Excellent thriller! Fast paced and exciting story intertwining many lives into one story. I couldn't put this one down!

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay follows the mysterious disappearance of 5 college students on parents weekend.
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I enjoyed the multiple POVs of each family. Everyone has a story and every family has their own drama! I especially liked the POV of Keller, the FBI agent. (I just read she’s in other books by this author as well).
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I thought Finlay did a good job of planting suspicion and uncertainty. I was truly baffled about the disappearances and had several theories before the final twist was revealed. Now, did I love the final twist, not particularly, but I enjoyed the book and I think thriller readers will too!
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Thank you netgalley and Minotaur books for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I was pulled in immediately to this fast paced “where are they” and “whodunit” read. I hated anytime I had to stop reading. I thought it would be difficult to follow so many storylines and POVs, but Finlay writes it quite seamlessly. I definitely felt like I was taken on a wild ride and would suggest this to any thriller lover out there! The ending left just a little something to be desired which is truly the only reason it’s 4 star instead of 5 star! Definitely a great read!

I enjoyed Parents Weekend. It was a steady climb to the end. I wasn’t shocked by what happened, but I was entertained throughout. The families each have issues and given the size of the group and all that is happening I found the characters to be surface level and at times distracting. I didn’t feel that I really knew any or could relate to them. That missing depth affected my overall investment in the story. Still a good read.

Parents Weekend is another page turner by Alex Finlay. At a small California college one student has drowned and four students are missing. This all happens on Parents Weekend . FBI Agent Sarah Keller, with her family, is in California temporarily because her father-in-law is ill and needs help. She gets assigned the case since it is the weekend. What made these students targets. Are they kidnapped or did they just take a jaunt?

You will definitely be wondering what is going on at this college. This book is a quick read and exciting. If you like thrillers give this book a try.
Thank you to #NetGalley, #AlexFinlay, and #MinotaurBooks for a copy of this book.
#ParentsWeekend

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC of Parent’s Weekend by Alex Finlay. Having read and enjoyed one of his previous novels, Night Shift, I was looking forward to this new book.

This book, as the title suggests, is about a parent’s weekend for five college freshman at a small California university. The parents come from all walks of life from the dean’s administrative assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State. Soon after the parent arrive, all the five students go missing. Sarah Keller from the FBI (and Night Shift) has just relocated to California. She is called into action along with the campus police to find the missing students. Family secrets are revealed as the mystery surrounding the missing students unfolds.

My biggest complaint of the book is the number of characters. I had a tough time keeping all of the family members and related occupations and students strait. There were too many and I was constantly having to remind myself who was who.

Overall, not a bad book but not as good as Night Shift. The ending was predictable.

After several underwhelming thrillers recently read, Parents Weekend was a breath of fresh air! Special agent Sarah Keller returns to Santa Clara to find out where five missing students are. After the group fails to show up for dinner with their parents the first night, Sarah suspects foul play. The prospects of who it can be related to are many as there are several VIP parents including Blane Roosevelt's mother Cynthia who is high up in the state department, Libby Akana's father who is a famous judge, and Stella Maldanado's father who is a plastic surgeon from the upper East side in NYC. The other two students are Mark, Blane's best friend, and Felix, the son of the dean's assistant. The friends are known as The Five. The parents all hope it is a fraternity hazing prank.

I found Parents Weekend to be a propulsive page-turner. Finlay's character development is superb in a large cast of characters, and the story is well-organized and easy to follow. The suspense builds throughout, and the possibilities continue to be many. The ending is twisty and unexpected. If you are looking for a great thriller to read this summer, I highly recommend Parents Weekend!

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Alex Finlay for an advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

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“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?”


This is my third Alex Finlay book. I’ve read The Night Shift and What Have We Done?.

I have learned that Alex Finlay’s writing style involves a lot of unlikable characters. Sarah Keller— the FBI agent that is in this book and The Night Shift— and her husband are likeable, but in all the books I’m not sure I liked anyone else.

Out of all three books I think I liked What Have We Done? the best.


Parents Weekend is not a spectacular book because I saw the ending a mile away but it’s still a decent enough read. Just like the other two, it reads very quickly so your time commitment to the book is low.

