I was happy to have the opportunity to listen to the audio of "If Something Happens to Me". I've enjoyed Alex Finlay's previous novels so I was excited to get started on this one too.

I listened to this in just a few sittings. It's one of those audiobooks where I kept stopping what I was doing just to listen closely. I often fall asleep listening to audiobooks, even ones that I really enjoy. Not this one though!

A great storyline with excellent characters! Terrific twists and turns that I never saw coming!

Another hit from Alex Finlay!

5 Stars!!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an audio galley of this book for review.

Finlay weaves this story together from several distinctive points of view, across separate timelines, skillfully leaping back and forth to dole out clues and reveal what really happened the night a pair of high school sweethearts were attacked leaving one missing, presumed dead and the other forever tainted by accusations he killed the missing girl. It's an interesting dip into the psychology of crime and a gentle indictment of the media/public which convicts in the court of public opinion whenever a sensational crime gets splashed across the headlines. An enjoyable and quick read.

If Something Should Happens To Me
Alex Finlay

5 years ago Ryan and his girlfriend, Ali were attacked. Ali and her car went missing and everyone thought Ryan had something to do with it. Ryan has hazy memories of what happened, including his girlfriend being yanked out of the car and her screams. Now, Ryan has changed his name and entered law school. While on a Europe trip, his father calls him letting him know that Ali’s car has been found. Inside the car is a cryptic message in Ali’s handwriting saying “If something happens to me…”. Inside the car were two other bodies of men. Now everyone is trying to figure out who these men are and what this note means.

I found this book fast paced, gripping, and relatively easy to follow once we get a hang of who is who. There are multiple narrators, making it easier to distinguish the characters. This thriller book has it all murder, mystery, and twists!

🎧I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a thriller with short chapters, who-dun-it mystery, and multiple POVs.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🎧

Thank you @macmillan.audio for the free ALC in exchange for my own opinions.

#MacAudio2024

A perfect thriller! This story is fast paced and hooks you from the very beginning. You will not want to put this book down.

There are three storylines that are all good that are eventually brought together. Each of the stories have great characters that are slowly developed as the story is told. The story covers five years and travels to multiple locations - Kansas, Pennsylvania, England, France and Italy. The story starts in Kansas when a high school couple are out together - Ryan and Ali. As the author introduces characters it is not easy at first to tell the good guys from the bad guys. There is tension and twists in the story that keep you reading.

I listened and read this book in one day. I love it when I have the audiobook and the ebook so I can keep reading or listening. The narrators of the audiobook did a great job - Helen Laser, John Pirhalla and Paul Dateh.

Read or listen to this book to find out what happens to Ali and Ryan. You don't want to miss this thriller. Plus you need to find out the details about the title of the book.

Thank you @minotaur_books, @macmillan_audio and @netgalley for the copy of If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay.

I can see why this book has rave reviews- short chapters, fast paced and such likable characters. I felt like I was watching an action packed mafia movie! Grab the popcorn!
I really enjoyed the multiple POV, listening to the audiobook was fantastic! Each character had a different voice and I loved that. It helped keep everything clear and organized.
With that, it was slightly hard to keep track of all of the characters and their stories. My mind was reeling with how the stories would all relate/come together. Listening to this was very beneficial to keep me on track.
I assumed this would be a pretty straight forward story and boy was I wrong! I loved the different twists and how everything came together! I had high hopes and what a seamless ending! 3.5 ⭐️ rounding up to 4.

Poppy, a young sheriff’s deputy in Kansas, is working her first case after being dismissed from the military. Soon she discovers that the car they found with two dead bodies in the local lake is linked to an unsolved missing persons case from when she was younger. Neither of the bodies belong to Alison, the missing teen, but she has left a note that simply says “if something happens to me”. Poppy needs to find Ryan, the suspect she was with on that fatal night.
Alison went missing years ago while out on a date with then boyfriend, Ryan. He can’t remember much from that night, but knows that a man grabbed him from the car and Ali has never been seen again. Ryan has dealt with rumors all his life, but he had nothing to do with her disappearance. Now, Ryan is vacationing in Tuscany, but his world comes to a crashing halt when he sees the man that destroyed his life all those years ago. Can he track him down and finally find out what happened to Ali all those years ago?
Overall rating 3/5
I was hooked at the beginning of the book and was really investing in the character dynamics. However, the middle of the book was so distracting from all the different story lines and timelines that I found it hard to stay connected with the main characters. I do however, like how the story lines converged at the end of the book.

