Nicci French's "The Favor" introduces Jude, a geriatric doctor, who finds herself entangled in a perplexing favor for her old flame, Liam, leading to a series of questionable decisions and a shocking murder. Unfortunately, the plot feels convoluted and nonsensical, with characters making highly questionable choices and lacking depth. Jude's lack of agency is particularly surprising, and the detectives' incompetence adds to the story's frustrations. While offering a glimpse into dark, twisted characters, the overall narrative feels far-fetched and ultimately falls short of expectations, despite its eerie atmosphere.

Nicci French are hands down my favorite author duo. THE FAVOR proves that they can still weave together a dark and twisty tale outside of the series I have loved for years. Jude's journey in this book sends the reader down the rabbit hole right with her. Perfection!

Jude agrees to do a favor for a former boyfriend she hasn’t seen in eleven years. She feels obligated to help him because he had taken blame for a car crash that was her fault, allowing her to attend medical school. All she has to do is pick him up at a country train station with his car and overnight bag. He never shows up and a murder investigation ensues. She becomes involved with his eccentric, unlikeable housemates as she attempts to help solve the murder. She makes a series of unbelievably bad decisions, that entangle her in lies and destroy her life. The mystery does have some twists, but the main character is unbelievable.

I felt this book’s characters were bizarre. I didn’t feel attached to any of them. It was a quick read and I think I missed some details but it was a solid read. Probably a 3.5 but rounded up. I will give the author another try sometime to see if I connect more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the DRC.

When I read the back cover I knew this was a book I had to read. Liam reaches out to an old friend Jude for a favor out of the blue. Jude agrees to the strange request but nothing goes right. The majority of the book is spent after Liam’s death when Jude is trying to see Liam’s will is fulfilled.

I think this book had a lot of potential but I didn’t enjoy the characters Liam was living with. They were confusing. I enjoyed the premise of the book.

The Favor is a gripping thriller from Nicci French that will keep you on the edge of your seat! French does a masterful job of creating suspense and tension throughout the novel. The characters are well-developed and believable, and the plot is full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very end. The Favor is a must-read for fans of suspenseful thrillers.

Here are some of the things that I liked about the book:

The suspenseful plot kept me guessing until the very end.
The characters were well-developed and believable.
The book was full of twists and turns.
The writing was clear and engaging.

I would highly recommend The Favor to anyone who enjoys suspenseful thrillers. It is a well-written and exciting novel that will keep you hooked from beginning to end.

Jude is a doctor whose ex boyfriend shows up to her hospital and asks her for a favor, but he won’t tel her what he needs her to do. Jude’s instructions are to meet him at a house, and he will tell her everything. Jude lies to her fiancé and sets out to help. Judes ex-boyfriend ends up dead and Jude becomes a suspect.
I struggled with this one. The main character Jude was impossible. For someone who is supposed to be a doctor she makes me the worst decisions ever. The decisions she makes do not align with someone who makes decisions on people lives daily. I really don't enjoy books where the main female character acts like she is ditzy and has no clue, it’s honestly ridiculous in 2023 when women are literally running companies. The writing also felt disjointed and you could tell it was written by two different people. This was my first book by these authors and will most likely be last .

Thank you Scene of the Crime, William Morrow and Netgalley for this ARC

I am a big fan of Nicci French and have read every published book. A woman with a successful career has someone from her past show up very unexpectedly. The course of his entire life went off the rails when they were teenagers, while Jude is now a successful doctor with a fiancé she loves. But she feels an obligation to help Liam just this once when he asks her for what seems like a simple favor. He just needs a ride to the train station - but he doesn’t want her to tell anyone.

A little lie ends up biting Jude after Liam is murdered and she becomes the prime suspect. Something is very wrong here, and if Jude can’t figure out what it is, her future will be ruined.

The Favor was twisty, with a lot of surprises. Nicci French managed to keep me guessing, as usual. I enjoyed the book, I just wish I had liked the characters more. Still a good read.

I was given an ARC in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own.

It’s a simple favor, how could she refuse. After all, when they were younger, saved her from the trouble that could come from a terrible car accident. Liam was an artist and very moody. They had one summer and then they parted. Jude had school and a medical degree to focus on. She lost touch with Liam and hadn’t thought much about him.
But Liam breaks the void and calls her one day, to help him with a favor. He wants her to pick him up from a country train station. It seems so simple, she doesn’t even tell her fiancée. But that one favor sets in motion a world of problems for Jude. Liam is found dead and she was the last person to see him. She gets caught up with the memories of the past and the troubles of the present. A simple secret becomes a big lie to her fiancée. She becomes entangled in Liam’s present and she can’t find a way out. How can Jude make things right? This was a very twisty story. It had me guessing at some points but I could figure most of the story out. I am a big fan of the author Nicci French and read most of the books. This wasn’t my favorite but it was definitely worth the read. This was a 3 star read for me. I want to thank Netgalley and the author for my copy for an honest review. It was my pleasure to read and review this story.

Okay, I really liked the plot, but the way it was carried out didn't work for me...I love Nicci French, and will request whatever they decide to write, but this one was far from my favorite. It was repetitive and beyond unrealistic. The only reason I am giving it 3 stars is because I sincerely wanted to finish to see if the ending redeemed all the repetition and unrealistic craziness. It was well written, but not believable.

Thank you to William and Morrow publishing and #netgalley for this ARC that I finished ages ago and forgot to review for an honest review.

