I loved this book. As a special Ed teacher however this book would not be suited for my younger students. I will highly recommend it for my book clubs as well as for our local library members being I am one of the board member. This book was very well written and kept my attention. I did not want to put it down!

A group of friends goes missing at the same time their parents are visiting them at college for parents weekend. I enjoyed that this one had short chapters, multiple POV's, and was a quick read. There were a lot of characters, so I feel like they were difficult to keep straight at times. There were a few twists and turns throughout this one -- some that I saw coming and some I didn't. Overall, I found this one enjoyable. If you're looking for a quick read, set on a college campus, this would be a good one to pick up.

The only thing worse, to a typical college freshman, than having their parents come for a visit, is having everyone’s parents on campus to visit.

In other words? The dreaded Parents Weekend... full of assorted activities for students and parents alike, beginning with the opening night dinner, when groups of parents and their kids mingle.

But for five families—who’ve traveled from all over the U.S. to see how their offspring are coping with freshman life—that dinner takes an unexpected turn... when not one of their kids shows up.

Is it just a matter of irresponsible teens, acting out? Perhaps some sort of fraternity/sorority hazing ritual they’re fulfilling? Or... something else??

That’s the million-dollar question on everyone’s mind in Alex Finlay’s latest thriller, Parents Weekend.


At small, private Santa Clara University, located on the coast of Northern California, freshmen are divided into small “pods” within their residence halls, to encourage friendships in the new environment.

One of those pods, whose members all live in Campisi Hall, has bonded well. Handsome Blane Roosevelt, from D.C., has embraced the California lifestyle. New Yorker Stella Maldonado oozes self-confidence and charm. Felix Goffman, the rare local, is a shy, considerate, scholarship kid. L.A.-native Libby Akana is a pleaser and overachiever. And Mark Wong, who reveals little of his background, is the prankster of the bunch.

The parents, of course, are vastly different—from their children, as well as from one another—and feeling awkward, without benefit of the kids that would’ve united them. So, they take a page out of (most) college-students’ handbooks... breaking the ice via trays of tequila shots, before dinner and drinks.

Annoyances at their absent offspring are—understandably—somewhat muted, for the rest of the evening.

When the next day dawns—and wanes—with nary one of the kids showing up... not calling, texting, or anything... the parents begin to worry, once more.

But, when word hits campus that another student—a grade or two ahead—has been discovered at a nearby beach, dead, well... that’s when panic sets in, hard.

It’s also when the students’ disappearances become a national media frenzy... and when newly-relocated FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller gets pulled from her nearby office onto the scene.

For Sarah, who has two grade-school-aged children of her own, there couldn’t be a more important—or more terrifying—case... and she’ll stop at nothing to try to bring those missing kids back to their families.


Parents Weekend is, at its core, your basic missing persons story. Finlay does some very clever things, though, to make it feel modern and fresh.

First, the five students come across as very real, very believable characters. He nails all of the angst, uncertainty, frustrations, temptations, and petty sniping so common among college freshmen.

He also gives us an intimate look at their lives and the family relationships (child-to-parent, and parent-to-parent), which is helpful in understanding why all of them do the things they do.

Probably the coolest thing, for me, that Finlay does lies in his structuring of the book. Each chapter either concerns the missing kids (going back and forth in time), or one of the sets of parents. (So, a chapter that’s going to focus on, say, Libby’s parents/family, is headed, “The Akanas”.)

It’s a device that makes it immediately clear who he’s focusing on for the next several pages—whose POV we’ll be getting—and it also gives us handy little brackets, to easily remember what we’ve already read about them.

Even better, he doesn’t just reserve this technique for the students’ families—he begins chapters dealing with Special Agent Sarah (and/or her family) with “The Kellers”, thus making her family life equally relevant to us, as well as to the case.

Of course, it’s crucial that the Big Reveal at book’s end seems “right”, given what we’ve been told and learned in all those previous pages... and happily, it does, with Finlay nailing the ending.

Parents Weekend was a treat to read... the action, confusion, and all of the suspicions kept me hooked from the first few pages.

If you’re looking for engaging, fast-paced suspense—in an unusual setting—this should definitely find its way onto your shortlist!
~GlamKitty



[My sincere thanks to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are, as always, entirely my own.]

Alex Finlay is back with a thriller where every family has its secrets:

It's Parents Weekend, that one time during the year where the parents come to college and check up on their kids. It's supposed to be a time of reconnecting, meeting the friends they have been hanging out with and maybe a nice dinner. This was supposed to happen at a small private school in California, instead the night turns into a nightmare with five kids disappearing without a trace and the clock is ticking down to if they will find them before it is too late.

I have been reading Finlay's book and Agent Keller from the beginning, and I love that she is back in this book and a different capacity. She has totally moved away from financial crimes but I love that she still has that mind in her tenacity of look for data. If you have not read and books with Agent Keller, that is okay, while there is a sentence or two that relate back to other books featuring her, you do not need to read them to understand this book. I will say that because there are multiple POV in this book you may not feel the connection to Agent Keller or any of the characters as they do not get a lot of page time.

