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The Favour: The gripping new thriller from an author 'at the top of British psychological suspense writing' (Observer)

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It's been eleven years since they last saw each other but Liam has come to ask a favor and Jude agrees, how could she not? Part of this favor has her lying to her fiancé so she can travel for hours to a cottage to await Liam's arrival and this is when and where he'll explain more. I think other types of readers will like this book, but sadly it wasn’t for me. Rather than the twisty thriller that I was expecting, “The Favor” is a character-driven story with a slightly sinister edge but a pretty thin plot. The entire premise hinges on the reader believing that this intelligent young woman (a doctor!) would continually put herself in peril for a high school boyfriend. When Jude’s motivation is revealed, it makes sense that she might have felt compelled to do the initial favor, but it was unbelievable to me that she would keep going down a path where she is likely to end up behind bars or even dead. The ending is quite good and makes up for the fact that both Jude and the plot meander around for far too long. In this twisty new stand-alone novel from internationally bestselling author Nicci French, a young woman agrees to do a favor for an estranged former boyfriend—but when things go horribly wrong, one small task turns into a murder investigation that completely upends her life, ensnaring her in a deadly web of secrets and lies.

The Favor by Nicci French - Publishers Weekly The Favor by Nicci French - Publishers Weekly

It's implied that Jude is an incredibly intelligent woman though you'd never guess that by reading this book. First of all, YES you can say NO to this favor. I know as the novel progresses we do learn the reason as to why she helps him but even with this information I still think she should have walked away. Then we're introduced to Liam's housemates, an eccentric cast of characters, and Jude is mesmerized by these lunatics. Like, what? She finds them all so mysterious and intriguing, and tall - apparently they are all so tall that they make her feel like a tiny little girl. I can't make this shit up. This is mentioned several times. Ze probeert uit te zoeken wat er precies is gebeurd, maar hierdoor wordt ze steeds verder in Liams wereld gezogen. Het lijkt alsof zijn familie en vrienden allemaal wat te verbergen hebben. Komt Jude achter de waarheid?As Jude gets herself more and more enmeshed in what was Liam’s bohemian life, do her choices stretch the bounds of credibility? Most decidedly. But, a bit like a train crash, it’s hard to look away. In the early eighties she taught English Literature in Sheffield, London and Los Angeles, but moved into publishing in 1985 with the launch of Women's Review, a magazine for women on art, literature and female issues.

Nicci French Books | Waterstones Nicci French Books | Waterstones

That said, THE FAVOUR unfortunately turned out to be one of my least favourite books by the author team, partly because believing the main character’s actions and motivations stretched my ability to suspend disbelief way past its limits. Maybe it would have worked better for me had Jude not been a doctor. How did this indecisive, insecure and naïve person ever get through medical school? Medicine is a science, it’s about trouble shooting and problem solving, and it involves logical thought processes. But here is Jude, bumbling her way from one disaster into the next and making one terrible decision after another. I think the only way I could have believed Jude’s actions would have been either a) if there was an implicit threat to Jude if she didn’t agree to the “favour”; or b) if Jude was a totally different personality type (i.e. an arty / spiritual person believing in karma or a person undergoing a deep personal crisis such as substance addiction / bereavement etc). In 1995 Nicci and Sean began work on their first joint novel and adopted the pseudonym of Nicci French. The Memory Game was published to great acclaim in 1997 followed by The Safe House (1998), Killing Me Softly (1999), Beneath the Skin (2000), The Red Room (2001), Land of the Living (2002), Secret Smile (2003), Catch Me When I Fall (2005), Losing You (2006) and Until It's Over (2008). Their latest novel together is What To Do When Someone Dies (2009). Dr. Jude Winter hasn’t seen her high school boyfriend in over a decade, since that one heady summer night when a car crash changed everything. She’s never forgotten her first love, and when he suddenly reappears after all these years asking for a favor, she finds herself not only saying yes but also lying about it to her fiancé. When Liam is murdered, Jude finds herself in a tangled web that seems to pull more tightly around her at every turn. Then, out of the blue, after an absence of eleven years, her first serious boyfriend, Liam Birch turns up to meet her with a strange request. He wants her to drive up to a remote cottage on the Norfolk coast, using his car and paying with his credit card, and then wait for him to arrive by train the following evening. For some reason we are not initially aware of, Jude agrees to this suspicious proposition. Family drama and office politics take center stage in this tense standalone from the pseudonymous French, the husband-and-wife writing team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French (the Frieda Klein series). Continue reading »Jude twijfelt, maar stemt dan toch toe. Ze verzwijgt dit echter wel voor haar verloofde. Maar als het zover is, komt Liam niet opdagen... Jude besluit te wachten en niet veel later krijgt ze een telefoontje van de politie. Dit zet haar leven totaal op zijn kop.

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