This was a great read and a five star follow up to The Last Fear. Findlay knows the formula for a fantastic thriller and has mastered the idea that we need fleshed out characters with believable motives to carry us past the ending and keep there exploits in our heads long after the novel is over. This has all the good plot lines : strong female protagonists, copycat/repeat scenarios, good//bad cops and a heavily pregnant FBI agent determined to solve two crimes years apart possibly committed by the same person but not the one the police suspected. While we can guess the real killer early on, that didn’t stop my enjoyment as there was so much else going on I really needed a whiteboard to keep track.

New Year’s Eve 1999. I remember the anxiety surrounding the date and the terrifying news stories of what could potentially happen: cars wouldn’t work, planes would fall from the sky, the power grid would fail. People were hoarding food and bottled water. I also remember those same news casters 1 minute after midnight, starting their vehicles, swiping their ATM cards and it all worked! What a relief!

It is in the midst of the fear of a potential digital apocalypse that our story takes place. Even better, it starts at a Blockbuster Video (I LOVE all this ‘90’s nostalgia! I am here for it!!) where four teenage girls are working alongside their manager, then all but one of the workers are brutally murdered. A suspect is soon arrested and subsequently released. Then, they are never to be seen or heard from again.

Fast forward 15 years and there is another murder in the same town. Obviously since Blockbuster is long gone (but forever in my heart!) this murder takes place at the Dairy Creamery. Yet again, it’s the night shift, teenagers are murdered and there is a lone survivor. The crimes are very similar ( both involved teenagers in the same town, during the night shift, a lone survivor) Surely there is a connection? Told from the dual perspectives of FBI agent Keller and public defender Chris, they investigate this probable connection and try to discover who the killer (or killers?) are.

I enjoyed the split perspectives and even when I thought I had figured it out, I was wrong! The first half of the book is a bit slow but the writing is genuinely good so that helped. I’m glad I stuck with it for the twists and turns that came later in the book that I was most definitely not expecting.

I really liked the FBI agent, Sarah Keller. I have heard she is in a previous book by this author so I am going to read that next .

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected Publication Date: 3/1/22.

This is a very good book, one of the main characters is from the author's previous book Every Last Fear, FBI agent Keller, now 8 months pregnant with twins is asked to investigate a multiple murder at an ice cream parlour. Three teens are dead and one has survived. The similarities to an unsolved murder that took place 15 years ago at a Blockbuster that also involved the murder of 3 teens and one survivor cannot be ignored. Agent Kellar teams up with a young officer Atticus (yes named after the character in To Kill A Mockingbird) to investigate both the present and past murders. A suspect had been quickly arrested after the first murders but was released and has not been seen to date, Vince Whitaker, is quickly a prime suspect for the new killings. Chris Ford, Vince's younger brother, is a lawyer, working as a public defender and in his spare time follows on Instagram a vlogger who he is convinced is his brother. Vince and Chris had a terrible upbringing, violence against them and their mother a frequent occurrence, Chris still bears scars from that time. Ella, the lone survivor from the original killings, is a therapist, she's asked to talk to Jesse, the lone survivor from the most recent killing. The author does a very good job at doling out clues and maintaining suspense. The story moves along quickly and I highly enjoyed. Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.

Excellent story! Totally engrossing!. Looking forward to reading more by this author! Could not put this down!

I have to agree with another reviewer. I liked this a lot, but thought it wasn't as good as Every Last Fear. Still, that's a high bar and this one is still a good and compelling book.

Blew me out of the water. This book was SO good - I had an accurate prediction about things, but that honestly didn’t take away from the story at all. I read this book essentially in a sitting - devoured it - and was so thrilled about it. I was lucky enough to snag an ARC of Finlay’s last book, and though that was good, The Night Shift was stellar.

🍿 This book was SO GOOD. I finished it in one sitting. It starts with a bang but slows a bit to introduce all the characters and backstories, but once all that’s out of the way it’s action packed. There are plenty of shocking twists and turns throughout. I did have a guess at who the bad guy was but could not figure out the why. Overall I loved this book and think my thriller loving friends will too. Thank you to @netgalley and @minotaur_books for an eARC of this book.

Loved this book! It might be because I worked at a Blockbuster in high school (no murders though), and enjoyed the 90s references. But, overall a great, fast-paced read.
The book takes place in Linden, NJ, a town that has faced eerily similar crimes fifteen years apart. Has the serial killer returned? A copycat? As the police work to uncover the truth, the only survivor of the first murder works with the only survivor of the second to try to understand what happened.
A great thriller!

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

I felt the story was slow and I was extremely bored with this one.

The Night Shift opens on Y2K in the most 90s place imaginable: a Blockbuster Video. From there, it switches between 1999 and current day, with both timelines including a mass murder that occurred late at night at a store. The star of the book is super-pregnant FBI agent Sarah Keller who is indeed quite the badass.

Alex Finlay's earlier book, Every Last Fear, is one of my favorite thrillers in recent years. The Night Shift doesn't disappoint, but I found the pacing a little slower and the outcome a little more predictable than the previous book. Still, it's an entertaining and dramatic read and worth picking up.

Many thanks to Alex Finlay, St. Martin’s Press, and Net Galley for providing me with a digital advance copy of this novel. I was excited to read Finlay’s new book, and it did not disappoint. It’s a well-crafted mystery/thriller with several engaging characters, at least that I could see as a basis for a continuing series. It kept my interest and was almost impossible to put down. Highly recommend!

