Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc of this book. All
Opinions are my own.

This was good! I enjoyed it. I read a lot of romance, but I always love new to me authors and this was one. I enjoyed the writing style and think this was super good! Definitely intrigued to read more.

Parents Weekend is a fun, fast paced thriller! Alex Finlay always writes such great mysteries. The multiple pov’s was a little confusing at first, but became so much easier to understand who is who the further into the book I got. This book didn’t have a crazy plot twists like the authors other books, but I still really enjoyed it!
Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the chance to read this book

This was a very interesting plot, thought it was captivating and had me hooked from the beginning, pretty fast paced read, I didn't find the characters too despicable like other raters seemed to, but in my honest opinion it seemed pretty obvious from the beginning who had them, did it not?! I mean obviously the first part of the book was being mentioned for a reason so there was going to be a story there with the kids and a revenge plot?! I'm not sure why none of reviews i read said how predictable it was, but either way STILL a very enjoyable read, I could not get through the pages fast enough and I loved it.

Five college students are missing, and FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller returns to investigate the case. As always, Alex Finlay delivers a fast-paced, intricately plotted mystery full of suspects and red herrings. The Five, called by podcasters and TikTok sleuths, are missing. Secrets, suspicion, and motives come to light as the plot progresses. The story is told from different perspectives and time lines. Although there were many characters, they were distinct and somewhat easy to tell apart. There were plenty of twists along the way that kept me engaged. Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my copy.

The book Parents Weekend takes place during a parents' weekend at a college in California. Five students go missing that weekend, and it is uncertain if they are just partying or worse. The book goes back and forth between the perspectives of their students and parents, all of whom have something to hide. Finlay also brings back Special Agent Sarah Keller, a welcome presence in the book as an investigator. Overall, I would recommend the book to fans of Finlay as well as fans of mysteries.

This was not the summer thriller I was hoping for!! The plot was SO expected, nothing exciting or unique happened at all. Every single "twist" was so predictable and seemed so disjointed. The characters felt so flat and didn't come together at all. There were SO many moments in the book where it seemed like the author brought up random things (affairs, furry conventions, war role playing) just so they could make fun of them. I'm annoyed I read this whole thing, definitely don't recommend.

Alex Finlay knows how to write thrillers about students, if you take Parents Weekend and If Something Happens to Me into account.

When 5 students don't show up to dinner with their parents to celebrate the beginning of parents weekend, it's written off as irresponsible kids being irresponsible. However, when the next day arrives and the "The Five" still haven't shown up, the search for them begins.

This novel is full of suspense. I liked that the POVs were mostly from the parents' perspectives. I enjoyed being given the information at the same time the characters are, and being able to solve it alongside them, while still being surprised by twists and turns in the story.

🏫What a great book! From Page 1, I KNEW I would love this book. The first thing I liked about it was the format. Each chapter is titled with each family’s name in which the author was speaking of. There are quite a few characters but it was much easier to keep them straight and get to know them with this format. I looked forward to what the next family was going to experience because I knew it would come back around to their chapter again.

🏫A group of parents arrived at their children’s college but when it was time for dinner, none of the students arrived. The parents were concerned but collectively assumed they were just being teenagers and were out doing other things. They soon learned that was not the case.

🏫Let’s talk characters. Although some of the characters were a bit unlikable, on purpose by the author, I got to know them! This is the most important thing to me when reading a book. They were all interesting in their own right. We got a nice blend of careers, personalities, and family histories with this story.

🏫Chock-full of suspense, mystery, and messy family dynamics, this book was a win for me! It was interesting to me that I was so engaged and something felt familiar about the style of writing. In the acknowledgments, Finlay mentions many fabulous authors and I read all of their books too. I obviously have a particular reading style. So good!

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur books for the copy of this book.

During Parents Weekend at a prestigious California university, a group of students go missing, sparking a tense investigation that exposes dark secrets and fractured relationships. Told through multiple viewpoints, the story reveals how everyone’s truth is complicated by lies and hidden motives.

