Friend Me by John Faubion

About the Book:

Genre: Suspense

“You’re afraid you are becoming unfaithful, aren’t you?”

Scott and Rachel’s marriage is on the brink of disaster. Scott, a businessman with a high-pressure job, just wants Rachel to understand him and accept his flaws. Rachel is a lonely housewife, desperate for attention and friendship. So she decides to create a virtual friend online, unaware that Scott is doing the exact same thing. But neither realizes that there’s a much larger problem looming. . . .

Behind both of their online creations is Melissa, a woman who is brilliant— and totally insane. Masquerading as both friend and lover, Melissa programmed a search parameter into the Virtual Friend Me software to find her perfect man, but along the way she forgot to specify his marriage status. And Scott is her ideal match. Now Melissa is determined to have it all—Scott, his family, and Rachel’s life.

As Melissa grows bolder and her online manipulations transition into the real world, Scott and Rachel figure out they are being played. Now it’s a race against time as Scott and Rachel fight to save their marriage, and their lives, before it’s too late.

My Review:

4 Stars

My first thoughts on this book was not as much about the struggle the main characters had with their marriage but with the way technology can be used.  The technology described in this book could be a really positive force but as this book clearly shows even something that is a positive force could be corrupted and for bad purposes. In this I'm not only speaking of how Melissa manipulated the software she created but also how Scott used the software and how that affected his marriage.  Overall I think the gender rolls used in this book could fit a lot of couples out there where two people are each trying to do what they think should make the other person happy ,e.x. working tons of hours to provide everything their family "needs", when in reality all they really want is to spend some time with you.  I wouldn't say that this book kept you guessing at every turn but it did give you alot to think about with how we interact with other people and especially how we try and fool ourselves into thinking that what we are doing is the right thing.

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