*Thank you to Alex Finlay, Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio book copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

Buckle up and get ready for a wild ride if you pick up a copy of Alex Finlay’s new thriller, If Something Happens to Me! This is a book that kicks off with a bang and is an adrenaline rush to the very end.

When the story opens, we meet Ryan and Alison, who are making out in a car near a lake in their hometown when the unthinkable happens. Ryan is knocked unconscious, and when he wakes up, Alison and her car are gone without a trace. All Ryan can remember is a fuzzy image of a man who is missing a finger on each hand.

Ryan is treated with suspicion but never charged due to lack of evidence. Ryan relocates and is eventually able to put his past behind him. That is, until five years later when his dad calls to tell him someone finally found Alison’s car. In the car were two dead guys and a cryptic note from Alison with “If Something Happens to Me” written on the envelope. As if that weren’t enough to shake Ryan up, he also swears he sees the man with the missing fingers from that night. This sends him on a mission to find out the truth about what really happened to Allison.

The story is told from Ryan’s POV, but then we also get the POVs of a young sheriff’s deputy who is working her very first case, as well as the POV of a mobster in Philadelphia who has also experienced a tragedy. These three POVs are seemingly unrelated at first, and it was just so satisfying to follow along through all of the twists and turns and watch their stories gradually intertwine into a shocking reveal at the end.

The audiobook is narrated by Helen Laser, John Pirhalla, and Paul Dateh, and I thoroughly enjoyed their narration. Their distinct voices made it very easy to distinguish between the different characters and to follow each character’s path through the story. I listened at my usual 1.75 very comfortably.

I've enjoyed Finlay's previous novels, but this one was lacking something. Compelling characters, maybe? I can't quite put my finger on why, but this book didn't grip me in the same way. I struggled to actually care what happened, the main twist happened too early and was entirely too predictable to help drive the story. Everything after the twist is still thrillers, but it was just lacking. I actually had to replay some of the middle chapters several times because I just got bored and tuned it out. The audiobook narration was great, but it didn't help me stay engaged, so maybe this was more of a "me" problem since I'm in "teacher's-first-week-of-summer-break zombie mode". Maybe I'll try this one again in late summer and update my review accordingly.

Thanks to the publisher, author, and Netgalley for the advance copy of this novel.

If Something Happens to Me is the latest thriller from Alex Finlay, and once again he has knocked it out of the park. I’ve become such a fan of his work. I was lucky enough to not only read an arc of this book but I also had the chance to listen to an advanced copy of the audio version. And I can easily say that whether you choose to read or listen to this one, I have little doubt you’ll enjoy this one. I’d love to know how Alex plots his books. This is a complex tale and Finlay weaves it together like a master. The intro will grab you, but then when the book truly starts off you’ll feel as if you are reading three different stories, all interesting and yet they will in no way feel interconnected. But when they all come together…wow. A young man haunted by memories of the horrible night when his entire world got turned upside down, leaving his girlfriend missing and him accused of murder. A car pulled from a lake with two bodies inside, but not the bodies everyone expected. This is a tight, twisting, and fully engaging thriller. Like all of his work, If Something Happens to Me seems perfect for film/tv translation. Someone needs to make that happen ASAP. I’d like to thank Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of the audio version of If Something Happens to Me.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3DAEHD06MS60Z/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

After a horrible night, a police investigation and a lot of media scrutiny, Ryan Richardson changes his last name in order to leave the past behind. For 5 years, he thinks about the night his ex-girlfriend Ali disappears while on a date with him, as well as, the face of the man who took her. On a summer trip abroad in Italy, Ryan receives news that Ali's car has been found in a lake.

While listening to the book, I found that there were a couple confusing points where the past meets the present but its not very clear to me. Otherwise, I thought the book was great, I found it engaging with gripping parts that really pulled me into the story. There were definitely a few twists that I didn't see coming.

The narration is a full cast, and I think they did a wonderful job portraying the characters. the narrators and the storyline helped keep me engaged. I liked that there were different POVs mixed in along with the 3 main characters.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to review this Audiobook.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6549435220

I think this book may have been better reading it. There was a lot going on. A girl is kidnapped while with her boyfriend. They are seniors in high school. The boyfriend is suspected in her disappearance, but eventually cleared. He changes his name and ends up in law school. While on a trip to Italy, he sees the man who abducted his girlfriend.

This book is full of so much that it is, at time, on audio, hard to keep up. I enjoyed the plot and the mystery. I just think this book would be better read than listened to. It won't be my last Alex Finlay book.

