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

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Leila later tells Jude that she’s already performed the favour, in the form of providing Liam with an alibi, using his car, his credit card, taking his phone to Norfolk. But for what had Liam needed an alibi? That is a mystery. Liam’s murder would have looked like a mugging, except for Jude’s involvement. In 1989 she became acting literary editor at the New Statesman, before moving to the Observer, where she was deputy literary editor for five years, and then a feature writer and executive editor. Turns out shortly before his murder he chose Jude as the executor of his will which has everyone baffled including Jude herself. He also left her his favorite bowl. Yup, a bowl, and his girlfriend is not too pleased about this because she loves that bowl. 🥣 = 😡 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.

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?

About this book

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). 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). Jude makes her living as a geriatric nurse working the night shift. One day, as she's getting ready to leave, she's informed that she has a guest waiting for her in the lobby. Imagine her surprise when she see's that it's Liam, her boyfriend for a summer when she was 18 years old, the one she has thought of often throughout the years wondering what happened to him.

Nicci Gerrard was born in June 1958 in Worcestershire. After graduating with a first class honours degree in English Literature from Oxford University, she began her first job, working with emotionally disturbed children in Sheffield. In that same year she married journalist Colin Hughes. Jude’s intention to go home to Nat and say nothing is scuppered when someone leaks her role in this strange crime to the press. Her fiancé is even less convinced than DI Fox, and suddenly, that one decision turns her life upside down. And if Jude thinks that’s the worst that can happen, she’s got another think coming… Can she say no to anyone ever? Nope! She'll help anyone that asks for no compelling reason whatsoever. The only person she doesn't help is herself. The main character acts out an existential crisis: Jude's engagement collapses, she's left her home, she's been put on stress leave from her job, and a dark secret from her past re-emerges. Who is she, the book asks, subliminally, when all these factors that tether her to her social self are untied and can she re-forge an identity for herself? De gunst' is het nieuwe verhaal van dit bekende schrijversduo en ik was zeer benieuwd. De proloog begint met een fragment dat elf jaar geleden plaatsvond. Daarna springen we naar het heden en lees je vanuit Jude. Ze is arts in een ziekenhuis en op een dag staat Liam in de hal op haar te wachten. Niet veel later vraagt hij haar om een bijzondere gunst.

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The Favour is the sixteenth stand-alone novel by British writing duo, Nicci French. It’s over eleven years since Jude Winter has seen Liam Birch, but what they shared when they were eighteen has never left her. Life moved on for both: Jude qualified as a doctor and is about to marry Nat; Liam tells her he has a young son, Alfie. But Liam has a favour to ask, nothing big, no worries if you can’t, tell you what it is when we meet in Norfolk.

Life is going pretty well for Dr. Jude Winter. She has a rewarding job in the geriatric division of a London hospital and is looking forward to her wedding to fiancé Matt in two weeks time. The premise of The Favour immediately drew me in and intrigued me. Just what was Liam up to? What did he want? Unlike Jude - oblivious, indebted and confident - I was a little less trusting and I soon began to detect a few red flags. But still I didn't know why Liam had asked Jude to do this favour. It was like an itch I couldn't scratch. It consumed me. I had to know. 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. 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 police put forward several theories, none of which satisfy Jude, and make even more accusations. But it is the final theory that is the most chilling and absolutely feasible. Doordat het begin zo goed was had ik misschien ook te hoge verwachtingen voor het verdere verloop. Helaas kwam dit dus niet helemaal uit. Wel is de schrijfstijl weer super prettig! I can understand why many people won't like this. The plot was basically non-existent, and the thrills were more like a small side of ketchup to the main dish—which was a character-driven story. You may ask yourself why TF would Jude do such a suspicious favour, but you'll learn that Jude is just a shell of a person. She followed the path lain out for her entire life. She doesn't have a strong identity. Then she enters Liam's adult world, his weird ass house that reminds me of a circus, with unsavoury, sexually aggressive, lost people, and develops her first singular opinion.