There are a few things that you need to know before going into this book, if you like short chapters this is for you, the chapters are only a few pages long at most. There are quite a few POV (and if you have read other books by Finlay this will not be a surprise for you), six families to be exact plus some POV from the college students as well. So if you do not like multiple POV this book will not be for you, but i do think that Finlay does a good job of keeping them unique so that it was not confusing

I love that this book was full of secrets. Everyone and every family seemed to have a secret that they were keeping from other family members and each has hope that theirs will not be discovered. I enjoyed how all of these secrets interfered with the investigation as each one comes to light it needs to be investigated for a connection. This felt very real to me, and the whole no stone unturned in order to kind the college students. I will say I was able to figure who was responsible, but Finlay does a great job in have lots of twist, turns and red herrings along the way. I enjoyed how each new piece of evidence was discovered even if it was relevant or not.

This was a fun ride, not my favourite in the Agent Keller series (The Night Shift is my favourite so far) as I felt she had less page time than I would like, but still a solid read that I think that people will enjoy whether they have read Finlay before or not.

Enjoy!!!

I am a big fan of Alex Finlay's books, always have been, and Parents Weekend was no disappointment. I enjoyed the multiple POV's that the story was told from, and the way that the story unfolded. It was fast paced, twisty and high stakes. I also loved that FBI agent Sarah Keller returned to lead the investigation.

It’s parents weekend at a small private school in Northern California. The parents and their children are supposed to be meeting for a dinner at The Hut. As the parents meet for dinner, the children never show. At first, everyone chalks it up to kids being kids. But soon it becomes clear that it’s more than that. And with a recent student death, it’s time to take it seriously and call in reinforcements.. the FBI. Five students missing. What could have happened to them? And why have they disappeared?

This was another fantastic book by Finlay. We see the re-introduction of Agent Sarah Keller who was in The Night Shift and another one of Finlay’s books. Though, this isn’t a series and you definitely don’t need to read those books in order to read this book. This book is engaging and fast paced. Finlay keeps the mystery going as Agent Keller and the rest of the team keep looking for leads, dispelling leads, and try to find more clues.

There are a lot of red herrings in this book, and it’s filled with family drama. But when it boils down to revealing who was behind the kids missing, I never put it together. I may not be the best judge of that as I’m not usually good at figuring out what’s going on!

I will say this: there are a lot of characters and the book is told from multiple points of view. At times, I forgot who was who (especially in the beginning). So while I understand this choice made sense for this book, it was a little much for me.

Otherwise, super enjoyable!

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC.

One student is dead and 5 more are missing as Parents Weekend gets underway at a small private college in Northern California. We follow multiple people as we piece together what happened to "The Five."

Overall, this was pretty good. Pretty fast paced with a good storyline.

Alex Finlay's books are always an auto read for me, so I was so excited for the chance to read Parents Weekend! Parents Weekend grabbed me from the first chapter and I couldn't put it down! I really enjoyed the variety of characters and the twists and turns troughout this mystery for the missing five college kids. You will love Parents Weekend!

Five families come together for Parent's Weekend at a small Northern California college campus. The first night they are all supposed to meet up at a restaurant for dinner and the opening festivities. But none of the five kids show up. The parents aren't too concerned at first, thinking it's just college kids out partying. But by the second night, they know that something is definitely wrong. As they all gather to search for the kids we start to see that there are lots of secrets and everyone is hiding something. There were a lot of characters and they were definitely hard to keep track of for awhile, but I finally got them all straight. This is a fast paced, popcorn type of thriller that was a lot of fun for a Summer read. I liked getting to see the return of FBI Special Agent, Sarah Keller from his previous books.

This is an author that I can always count on for a solid thriller read. He will continue to be an auto-read for me. Thank you to @minotaurbooks and @netgalley for this #gifted copy. It's out now, so add this one to your Summer Beach Bag!

Five families gather on the first night of Parents Weekend to celebrate their kids and their capstone course. At first, the parents think their kids are being kids and skipped dinner for a party. But as the hours pass and no one hears from their kids, they start to worry. Campus police is called in and they are particularly on edge after the death of another student, Natasha, just days prior. As rumors swirl and podcasters talk, more and more about these students come to light and soon people start to wonder if Natasha really did drown innocently, or if these students were somehow involved, leading to their abduction.

Alex Finlay is an auto-buy for me and this book was no different. I loved the pacing of the story and how the mystery unfolded. The amount of characters was a little confusing at first, but once I nailed down which kid was which, I loved the story. I read through it in two sittings and will continue to keep this author on my insta-buy list.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have been a fan of Finlay's ever since his first book debuted. I've read all of his books so far and they've all been four or five stars for me. I love that each book has a whopper of a twist that I never see coming.