I really enjoyed this one and will definitely be adding it to my "teachers only" section in our library! I especially loved the ending and was surprised at how poignant it felt. In general I found this to be a solidly written thriller with an intriguing storyline and felt it was perfect for spooky season--it was like reading a slasher movie (though not as gory). The two murders decades apart gave me Scream 4 vibes in that "here we go again" way. Really enjoyed!

First off thank you to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for this eARC of The Night Shift by Alex Finlay!

I haven't read Finlay's other book (that was huge), but this one sounded so good I had to have it. Now, I think the writing in this book was a tad cheesy for me, like an episode of Law and Order if it was produced by Hallmark (minus all the grotesque-ness) BUT I also think I needed that and it made me into it even more. I loved the fact that the first case we learn about happened in the 90's and trying to figure out if/how these cases were connected. It gave me the same vibes as a true crime podcast gives me (I think because this reminded me of the real life Yogurt Shop Murders). There were at times too many POVs but once I got to the second half I wanted all of them and could see it all clicking together.

This was a solid suspense read that will be perfect to devour when it is released on 03/01/22.

This is one of the best books that I have read all year. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This story involves multiple characters but ultimately is about two gruesome crimes and the race to discover who committed them. The characters were well developed but I would have liked to hear more about the person responsible for the crimes; I think a look into that person's background or even a prequel would be amazing!

I got through the book in two days. Definitely a page turner. Great characters and good build up. Ending didn't do it for me. I was disappointed.

Alex Finlay's new novel AND a creepy final girl storyline? SIGN ME UP. This was exactly the book I was hoping for and MORE! I loved this novel, all the unique and well-developed characters and the twisty revelations as they unfolded before me, my jaw dropping to the floor!
It's New Year's Eve 1999 (an amazing time to be alive!) and the story starts there with the brutal murder of four people at a Blockbuster Video. YES the nostalgia is good in this one! Four people are dead but one lone "final girl" remains and survives the hideous murder.
15 years later, another brutal slaying occurs in the same town but this time at an ice cream shop. Again, one lone girl survives.
There are a lot of characters to keep track of and quite a few perspectives but it's not hard to keep up and helps with the unveiling of the plot as it unpeels like an onion. This story was completely immersive and kept my interest the whole time. I couldn't put this book down! Everything comes together as we find out more in the story. I did find the author's portrayal of women to be a little...inaccurate and some of the pieces fall just too perfectly together in this puzzle of a story. But it's a great, quick, high octane read and I loved almost every minute!
Thank you to the author, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

In 1999 3 employees and their manager are found murdered in a Blockbuster. About 15 years later a similar crime occurred at an ice cream parlor. Are they connected?

Good thriller. Chapters a bit choppy but decent read, good characters, quick to get thru.

The market is deluged with thrillers and suspense, and it takes a lot to make a thriller stand out. Finlay's newest novel stands head and shoulders above the pack. We get to spend time in several unique points of view that let us inhabit the characters' worlds fully while the plot barrels towards its conclusion.

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to provide an honest review in exchange for an Advanced Reader's Copy.**

The Night Shift capitalizes on the Final Girls trend, opening with the Blockbuster killings, where 3 teen girls and their young manager are brutally killed after closing one cold winter night. A 4th girl narrowly escapes death, crawling out of the store to collapse in the snow. 15 years later, an eerily similar slaughter happens at an ice cream store, leaving 3 dead teen girls and a 4th unconscious. Ella, the lone survivor from Blockbuster, now a therapist, is called in to help the lone survivor.

This book will definitely appeal to fans of James Patterson, with its choppy, short sentences and somewhat cliffhanger endings.

Glaringly, though, the author does not seem to have much knowledge of police, FBI agents, women, pregnant women, teens, and teen girls--most characters do not progress much beyond tropey caricatures. Even Bob, the shining light of Every Last Fear, was reduced to a dopey house husband (nothing wrong with being a house husband, this is an issue with Bob's characterization). Ignoring the fact that most women do not make it to 38 weeks pregnant with twins, there is just no way Keller was running around doing all those things with little to no after effects. I guess good for him for avoiding her giving birth in the middle of the denouement?

3 stars because I couldn't put the book down for the last 1/3 of it...though I'm not sure if it's because I was invested in what was going on with the book or wanting to see what ridiculous thing the author was going to do next.

HELLO YOU BEAUTIFUL TWISTY THRILLER!!!

I seriously cannot wait until march 2022 when you all can read this one - it’s my favorite thriller of the year oh my gosh! plan a day, don’t answer your phone, and read this all in one go because you will NOT be able to put it down!!!!

december 31, 1999. a mass murder of young teens at a blockbuster store with one survivor. 20 years later, ella still doesn’t know how or why she survived that attack, but she’s fielding way more questions than it’s worth when another attack of the same caliber happens at a local ice cream shop. one survivor with no idea why she’s still alive.

and you can all see where this is going, right? was the killer from 1999 really caught or was it all just another ruse in the larger game to play?

this one had me flipping pages faster than ever before - I just HAD to know if all of my predicted twists turned out the way I guessed. I may be a thriller sleuth (and guessed some of the twists right away), but I found out that I didn’t even care. they played out in such complex orders that I was silently screaming at 2am :’)

every last fear wasn’t it for me so I’m so happy I was gifted this new one to give it another go. faith = restored.

thank you to netgalley and minotaur books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. you guys don’t want to miss this one - coming march ‘22

wine pairing: bordeaux red blend
rating: 4.5 stars