. I think that if it would of been wrote a little different it would've and excellent story.
At times it kept my interested and wanting to read more. The story could of been told quicker without dragging out certain parts of the books. Some of the characters were alittle annoying and really didn't belong in the story.
The concept of the story was great. It makes you think about who to except as a friend on facebook, because you never known. I think that if it would of been wrote a little different it would've and excellent story.
August 26, 2011
DNF - did not finish
Very interesting concept.
We meet Barry he’s our ‘bad guy’. He is twisted demeanor is exposed as the story plays out. His family left him alone a lot, bad childhood, blah, blah and one day he finds a Facebook page open in a cafe. He get’s this chick’s email and starts, well, stalker her. Creepy. That is exactly why you should seriously limit your Facebook information! This twisted Barry sends a friend request to David, who is apparently a person he knew and hates from school. David has amnesia from ‘an accident’.
Such hopes for this book and it was so damn slow moving. I mean there’s a page or 2 just for scenery. It needs an editor. The reason I could not finish was the speed. It droned on and on. The story was drowned out by the snail like writing.
TBR Reviewer: B.H.
Very interesting concept.
We meet Barry he’s our ‘bad guy’. He is twisted demeanor is exposed as the story plays out. His family left him alone a lot, bad childhood, blah, blah and one day he finds a Facebook page open in a cafe. He get’s this chick’s email and starts, well, stalker her. Creepy. That is exactly why you should seriously limit your Facebook information! This twisted Barry sends a friend request to David, who is apparently a person he knew and hates from school. David has amnesia from ‘an accident’.
Such hopes for this book and it was so damn slow moving. I mean there’s a page or 2 just for scenery. It needs an editor. The reason I could not finish was the speed. It droned on and on. The story was drowned out by the snail like writing.
TBR Reviewer: B.H.
December 11, 2011
The content of this book was very relevant. I wonder how many people think of all the information and access they give others via their faceboook pages. The copy I reead was a kindle version so there were spacing and typographical issues. The characters were somewhat non-observant to their surroundings but it made me think about the number of people who are oblivious to changes in their accounts or really know anything about the people they have as friends on their facebook pages. Can someone really have two thousand plus friends? Should you accept a friend request because the person is a friend of a friend?
As with any story there has to be a story line. In this novel, the story line was revenge. Unfortunately most people do not realize the level of vulnerablity facebook places in their lives.
As with any story there has to be a story line. In this novel, the story line was revenge. Unfortunately most people do not realize the level of vulnerablity facebook places in their lives.
February 19, 2012
It took me awhile to get into this book, but it was definitely an interesting novel on the dangers of Facebook. It kind of made me realize that I put way too much of my personal life out there for others to see, but thankfully I don't have some evil ex-friend trying to destroy my life. The ending was good, and overall I liked the book. It's not a perfect novel, and Barry's reasons for destroying David's life (twice) are pretty pathetic, but then so is Barry. The Friend Request was pretty funny, and it was easy to see how David and his friends are prime target's for Barry's manipulation (obviously I need only perfect the art of making a cup of tea to make England bow at my feet). Read this from my virtual Kindle tbr pile, so slowly but surely I'm catching up. 10 more years, and my shelves will be clear again. ;)
July 10, 2011
This is about the dangers lurking in one's past and via Facebook and social networking. Interesting premise, good story, a bit raunchy in sexual deviant detail at the end of the book but again,only one moment of inconsistency that bugged me enough to almost ruin the whole story for me. In case anyone decides to read this book, I won't give away any other clues or spoilers but suffice it to say that I am not buying that 17 year old kids in the UK were trading text messages over 15 years ago... just not buying... perhaps I read too closely? I don't think so, but I hate when facts are wrong in stories.
July 19, 2011
The message of the book was a good one. It's important to watch what information you make readily available to everyone on the internet. However, much of the plot was convuluted and unbelievable. It was hard to really get into the story because it was too far fetched in some areas and very vague in others. In addition, the author is in serious need of a professional editor. I believe he has an unhealthy obsession with the comma. There were numerous sentences that had five or six commas, several of which were unnecessary. the book's saving grace is the fact that it was a kindle freebie so at least I didn't spend any money on it.
November 30, 2011
Although the book is over 600 pages, it's an easy read. It's very topical, as Facebook figures prominently in the storyline. Characters were fairly likeable and a few seemed somewhat familiar, as we all know people who are totally hooked on Facebook and feel the urge to tell you what they're doing every moment of the day.
To me, it was a warning. Just by reading your Facebook page, a hacker or thief can find out too much information, if you aren't careful. We share too much information and this book is an example of what can happen.
Wasn't bowled over by this novel, but it kept my interest enough to keep reading it.
To me, it was a warning. Just by reading your Facebook page, a hacker or thief can find out too much information, if you aren't careful. We share too much information and this book is an example of what can happen.
Wasn't bowled over by this novel, but it kept my interest enough to keep reading it.
September 1, 2011
This wasn't the worst free Kindle download that I've ever read. It wasn't the best, either.
Some points of the book were genuinely funny. And some points were mildly aggravating. POV switches every other paragraph, constant italicizing of Facebook terms, and the constant "telling instead of showing" are a few examples. The last is really a shame because the idea the author came up with was interesting and it could have been a highly intense, darkly humorous, cat & mouse game.
I didn't give it one or two stars because I did read it to the end, wanting to know the fate of the characters. I figure that has to count for something.
Some points of the book were genuinely funny. And some points were mildly aggravating. POV switches every other paragraph, constant italicizing of Facebook terms, and the constant "telling instead of showing" are a few examples. The last is really a shame because the idea the author came up with was interesting and it could have been a highly intense, darkly humorous, cat & mouse game.
I didn't give it one or two stars because I did read it to the end, wanting to know the fate of the characters. I figure that has to count for something.
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