I actually hesitated to request this book from NetGalley because I tend to be a pessimistic reader of story lines that involve youths and partying as a main plot point. But I remembered liking What Have We Done? so I thought I would give it a chance.

And my original instinct was somewhat accurate: I’m just not that interested in thrillers that revolve around youths doing stupid things while drunk or on drugs which are in and of themselves stupid things. I don’t even have a ‘that’s just kids being kids in college I can relate to that’ kind of perspective because that was nowhere close to my desired or actual college experience.



This book takes place over parents weekend at Santa Clara University in California. We are first introduced via multiple POVs the different parental units of a group of friends:

The Roosevelts (Blane): parents divorced, mother (Cynthia) is high up in the State Department; Blane was abducted as a kid

The Maldonados (Stella): dad (David) is a plastic surgeon who recently cheated on mom (Nina) who is a yoga teacher and things went bad

The Goffmans (Felix): mom divorced abusive dad a long time ago and now works for the dean at the school

The Akanas (Libby): dad (Ken) is a judge that just presided over a well known case regarding a rock star and ruled against him, mom (Amy) is a lawyer turned stay at home mom who quit working to take care of their son who has since died from cancer

Mark Wong: estranged dad did jail time for sexual assault of minors


An arranged dinner for these families is the first sign of trouble. None of the kids show up and they aren’t answering any texts or phone calls.

Because two of the families are high profile, FBI agent Keller is called in to work with campus police to determine what happened to the students.

Of course all the families have to have some sort of abuse, infidelity, or problem to create additional avenues of investigation on who would have targeted these kids. Unless it’s all some sort of ruse, prank, or just irresponsible decision making that is classic of young freshmen college students.

The longer they go without news of the students the less likely they are to find them alive.



Random Comments:

I thought there was going to be something more substantial come from the encounter between Cynthia and Mitch.

Alice read a book about how to be a better communicator and if you want to read it too, it’s most likely Supercommunicators.

The quote I put at the beginning of this review talks about a group chat, and I’m not sure that was ever discussed…

They mention a cliffside in Australia that is known as a location for a lot of suicides and that reminded me of Sally Hepworth’s thriller The Soulmate that revolves around a cliff in Australia with suicides but it’s called The Drop instead of The Gap.



Recommendation

This was never going to be my favorite book, but it’s still a pretty standard, decent thriller.

I probably just need to trust my instincts on college-related stories and save those for others that are more interested in that. I can still see myself reading another Alex Finlay book if the premise is compelling.

I would recommend Parents Weekend for people who enjoy thrillers and don’t care if they like the characters or not.

If you prefer hard to figure out thrillers or ones with a lot of likable characters, this might not be the book for you.


[Content Advisory: 20 f-words, 35 s-words]

3.5 stars

Alex Finlay is an auto-read for me, so I was eager to dive into Parents Weekend—especially with the return of FBI Agent Sarah Keller, a familiar face from Every Last Fear and The Night Shift.

Set at a small Northern California college, the story kicks off during Parents Weekend when five freshmen mysteriously vanish. At first, everyone assumes they're just off partying, but as silence stretches into a second day, panic sets in. Search efforts begin, media descends, and suspicions rise. The missing students—nicknamed “The Five”—come from vastly different families, and secrets begin to surface. Are their parents' pasts catching up with them, or is the danger closer to home?

Told through multiple POVs and dual timelines, this is a fast-paced, drama-heavy mystery perfect for fans of ensemble casts. While I found the twists predictable and the vibe a bit too familiar to Finlay’s earlier work, it was still an engaging read. Keller remains a standout, and I’d happily follow her into another investigation.

Parents Weekend is the newest book by veteral thriller author Alex Finlay. I've read all of Finlay's books and was very excited to receive an ARC of this one. It did not disappoint.

It's parents' weekend at a small, elite, liberal arts college in California. A girl has just turned up dead in the caves by the ocean. And 4 students fail to show up for their capstone project dinner with their parents. They are missing.

FBI Agent Sarah Keller returns sine she is on temporary assignment in California due to her father-in-law's illness. As she races to locate the missing college students, each family's skeletons start to fall out of the closet. I enjoyed the alternating POVs, the return of Sarah (and Bob!), and the interwoven threads. Although Agent Keller is a recurring character in Finlay's books, this is a standalone. I highly recommend his other books, though!

