Book Review: ‘The Request: A Novel’ By David Bell

Lies, lies and more lies always come back to haunt someone. The truth will set you free or cause you to maybe be killed.

Ryan Francis has a wife, a six month old baby, a well paying job and a house for his family. He also has a secret he has never confessed to his wife. In college something deadly happened and he has had guilt about it ever since.

One night while leaving the bar he is a co-owner of he hears someone calling his name. His old college roommate and best friend Blake. He hasn’t really seen him or talk to him much since a blowout with his wife months ago. Blake wants a favor from Ryan. A favor he blackmails into doing. Blake knows Ryan’s secret and wants him to retrieve some letters from a girl he was seeing before he got back with his girlfriend Samantha, who he is marrying in a few days. Just go to her house when she is out and take the letters. Seems easy right?

Ryan agrees to do it and when he goes to the house he finds the girl dead and the letters gone. And it leads to a spiral of lies, deceit and shocking secrets from each of the main characters. Secrets that put people’s lives in danger. Just who survives the fallout is to be determined.

I love David Bell novels. His previous novels Layover and Somebody’s Daughter are a couple of my favorites. This new novel The Request is a thrilling story with lots of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing and engaged.

You can pick up The Request in stores on Tuesday, June 30th from Berkley.