When the college freshmen of five families are late to the parents week inaugural dinner, it's hardly noticed at first. Parents are drinking and mingling. When they fail to show up altogether, it becomes harder to rationalize.

So begins a harrowing search for the missing students led by special FBI agent Sarah Kellers and Chief of campus security, Jay McCray. Backstories provide well rounded, if not always well liked characters, as the search is mostly fruitless.

Clues abound but rarely amount to anything. A race against time keeps the pages turning and hearts beating ublntil the surprising and all too realistic end.

I felt like this book had a lot of characters and storylines that were hard to keep track of. I feel like because there were so many people to keep track of, there wasn't really an emotional connection to the characters or their families.

3.5 ⭐️
I love Alex Finlay, but this was not his best work, in my opinion.
The story begins with students and parents preparing for parents weekend at a private university in California. When 5 of the students never make it to dinner, worry starts to set in, and the hunt for the missing young adults begins.
I was excited to read this. The premise, location, and mystery seemed awesome, however, there were far too many characters. Finlay could have cut them in half, and it would have been more manageable to read. I didn’t care about the characters because I didn’t get to know them.
Thank you netgalley for this arc! I enjoyed this read.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for my gifted ALC! And thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted ARC!

Alex Finlay is an easy auto read author for me. He never misses. Every one of his books is a page turner. Filled with well developed characters and brilliantly crafted twists and turns. Parents Weekend was no exception. This is the type of book you can easily fit in two sittings, because it’s just that good. I loved seeing Agent Keller again, because she is such a badass. I hope we get to encounter her in another novel in the future. 😍

The mysterious disappearance of several students during a university parent's weekend. Everyone is a suspect in this fast paced thriller. This had everything I love in a suspense novel. Practically every chapter ending you discover someone else was doing something shady, and those that you would least suspect. The police procedural aspects were not overwhelming and provided just enough information to further the story. Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the eARC. Thoroughly enjoyed this one!

At this point I have read almost all of Alex Finlay’s books and have enjoyed them all. I love the fast paced narratives, the complex plots, and how he uses multiple characters who are just as complex as the stories. This book was a really hard one to put down, and even though I knew who was responsible for the kids disappearance almost from the start, I was very much along for the ride.

This story perhaps has the most narrators of any of his previous stories, which made it somewhat difficult to connect to them. It is a pretty short book, so the characters are not as well developed as they could have been. But all of the characters were relatable if unlikable, as you probably know someone very similar. All of the characters, the students and their parents, have secrets, and as those secrets are revealed they result in a lot of misdirections that hinders the police in finding the kids.

There is one character that if you have read some of the author’s other books, you will be familiar with. Special Agent Sarah Keller is the FBI agent who gets involved in the search for the kids. I really like Sarah as she is very smart and diligent and cares about the people she is trying to help, no matter how unlikable they might be. She also has a very stable and loving family with her husband and twins. This stability in her own life was a nice juxtaposition to the turmoil that most of the other families were engaging in.

The story is incredibly fast paced and complex, at least from the investigator’s point of view. It was obvious to the reader who was responsible for the kids disappearance from the start, only because we are privy to the student’s stories as well as the parents. It was easier for us to see the whole picture that way. But knowing who was responsible made the story more suspenseful and unpredictable as you weren’t sure who was going to survive or if the reasons behind the disappearances were justified. It was a well done story with multiple layers that were slowly revealed while keeping a fast paced and suspenseful narrative.

If you are a fan of the author’s other books, especially the ones with Sarah Keller, than this is a must read. Even though it features a character from other books, it is one that could be read as a standalone. If you are a fan of fast paced and suspenseful mystery thrillers than this author and this book should be on your must read list.

I enjoyed the premise of this book, especially having my own children starting college soon. There were a lot of characters and that made it a bit confusing at times. I did enjoy that Sarah Feller made an appearance in this book and please know even if this is your first book by Alex, nothing is spoiled from previous books and can be read as a stand alone. overall the book ws good and I would read it again, if for anything to focus on different characters each time. Thanks NetGalley.