Parents Weekend is a fast-paced thriller featuring morally gray characters and multiple POVs that maintain high suspense throughout. The lush California campus setting perfectly contrasts the dark secrets lurking beneath the surface. With cliffhangers at nearly every chapter’s end and a surprising twist, this book is a compelling read. Alex Finlay is quickly becoming one of my must-read authors.

Read this if you like…
• Multiple points of view
• Morally gray characters
• Fast-paced, twisty thrillers
• Lush academic settings
• Seeing a glimpse of the lives of the wealthy and elite
• Books by Megan Miranda or Riley Sager
• Themes of privilege, secrets, moral ambiguity, trust and betrayal, identity, and the pressure of high expectations

Rating: 4.5/5 – An addictive thriller full of secrets and surprises.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for the eARC which will be published May 6 2025.

This book is the epitome of a popcorn thriller - addictive, fun, realistic characters, and lots of twists. I couldn't put it down, and the author skillfully pulled the characters and plots together to keep the surprises coming. The ending felt a little rushed, but overall I thought this was suspenseful and entertaining.

First and foremost, I love Finlay.

That being said, Parents Weekend was not for me. I’d say it was a slow burn but the burn never ever came. The overall plot was intriguing, but unfortunately it fell short. There could have been fewer characters, and those characters could have been a bit more developed. Was I entertained? Sure. But I felt like there was no real payoff.

If you enjoy fast-paced reads and complex characters, this one may not be for you.

The premise was interesting, college setting, parents weekend, 5 distinct families who are dealing with their own issues when their children disappear. I enjoyed the multiple points of views from the students to the parents. The parents were the most unlikable but they were interesting to follow. The FBI agent was the most likable and her storyline is the one that had the fastest pace. However, the students, who the story was centered around, were forgettable and they were not on page enough for the reader to care about their fates. The plot was meh, it made sense but there was no build-up, no twists, and overall felt uneventful .

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was such an interesting story as all of the parts came together to reveal what was really going on.

Five families show up for parent’s weekend at their children’s college. Five students fail to show up for dinner. And in the wake of finding the body of another missing student, the level of concern quickly rises.

Some criticism I read for this book was that it was difficult to follow so many characters. There are chapters about each of the 5 sets of parents, as well as POV from the missing children, and that of an investigator. Maybe it’s my ADHD brain, but I loved it and never felt lost about who was who. Each child and their family were very distinct and easy to follow, even while living through the same traumatic event.

The ending was rather predictable, by the time you got to it, it was satisfying to see if all come together and resolve. Definitely an enjoyable summer read!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

It is Parents Weekend at Santa Clara University, an expensive private college in California. Four sets of parents - including a successful plastic surgeon, a high-ranking State Department official, a well-known judge, and the admin to the SCU dean - face their worst nightmare when their children abruptly go missing. Secrets surface and rumors swirl as the FBI and Santa Clara Police Department investigate.

This was a quick, readable, purely plot-based popcorn thriller. With a large cast of characters and a plot that jumps around in time, this book is best read quickly in order to keep everything straight in your head. While not necessarily super memorable or inventive, this makes a great page-turner for an airport or a vacation.

Read this if: you are in the mood for a plot-based popcorn thriller.

Skip this if: you prefer a more literary mystery with robust character development.

Thank you to Netgalley, Alex Finlay and Minotaur Books for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a ride! It's parents weekend at an elite but small private college where five families are linked by secrets shared by their children. Parents include a prominent plastic surgeon, a powerful female politician, a celebrity lawyer, and an admin to the dean of the college. First, a student goes missing and is later found dead, now those friends who were with her the night she died have gone missing. Is their disappearance related to one of the parents? Did they have anything to do with their friend's death? The FBI brings in special agent Sarah Keller to help investigate and what she discovers is a web of secrets, theories, and betrayal.