If Something Happens to Me is super fast paced and action packed. It had short chapters and multiple point of view which made me fly right through it. All 3 points of view were engaging and easy to follow, I really enjoyed all of them. There was so much suspense and so many twists! It was truly like a puzzle trying to figure out what was happening. I really enjoyed the audiobook and each of the narrators. I would recommend this for a great summer mystery read!

In a post TTPD release world I haven’t been listening to many audiobooks. But when I got an advanced listening copy of If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay, I had to jump in.

We start out meeting Ryan whose girlfriend went missing years ago from Kansas and a mob boss from Philadelphia. How the heck are these stories going to tie in together? I don’t want to go into it too much for fear of giving it away. But just know it was an exciting wild ride. The moment I found out how these stories related and wove together- my jaw dropped. Alex Finlay has definitely earned his position as one of my favorite authors. If he writes it I’m going to read it.

As for the audiobook itself it was well done with great narrators. A bonus to me is when the audiobook can be sped up to over 2.5x without distorting the voices or making them sound like chipmunks. So this one was a win for me 👍🏻.

Book Review

If Something Happens to Me
Alex Finlay

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was absolutely captivating in the beginning. I was sucked in. I loved the air of suspense around what happened to Ali. There were so many times I was developing theories just to change my thoughts minutes later.

This was a well thought out book with a fun premise. I loved the dual timelines as well.

The only part that I wasn’t a fan of was the ending. I felt it lacking and I just couldn’t stop thinking about how it didn’t live up to the rest of the book.

Audio narration: I enjoyed the narration very much. He was clear and easy to understand and I was able to listen to about a 2x speed with no complications.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Loved this book! It took me a bit to figure out that there were two timelines while listening, and then to see how they intersected was a bit of a twist. The audio performance was enjoyable, and I will definitely read more by this author.

Advanced Listening Copy provided by NetGalley for review.

I really enjoyed this one. The audio is a full cast which is really helpful with so many POVs. It was a very fast read and feels like the author did a good job pulling twists and tying up ends that felt unexpected and needed, respectively. It’s pretty rare that a thriller gets higher than 3.5 stars for me and it’s usually bc it requires me to fully suspend my disbelief or the twists were super predictable. This was a solid 4/4.25

Intricately woven thriller that makes your heart pound with suspense. I thoroughly enjoyed this one by Finlay. Gotta love a good mob thriller. The audiobook was excellent!! With a full cast, you are completely sucked in!!

*Thank you partner @minotaur_books and @macmillan.audio for the #gifted e-galley and audiobook in exchange for an honest review.*

This audiobook was thrilling! I could not stop listening and the narration was superb! It has all the elements of a great story that kept me on the edge of my seat!!!

This is my first read of Alex Finley and I found the book very listenable!

Alison Lane and Ryan Richardson are high school sweethearts who are parked at a lover's lane when they are attacked, Ryan is knocked out and Alison is abducted. A lot of people think that Ryan killed Alison and got away with it because he had a good lawyer. He is harassed locally and when he goes away to college. He ultimately changes his name to avoid the notoriety. When we pick up with him he is in Italy on a trip with his law school cohorts as he finds out that Alison's car has been found in a lake with two dead male bodies inside. It's been five years.

In comes Poppy McGee, a new deputy sheriff who starts investigating what may have happened five years ago. It seems that both her father and her brother know more about Alison's disappearance than they have led her to believe. There is the sheriff who is a good friend of Poppy's father, the reason she got hired after leaving the Military Police. There is also a whole other story line from Philadelphia and a man who has mob connections and a bullied son. You know the stories will come together, it just takes a while to get there.

There are a lot of things going on in the story, some sad like the bullied teen but also the beautiful landscape of Italy, and a lot in between.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

By far my favorite aspect of this book was getting to listen to it on audio - the full cast was great and the 3 different points of view kept the story fast-paced and engaging. The one caveat is that the audio did make it a little harder to keep all the characters and their connections in line in my mind, especially where crossovers happened between different characters' chapters. It was just a lot of names to keep straight and I'm a rather visual person.

The plot wasn't groundbreaking per se; I don't think the point of the story was to shock you with reveals, but more to show the complex interweaving of multiple stories, lives, and desires. On that hand, I loved it! It was like there was a magnet buried in the pages of the book, drawing all these different pieces toward it, and you don't see how they all come together to form a whole until very close to the end.

There was one piece of the puzzle I wanted a little more clarity on.

The other main note is that If Something Should Happen to Me is written in a present-tense third person style, which came across really oddly at times. Very staccato? I'm not sure if it was the audio that made it stick out to me, but it grated on me for the first third of the story.

This was my first introduction to Alex Finlay's books, and I must say that I am intrigued to read more of his thrillers and may pick one up in the future!