That being said, this book was a bit of a let down for me. Now, it was still a good book and I enjoyed it, but it didn't leave me shocked and it wasn't a jaw dropper. I'm glad I read it, but it wasn't his best book to date. However, it was still a good and unique story and he does a great job of changing up the story lines with each book. He doesn't follow the same formula with each novel and I appreciate that!

I loved Parents Weekend (I have two kids in college and attend them regularly)...No one has died yet.
A lovely weekend of dinners and mingling for the families of five capstone group students, what could be more fun? When none of the students come to the first dinner, people start to wonder, when none of them answer their phones the wonder turns to panic. Another student was found dead by accidental drowning in a local sea-cave and this heightens the fear and the police department and FBI are called in to help. Agent Sarah Keller, recently relocated to the bay area answers the call. She starts with the frats and learns that two of the missing five borrowed a van. This leads Keller towards the expansive nature preserve nearby. The tide's coming in, secrets are surfacing and family bonds are being tested. How far will these parents go to conceal their own sins and how far will they go to save their children?

I enjoyed this thriller told from the perspectives of 5 families. The parents are there for a small college parent's weekend-where are their students/children? It didn't move as fast as it could, but it is still a great summer beach read.

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay grabbed me from the prologue, as a group of college students run to a sea cave, fearful for their lives.
The story actually begins three days earlier as families arrive at Santa Clara University for Parents’ Weekend activities with their sons and daughters. The stage is set with the back stories of the several students’ families, with all the drama often faced in the lives of couples, partners, parents and children. The story morphs into a missing person’s case when a coed disappears. FBI special agent Sarah Keller, a beloved character from Finlay’s previous novels, happens to be in the area visiting her dad and gets involved in the investigation.
The race to solve the case showcases Keller’s focused crime-solving and is nicely intertwined with the other continuing saga of the students’ actions and the effects on their families.
Finlay knows how to pace a thriller, with shorter chapters and plot tension leading to the exciting conclusion!
He captured the physical setting and atmosphere of SCU and Santa Clara perfectly, especially its proximity to the north coast beaches, and managed to juggle the stories of 5+ families deftly as the story arc went from a cheerful event to a criminal investigation.
Readers of police procedurals with strong family drama will be pleased with this novel!

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

This was ok. It wasn't very suspenseful and was pretty easy to figure out. The multiple POV were ok but I really only enjoyed the FBI agent in terms of moving the story along. The rest just felt forced. The narrator was good, however. Hope you have better luck!

Parents' Weekend comes out next week on May 6, 2025 and you can purchase HERE.

They run. Run with a primal fear knowing that if they slow down, all five of them will die.

It's hard to think in this fog of terror.

Earlier this week their biggest fears were a mom finding his stash of edibles, a dad finding those condoms in her dorm room nightstand. A mom finding her fake ID. A dad finding his crumpled exam with the D circled in red.

But now, with sand in their shoes, waves crashing, the bonfire burning in the distance, they leave those trivialities behind.

And they run.

They reach the narrow path to the sea cave, link hands in a chain as they navigate the perilous waves and jagged rocks into the hollow.
Huddled in the gloom they stay still as stone. Thoughts swirling, they wonder what clues the police will find. The group chat? The social-media posts? The video of the horror that brought them here?

Told from multiple viewpoints in past and present of 5 different families whose son/daughter went missing right before a parents weekend dinner that all were going to attend together. If you liked Finlay's previous books you would probably like this one although I found it a bit on the weaker end compared to his others. Premise was interesting enough to hold my attention. Fun popcorn thriller good for a beach read.

I've really come to like this series from Alex Finlay. Although I found this one predictable, I enjoyed the alternating POV throughout the novel. I'm curious what mystery he'll put Agent Kelly in next. Hopefully we'll find out next year.

Lots of moving parts here, and I’m not sure all of them were necessary. This could’ve used more of a backstory on some pieces.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

I also received a copy of this in audio form and I have to say I much more enjoyed this than audio. It's very fast paced and with the amount of POVs, it's much easier to follow in ebook form. There were definitely some suspenseful moments that really kept my attention. I love Alex Finlay's storytelling and this one didn't disappoint!

Alex Finlay’s latest release, If Something Happens to Me, was one of my absolute favorite reads of 2024! I’ve come to expect gripping, fast-paced thrillers from him, and this one didn’t disappoint. His books are always an auto-read for me, not only because they’re compelling, but also because I can finish them fairly quickly.

When I started Parent’s Weekend, I have to admit I was a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of characters introduced early on. With so many students and their parents in the mix, I was concerned I’d have a hard time keeping track of who was who. At first, it felt like a lot to juggle, but thankfully, as the plot developed, the families began to differentiate themselves more clearly.

While many readers reportedly unraveled the mystery earlier in the book, I was genuinely dumbfounded when the twist was revealed. I love when an author can still surprise me, and this twist landed perfectly, it made me rethink everything I’d read up to that point. Finlay masterfully laid the groundwork, and the payoff was incredibly satisfying.