I really enjoyed this one! It was a fast read. I did have to take notes to keep track of the characters, because you do get multiple viewpoints and timelines. Highly recommend!

A Slooooooooooooow burn, I found difficult to stay interested in. Alex Finlay has a gift for weaving the stories of various strangers together and throwing twists and turns that you never saw coming. My only complaint and the reason this book lost a star for me, was that it was a slower plot line than I gravitate toward.

It’s Parents Weekend at a private college in California. Multiple groups of parents have arrived to spend time with their children. A dinner is planned but none of the students show up & it becomes apparent they are missing. Is the disappearance related to the woman that died the previous week?

This book was ok. Lots of red herrings but it was very obvious to me who was responsible for the missing students.

Thanks to NetGalley & St.Martin’s Press for a copy of this book.

This book definitely had potential, but I found the key characters very hard to follow. There were a lot of moving parts throughout the book. The Five - a group of freshman at the college, were followed throughout the weekend. Eventually, the book wrapped up nicely and I was able to see the big picture, but due to the large number of characters, I found myself questioning who someone was versus really paying attention to the storyline. All in all, I did ultimately enjoy the book, but I'm not sure I would dive in to read it a second time.

"Parents Weekend" by Alex Finlay throws you right into a parent's worst nightmare: you're at your kid's college for a visit, and then... they vanish. Five students from the same dorm go missing, and suddenly what was supposed to be a fun weekend turns into a frantic search. The initial setup is definitely gripping, playing on that primal fear of something happening to your children.

Finlay introduces the five missing kids and their families, hinting that there's more going on with each of them than meets the eye. As the hours tick by with no word, the tension really builds, and the arrival of the police and the media just amps up the feeling of dread. You can feel the parents' panic and the growing sense that something is seriously wrong.

However, as the story progresses and we get more and more perspectives, it can feel a little like there are too many threads to keep track of. We delve into the parents' pasts, which is interesting, but sometimes it feels like it takes away from the main question of where the students are and what happened to them. While all the secrets and potential suspects are meant to keep you guessing, it occasionally makes it harder to stay focused on the central mystery.

"Parents Weekend" definitely has its suspenseful moments and a compelling initial idea. It explores the anxieties of being a parent and the secrets that families can keep. While the various storylines don't always come together as tightly as I'd hoped, it's still a decent thriller that will keep you turning the pages to find out what happened to those missing students.

★★★☆☆

What a fast paced, bingeable thriller! Mixed with messy family dynamics, an array of characters, and plenty of secrets, 𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙒𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙙 left me wanting more with every single chapter. This book had me on the edge of my seat and racing through to the end, I really did not want to put this down.

𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙒𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙙 is told through multiple different POVs including the missing students and their families, as well as Special Agent Sarah Keller (think — Olivia Benson from Law & Order: SVU). I found the multiple POVs at times a little confusing since there were so many, but also interesting because I love to see where that particular person/family is at that moment in time of the story. The POVs also shared a lot of back story into each character and their families, which I thought meshed well into the overall story. Although I found this part of the story compelling, the book is very much plot driven and not character driven.

I sometimes find it hard to enjoy dark academia settings (for no particular reason), but I thoroughly enjoyed this one from start to finish. I found all characters believable and how I would picture (or remember) them as college students. I loved agent Keller (who I hear is in other Finlay books as well), and found her character likeable without being over the top for a Special Agent.

Just a few things I didn’t totally love:
- as stated above — there’s A LOT of POVs. Initially they were hard to keep track of, and maybe would have been better with just a few. There were also some POVs sprinkled in that I found unnecessary
- the overall outcome of the missing students and finding out who was behind it, I didn’t find unrealistic, but the timeframe in which it played out seemed a bit unlikely

Those are really my only two issues. Otherwise, this was a bingeable, entertaining, and fast paced thriller without being too dark. Definitely recommend!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for the gifted earc ✨