Entertaining but not a must read to me. I just had a hard time relating to some of the main character’s decisions, especially since she is such an accomplished woman in her daily life. Others may find the plot more enthralling- the mystery of why Liam showed back up in her life. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

This story is not the best. The writing is strong but I felt the plot left me wanting more. Jude is a nurse and one day while ready to leave work she is told someone is waiting for her. Imagine her shock when she sees Liam, her boyfriend from when she was 18, 11 years prior.

Liam has come to ask for a favor, part of which involves lying to her fiance. Right there I had an issue. Why would you do that? He tells her to meet him at a cottage hours away and he will explain more. But, he winds up dead and she is the prime suspect.

Turns out shortly before his murder he chose Jude as the executor of his will which has everyone baffled including Jude herself. You are led to believe that she is intelligent but that is my biggest sticking point with this one. I just wanted to smack her.

I will certainly read more by this author, just didn't love this one.

This is my first book from best selling British authors Nicci French (Nicci Gerard and Sean French). I enjoyed the writing and The Favor started out with a bang - literally a car crash involving four teens and with the driver Liam under the influence suffering much of the blame and affecting the course of his life. Jude in the other hand became a successful doctor, and soon to be married. Eleven years later, Liam appears at the hospital asking Jude for a favor. Given their history Jude really feels she owes Liam at least this favor that is simple enough and involves no illegal activity. Except things didn’t work out as planned and Liam is dead, and now Jude is in the middle of a murder investigation.

I found the writing propulsive and exciting in the beginning, but I was not invested enough in the characters and in Liam’s world in the middle. I felt that Jude keeps making wrong decisions and cannot seem to help herself but instead get caught deeper into Liam’s world risking her life, her fiancé, and her career.

Overall I did think this was a good mystery, quite complex dynamics, but could have had a more interesting premise that grabs til the end.

Whoa! This plot line kept me guessing about who murdered Liam. It seems Jude has made all the right moves and is living her dream of being a doctor, is about to get married and has a great group of friends. Then Liam mysteriously reappears in her life and asks her for a favor. It appears relatively harmless, but she has to lie to her fiancé about where she’s spending the night. Liam is murdered and now Jude is embroiled in scandal and the trouble deepens when she discovers she the executor of Liam’s will pulling her into his dysfunctional chosen family. There are not many trustworthy people in Liam’s circle and it might be rubbing off on Jude. This is a dark story with twists and pivots I didn’t see coming. Great book!

Physician Jude Winter loved Liam Birch until an accident separated them as teens. When he turns up 10 years later, asking for the favor she owes him, she's pulled into a world of trouble!

As her life quickly unravels, she starts investigating, despite warnings from the police, and the truth eventually uncovered is a stunner.

Since I missed the publication date, I purchased the audiobook. I gave it until 33% and cannot continue. The writing seems good and with different characters/a different storyline, I'd be willing to give Nicci French another chance. However, this book is not for me. Jude is an absolute idiot. From the start of the first chapter until I gave up, I yelled at her constantly. Every decision she made was a bad one. She even says something like "now that I say it out loud, it seems ridiculous". Ya think? How was she not suspicious from the beginning? Why on earth would she trust this guy who shows up out of the blue after years with some sketchy story. I just don't believe anyone could be that dumb, and then to visit his partner and his family? That's bad enough, but then she gets upset that she's being treated as a suspect. Duh! To reasonable, normal people, everything she does is suspect. I don't even care what happened to the former lover. I don't care about the reasons. I don't care if there's a big, shocking twist that no one sees coming. If Jude doesn't end up in prison or the morgue for sheer stupidity, there's no justice in the world, but I can't bear to waste anymore of time to find out.

In The Favor by Nicci French, Jude's old boyfriend, Liam, asks Jude for an odd favor. This has come out of nowhere as they haven't spoken in eleven years. Then comes all the twists and turns! The Favor is a psychological drama but I felt it dragged on a bit and had a hard time wanting to sit and read. I felt no connection to Jude, especially since she keeps making bad decisions. This was just okay for me.

For a character driven novel, these are some pretty weak characters! The main character is a doctor with no awareness of what’s happening around her. The rest of the cast is either very egocentric or so shallow that it is hard to know them. The plot was rather weak also. The authors did do a good job with their descriptions of place.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the ARC to read and review.

It’s been years since Dr. Jude Winter has seen Liam Birch, a summer boyfriend from her teenaged years. When he shows up at the hospital where she works and asks her for a favor, she feels obligated to agree. She has no idea that she’s being set up. When Liam is found murdered, Jude is pulled into a world she never imagined existed, a world she finds herself drawn to and disgusted by at the same time. If that’s not enough, her fiancé pulls out of their engagement.

This is an interesting book. It’s also very British. It’s dark, atmospheric, and almost Gothic. It develops slowly as we learn about each of the characters, but primarily we learn about Jude and what really happened in the wake of a car accident during the summer before she headed off to university. We also learn more about Liam and his family and friends.

The writing is excellent, and while not exactly a page-turner, the book kept me interested. The ending wasn’t expected, so it was a nice surprise. I don’t know that I’d classify this as a thriller, it’s more of a combination of mystery/character study. Interesting, but possibly not Nicci French team’s best work.

A good read that you’ll like if you’re into atmospheric British mysteries.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I thank all involved for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions expressed in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

I didn’t finish this book, but I read enough that I feel I can review it. First, not plausible storyline at all. Beyond that, this woman kept making terrible decisions that are reminiscent of watching a 80’s horror movie when every decision is ridiculously stupid. I did not enjoy. Will not recommend. I did purchase for Library because a patron requested it.