What You Wish For Paperback – 22 July 2014

This is a missing person story centred on Richard, a sceptic, who is uncomfortable with but accepts his girlfriend's belief that aliens are visiting Earth in preparation for a mass abduction. When she disappears without trace, Richard is drawn in to the world of apparent abductees in a desperate attempt to find her.This book was not what I expected. The plot could have taken so many directions, but the direction chosen was by far the most satisfying. I actually couldn't guess how it was going to end until about one page before it was revealed, and the reveal occurs through a really great realisation by the protagonist that left my mouth hanging open. Despite having many potential directions it avoids being frustrating as the pacing is extraordinary, just as in The Magpies. What Mark Edwards always achieves is a real sense of the protagonist's derealisation as a way of setting the tone of the book, so as to not rely too heavily on long drawn-out descriptions of surroundings. This introspection is what makes his books so eerie and uncomfortable; they reflect feelings of anxiety, dread, and "I am truly going mad here."This book examines the attitudes of believers and non-believers; those who have faith in their beliefs and those needing hard evidence before believing. Being a non-believer I really identified with Richard's journey and needing to have answers, no matter what the answers might be. It would be interesting now to read this story from Marie's point of view! There’s a great reflection by Richard at the end of the book that will make readers think about what it means to believe and whether everyone can benefit from giving-in a little, whatever their view point.I guess this story lacked the same eeriness and suspense of The Magpies, although there were elements of the same claustrophobia and paranoia in some scenes. But it is a fast-paced search-for-the-truth story rather than suspense thriller and I think it combined elements well with great writing and a satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend this book.

What you wish for is an easy and enjoyable read. The characters lack a certain depth and sympathy but the story moves along at a decent pace. The twists and turns of the plot are somewhat predictable but this doesn't really detract from the flow of the story.The book has a UFO cult backdrop but really has a focus on the relationship between Richard and Marie and Richards efforts to find Marie when she vanishes. Other reviews have described the real themes of the story but I never truly bought into the UFO cult part of the story, it doesn't completely ring true for me but again it's not something that really gets in the way of the core of the story.Overall I've gone for 3 stars. The story flows along fine and kept me interested but there are enough bits and pieces of the writing and structure of the book that didn't work for me to knock it back a bit.

Very good read enjoyed it , thanks

I’ve read all of Mark Edwards novels and when I enjoy an authors work I don’t tend to read the reviews until after I’ve finished!This was a very different subject, which I would not usually choose to read. I almost gave up after the first few chapters, but persevered as I usually get absorbed in the story.Richard meets Marie who is with a group of people checking the skies for UFO and alien behaviour. He soon falls in love with her and they move in together. One day Marie disappears and Richard then takes time to search for her, flying to the USA where he believes she is living with The Loved Ones, a group of people all hoping to be chosen by extraterrestrials.I didn’t like the main character, he was weak and shallow and I thought he should forget about Marie and get on with his life!It seemed to me the author wasn’t enjoying the novel and rushed it a little, instead of developing the character to ensure the reader supported him more.I felt the ending was rushed and although a twist it didn’t really shock me. On the whole a disappointing read.

This book started off really well, bit of a weird storyline but a bit different to my usual reads. I found it fell a bit flat in the middle and nearly gave up but I’d come so far I had to keep going and then wow it really picked up! Not the ending I was expecting at all, lots of twists as it went on and all very unpredictable! Very good read.

Good book, the usual enjoyable book written by Mark Edwards.

As other readers have said, this story is a bit different from Mark's other books; however, it is well written and highly suspenseful and examines how far people go when they are very passionate about their beliefs. The protagonist also learns how dangerous his obsession can be when the search for his girlfriend leads him to some very sus people.Overall, a interesting read.

I don't know why I bought this book, because I wasn't over-impressed with the other book by Mark Edwards I had read. It takes you to a world that is difficult to understand, and the characters are rather superficially described. Obviously he had the story rather than the characters in mind when he set out to write this. And if you need to explain why you ended the book the way you did (see Epilogue) then you're doing something wrong.

The author spent a long time, beginning in 1990. The plot is basically man falls in lust with beautiful girl. Girl believes in UFo's. The resultant pursuit spans a long and torturous path, with quickly organised flights to USA and back. Read to the end expecting something really dramatic however for me this was a 'page scan' type.

I'm not sure what else to say about this story. It kept me interested throughout. The writing was very good. The story was interesting enough but it still sort of fell flat for me. Not much happens when you really think about it. I think maybe it ended in a way that felt unsatisfying for me. Overall I liked it but would not recommend to a friend. Will definitely check out more of his work.