3.5/5

As a big Alex Finlay fan I’m sad to say that I liked this less than I thought. It had a lot of his signature moves, international chases, police procedural insights, some big twists, etc. but something didn’t quite clock like it usually does. The book has a slow start and I found myself almost DNFing quite a few times before it picked up about 40% in.

However, even after picking up, I found that ISHTM lacked the thrilling nature of some of Finlay’s previous works. I didn’t find myself wanting to race through the book and found I could walk away and forget about it before forcing myself back in. Most of the main characters (Shane aside) felt one dimensional and in some ways they didn’t matter as much as their roles in the plot did. Eventually the plot became predictable but I still enjoyed the journey.

I don’t want to spoil anything so be warned!

I will say my favorite part of the book was realizing the timing of each story. That was quite brilliant and really brought everything together! But it kind of fell almost once everyone caught up with one another.

I’ll admit, I hold Alex Finlay at a higher standard than your traditional crime thriller so this my review may not match others. I’d still recommend for any thriller fans and for any Finlay fans and I’m still excited to see what he brings next!

An old case gets rekindled when a car is found submerged in a lake with two bodies inside. What then follows is a reveal told in multiple POVs including a detective with the local PD, the boyfriend who witnessed the original crime, and some other questionable cast members. I thought this was well written, fast paced, and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. We don’t find out how some of the POVs connect until about halfway through and I was shocked on that reveal! This book also has super short and bingeable chapters which makes it a quick and easy read! Overall a solid, fun and twisty read, though I was able to catch one of the twists at the end.

This one was a 5 star one for me! It was fast paced and I could not figure out the "twist"

Multiple story line and POV kept this one moving fast!

This was a great book. I loved watching all the pieces come together and how everything worked in the last and present. It is definitely worth the read!

Mobsters, mysteries, and lots of intrigue! I can’t brag enough about this one. I was hooked from the very first page. I think Finlay’s writing is brilliant! The intersecting viewpoints, character development, everything he writes is amazing. 5 stars!

Apparently I forgot to post this review. I really enjoyed If Something Happens To Me. It had some interesting twists and turns I wasn’t expecting and also had some originality

First book by this author. It was a good read but the chapters with Ryan POV was kind of annoying. I can't pinpoint why but i he was kind of annoying. The book overall was fine. The ending was good but there were parts of the book that was boring and just dragged on
There were several POVs and we see how they are all associated by the end. I just think no one really thinks out talks like these characters. The mobsters, The 20 something year olds or even the accountant. It just didn't really fit. The Audiobook wasn't any better. It sounded off the entire time.
The book was just a little over the top. I learned a new term, "popcorn thriller". This is exactly what it was.

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Ryan only remembers a blow to his head and his girlfriend’s screams as she was yanked from his car. After five long years without any trace of Ali and lingering suspicions that Ryan was somehow involved with her disappearance, Ryan has changed his last name and is completing a law degree. However, while in Italy on a school-sponsored trip, he spots a man he remembers from that horrible night. Then the chase begins across several continents, as Ryan attempts to piece together his fragmented memories.

First of all, I really enjoyed this book. Once again, Alex Finlay has written a book with an intricate and interesting plot. Even though there are multiple timelines and multiple points of view, Mr Finlay keeps everything flowing and organized.

The twists are well-timed, the story moves at a good pace, and all the surprising reveals make perfect sense. I’d classify If Something Happens to Me as a smart mystery. It has a clever, well-conceived plot and it requires the reader to pay close attention to every chapter. It was easy to become totally involved in the story and its characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and, once again, this author didn’t disappoint. Thank you, Mr Finlay! NetGalley provided an advance copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Another phenomenal book that I could not put down. Plenty of surprises and I liked the different POV’s. Well thought out and well written!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

This was the first novel I have read by author Alex Finley and I certainly plan to read more in the future. I thought this was a fast paced thriller/mystery novel with like-able characters and an easy to follow plot line.

This novel grabbed my interest very early on and I wanted to continue reading this book non-stop until the very end. I did find myself very slightly confused at times due to each chapter switching to a different POV and location, however, the reader is guided by each chapter starting with the location of the POV for that particular chapter.

I thought the twists were intriguing and made sense to the plot. The twists were not predictable, but also didn’t come completely out of left field.

Overall an interesting thriller and would recommend to someone looking for a fast-paced read!

A gripping thriller that follows Ryan Richardson, years later after a brutal attack and the disappearance of his high school sweat heart, Ali. In attempts to move on he has changed everything about his life in the hopes of moving on, but with the discovery of Ali's car years later he is sucked right back into the mystery along with newly appointed Deputy Sherriff Poppy McGee. This book is full of twists and turns and will have you crossing continents just to find answers.

This is my second book but this author and definitely not my last! At first I had a bit of trouble keeping track of the characters and multiple story lines but once everything connected I was purely shocked! The development of this thriller from multiple angles was flawless. The short chapters kept me on my toes and I didn’t figure out the twist until it was about to happen! A really fun read

Yes yes yes!

NOW WE ARE TALKING ALEX FINLAY! This is a masterclass on thrillers because holy crap did I have no clue what was going on half the time (in a good way) and couldn't put this down! No notes just read it!!!!

This is my first read by this author and I’ll definitely be reading and purchasing more. A fast pace thriller that had me hooked all the way through. Some of the twists I predicted and some I didn’t, just how I like a thriller!

Honestly, this book was not for me. Sounded good in theory but took me literal months to get through. It was very boring and kinda campy.

This one had me hooked from the very start! It went off the rails a little bit throughout with a little bit of an Eat, Pray Love vibe happening in the middle, but it was still a great read.