Thanks to the author,t he publisher, and netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Alex Finlay is such a master at creating compulsively readable, character-driven mystery/thrillers. From the first page I was locked in and trying to figure out what was going on right along with Agent Keller. I loved the fast pacing and the short chapters, which is what I think makes for a top-notch thriller. I did read some reviews saying that there were too many characters and that made it difficult to keep track of what was happening, but I disagree and did not have that problem. Mysteries need to have a lot of characters so that it creates many suspects and throws the reader off of drawing conclusions too soon. So I feel like it's to be expected, and it makes for a better overall story. This is my third Alex Finlay book and I'd say the best one yet.

Thank you St. Martin's and NetGalley for the ARC!

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay is a high-stakes thriller that hooks you from the first chapter and doesn’t let go. Set during a tense college parents’ weekend, the story spirals into chaos when a murder shocks the campus—and secrets start unraveling fast. Finlay masterfully weaves multiple perspectives and timelines, keeping the suspense high and the chapters flying by.

The characters are engaging and flawed in a way that makes them feel authentic, and the plot is full of sharp turns that will keep readers on their toes. A few moments stretch believability, but they’re easy to forgive thanks to the sheer entertainment factor.

An adrenaline-fueled read perfect for fans of twisty thrillers with a touch of emotional complexity. Buckle up—this one’s a ride.

Parents Weekend did not read like a twist-filled thriller. I wasn’t hooked at the beginning like most thrillers I read. I would consider this more of a mystery with emotional exploration of grief and justice.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to Net Galley, St Martin, and Minotaur for allowing me to review this arc.

I really like the premise of this book...5 sets of parents come for a parents weekend and the 5 children of said parents disappear. Add on top of that another student from the same school was found dead in the local caves.

I found the beginning of the book a bit slow and confusing setting up.the backgrounds of the parents, which none were likeable. Too many characters to focus on. The book really picked up when Agent Keller from the FBI arrived. Ending was a bit predictable but decent read.

I discovered this author a few years ago, and really liked what I read, so was happy to see another book come out. I think this will have to be my least favorite at this point. However, that being said, I devoured it in 24 hours, so make of that what you will.
It's parents Weekend at a California College, and in the first few chapters we are introduced to the parents and whatever problems they may be having at the moment. They are all upset when their children don't join them for the parent's dinner, until it becomes clear that they are all missing for some reason. Agent Sarah Keller from the FBI is on the case, and after several false leads she figures out what has happened.
What started out as a college prank goes from funny to worse, to terrible to downright scary.
Thanks to St. Martins/Minotaur books for a chance to read this one.

ts Parents Weekend at a small Northern California university. When five students don't show up to the welcome dinner, everyone assumes that they are just irresponsible kids. But, as they remaining missing, the campus police call in the FBI to assist. What do these five students have in common? How is it possible that they all went missing at once?

So far, I have loved every Alex Finlay book that features FBI Agent Sarah Keller. She is a dynamic character with so much heart and I will gladly read any book that features her. Parents Weekend was fast paced and combines a number of different POVs. It was fun to read a book that featured a school that reminded me of my own college experience.

This book was ok. I don't think it's my fave by this author. There are many characters, and many different pov's. Even with the character development, I still got a little confused with some of them. The book started out better than it ended in my opinion.

Oh Mr Finley I love your writing style and really enjoyed this book but it fell a bit flat in the last few chapters. I really appreciated that the characters were so different and easy to keep track of since there were so many, I loved continuing to follow Agent Keller and reading that storyline. Overall I would absolutely recommend this book if you enjoy thrillers that keep you on the edge of your seat.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press/Minatour Books for the ARC.

Alex Finlay has delivered another twisty mystery! Multiple POVs take us through this story filled with secrets and lies. Great story!!

Alex Finlay has delivered another book full of suspense and intrigue. Switching perspectives from the different characters was done fluidly and added additional depth to the plotline. The main character was very likable and relatable. Parents Weekend ensnared the reader and made them feel the desperation of parents to find their children. Filled with suspense, action, and emotion, Parents Weekend was a great read.