This book was a whirlwind of excitement! Ryan relived one night from hell over and over where he was on the "lover's lane" with his then-girlfriend when she was kidnapped and she was never recovered again. He lived with that shadow of suspicion that he had killed her or had done something to her and he even fought in the courts because of that suspicion. Well, when Ryan is on a trip abroad his father calls him with some devastating news, they found Allison's car but they found it with two men dead on the inside.
Poppy was recently discharged from the military, she went back home to live with her dad and become a deputy for the local sheriff's office. When Allison's car was discovered since she is the new deputy and doesn't have any current cases she is placed on the case and to go through the crime tips. Poppy starts following the leads and with the eerie statements that different witnesses gave her and Allison's friends, she starts having to circle back and look at the whole case in a different light. Then Ryan and Poppy start working together over a phone call and then everything is so much more sinister and Poppy realizes that the case started closer to home than she had ever imagined!
Wow! I really enjoyed this rollercoaster ride! I was on the edge of my seat the last half because I had to know what was going on and what had actually happened! This is a great fast read to enjoy on a weekend! Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the extraordinary opportunity to read and review this one!

4.5 stars! I couldn’t stop listening! Over the years, Alex Finlay, has become a go to author for me whenever I wanted to read or listen to a well written, edge of my seat, good psychological thriller. When I saw that he had written a new book, If Something Happens To Me, I was excited. I listened to the audiobook that was well narrated by Helen Laser, John Pirhalla and Paul Dateh. It was extremely well plotted, fast paced and so compelling. As I already mentioned, it was hard to pull myself away once I started listening to it. The characters were easy to like and they felt quite convincing. If Something Happens To Me was set in both Leavenworth, Kansas, in various places in Europe annd in Philadelphia and was alternately told from the POV of Ryan Richardson, Deputy Sheriff Poppy McGee and Shane O’Leary.

From the moment Ryan Richardson and Alison Lane met they were destined to become boyfriend and girlfriend. Ali had transferred into Ryan’s high school when she was about fifteen years old. Now both in their senior year of high school, they were both about to embark upon a new journey. Graduation from high school was around the corner and college was on the horizon for both of them. It was not surprising that they ended up at a place called Lover’s Lane on one such night, just days before graduation. They had chosen a secluded spot under a familiar tree where they spread out a blanket. Unfortunately, Mother Nature chose to pick that exact moment to produce a threatening rain storm. Ali and Ryan ran as fast as they could back to Ali’s father’s BMW to get out of the rain. To Ryan’s and Ali’s shock and surprise, they were not alone. Someone was waiting for them by the car and proceeded to hit Ryan over the head. The blow was hard enough to make Ryan loose consciousness but not before he recognized a very distinguishing feature about his attacker. When Ryan came to, Ali and the car were nowhere to be found. Ryan was suspected of having something to do with Ali’s disappearance but there was never any hard evidence to confirm that. Many people in Leavenworth, Kansas had their suspicions about Ryan. There was a cloud of guilt that hung over Ryan from whatever happened that night. He blamed himself for not being able to protect Ali better that night. It was hard for Ryan to escape the constant whispering behind his back, rumors that spread and the ongoing speculation about Ali’s disappearance. Ryan was forced to change his last name so he could try to live a normal life and try and put that awful night behind him.

Five years later, Ryan found himself in Italy with fellow students from his law school when Ryan received a very unexpected call from his father. Ryan’s father informed him that he had just been learned from reliable sources that Ali’s car had been discovered at the bottom of the lake in their hometown of Leavenworth. More surprisingly, though, was the discovery of two bodies of unknown men in what had been Ali’s father’s car. Ali was absent. She had not been found in the car but her handbag had been found. Situated inside Ali’s handbag was an envelope in a plastic bag. It was amazing that the plastic bag protected the envelope for all those years. Upon examination, it was noted that the outside of the envelope read, If Something Happens To Me. It was verified that it had been written by Ali. Had Ali suspected that someone was trying to hurt her or abduct her? As Ryan learned all this new information about Ali, he saw someone who was vaguely familiar to him. Ryan realized that he was looking at the man who attacked him that night and was probably responsible for whatever happened to Ali. Was he right? Had Ryan really seen that man? Why was that man in Italy? Why had he appeared now when Ali’s car had just been discovered?

Just before the discovery of the car that Ali and Ryan had been driving five years ago, Poppy McGee had returned home to Leavenworth, Kansas. Poppy had been in the Army but was discharged much to her embarrassment. Back at home, tasked with the responsibility of caring for her father who had been diagnosed with cancer, she had been hired as the deputy sheriff. The sheriff had asked Poppy to follow up on leads in the case that involved the car associated with Ali’s disappearance. As Poppy began to go over the old evidence that had been gathered and collected pertaining to this case, she became convinced that it had not been handled properly all those years ago. What would Poppy uncover? Who could she trust to help her unravel her suspicions?

I felt that If Something Happens To Me was one of Alex Finlay’s better thrillers. It was right up there with Every Last Fear and The Night Shift for me. I felt that the character development was believable and well thought out. The short chapters were appreciated and I enjoyed all the twists and turns that Alex Finlay included. If Something Happens To Me was suspenseful and kept me guessing until the end. The ending was satisfying and tied all the loose ends together in a good way. If Something Happens To Me was about revenge, repaying debts, well hidden secrets, father/daughter and mother/son relationships, the importance of family and relying on instincts. I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook of If Something Happens To Me by Alex Finlay and highly recommend it.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to the audiobook of If Something Happens To Me by Alex Finlay through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent mystery. I loved the premise and the surprises throughout. Great character building and plot development.

This book made me feel like I traveled the UK (is that right) from Tuscany to Paris this book took me on a journey. This multiple POV tale was one that I could not put down. I read it over the course of a few days. The characters were engaging and the story kept me on my toes. I can not wait to check out more from Alex Finlay.