Wow, I flew through this book! With its academic setting, short chapters, and compelling mystery, "Parents Weekend" was an unputdownable popcorn thriller. I enjoyed Finlay's last book, but I think I liked this one more. It was a quick read, and I finished it in just a few sittings. My only real complaint is the number of characters. There were a lot of families involved, and it was hard to keep track of who was who. With so many characters, I didn't really feel a strong connection to any of them, but I did enjoy all of the family drama. I also really liked the FBI agent, Keller, and the campus security officer, McCray, who were working together to find the missing college students. Their investigation was intriguing, and while there wasn't a huge plot twist, the story still held my attention the entire time. Overall, a bingeworthy story that I couldn't put down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5 Stars
Pub Date: 5/6
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I will read absolutely anything Alex Finlay writes. I just love his work, and I feel like every book has such a different and great premise while maintaining that thriller / mystery vibe.
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Parent's Weekend hooked my right from the prologue. I had to figure out what was going on. It was steady to fast paced and kept me on my toes the entire time. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, Finlay comes with a curveball and throws you on a different path. The ending has a lot of different pieces to it, and I love not only that he did this, but how it was explained; it made the book wrap up perfectly.
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This story is told in multiple POV's. It starts out by family and then at times it will go to individuals. It definitely will help to have a physical copy of the book in order to get down every character. And speaking of characters, I really liked all of the characters, even the morally gray, questionably bad ones.
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I listened to this one via audiobook and it was narrated by the Queen - Brittany Pressley. As per usual - she did a phenomenal job with the narration and giving certain characters certain voices. I was so happy to have a copy of the eARC while listening to this story because there are a ton of characters in this one and having both really helped me differentiate who was who.
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Overall, really enjoyed this one, cannot wait for the next one! Mystery/thriller fans, you need to check this one out! It's fun, it will keep you on the edge of your seat and you will constantly be wondering just what happened until the very end! Huge thank you to NetGalley, Alex Finlay, MacMillan Audio and St. Martins Press for the ALC and eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC of Parents' Weekend in exchange for an honest review.

This is the definition of a 3 star thriller to me. Fast paced, short chapters, multiple points of view. It was full of action nearly the whole time and I wanted to keep reading to find out how it ends. Unfortunately, the ending was incredibly predictable and wasn't anything new or interesting. I have a strong feeling I will forget what happened in Parents' Weekend by the end of the week.

This is 100% plot focused, and nothing is really left for the characters. I enjoy reading from Keller's perspective but she is clearly a woman written by a man. I can't put my finger one what it is about her or how her character is written, but its obvious. I just don't think a woman would do or think what she does. I don't really have anything else to say about the other characters because we honestly don't really get to know them.

If you are in the mood for a quick read and an okay time, pick this one up.

Received an ARC via NetGalley.

Quick read and it held my interest but it was sort of predictable. I didn’t really connect to many of the characters but I wanted to know what happened and it was easy enough to get through.

This one seems to have some mixed reviews but I personally really enjoyed it . Although there were quite a few families ( and as a result characters ) I enjoyed the various arcs that Keller investigating a bunch of leads that eventually led her to the truth
Also it took me a while to realize Sarah Keller is the FBI agent in Night Shift - which I loved

Alex Finlay delivers another fast-paced, multi perspective thriller with Parents Weekend that will leave his fans satisfied and engaged until the very end.

Parents Weekend at Santa Clara University convenes the parents of a close group of friends - Blane, Mark, Libby, Stella, and Felix - for a nice family visit... at the worst possible time. After a bonfire at the beach days prior, a fellow student has gone missing and the group seems to know something, and they're determined to keep the secret amongst themselves. But they aren't the only ones with a secret: their parents all have secrets of their own, and when the kids suddenly disappear, they each fear that their buried truths might be the cause. FBI Agent Sarah Keller will have to work against the clock to find out what each person is hiding and figure out why the kids have vanished... before it's too late.

I devoured this in one sitting and, for the most part, didn't know where things were headed. The story is well-paced, characters are believable, and the multi-perspective narrative was very effective. I was super happy to see the return of our favourite FBI Agent Keller: a fan favourite and recurring character in Finlay's work. If you like Finlay's other works or mystery/thriller/suspense in general, just read this one: you won't be disappointed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

Way too many characters but little to no information overall to make the plot move forward. I LOVED The Night Shift so I thought this was going to be a win for me but unfortunately it ended up being a major miss. The short chapters were easy to digest but unfortunately that prevented things from feeling fleshed out like they should be. The ending felt like it wrapped up too easily as well.

The book was very slow for me and didn’t catch my interest unfortunately. There were so many characters in the beginning it was hard to keep track.

Alex Finlay is a new author to me but I will be looking into more of his writing as I enjoyed this book. I was drawn to this book by the title first, then the cover and the synopsis was the final reason. I love to read books written in areas that I am familiar with and this book takes place in the SF bay area. I did have a little bit of trouble with how many characters were in the book. It took a while for the families of the 5 missing students to get straight in my mind. I really enjoyed the sections with Special Agent Keller. I see that some of the other books written by Alex have this character also and will be reading them. I enjoy it when the chapters are on the short side. The book overall was a quick read and more of a light mystery than a heavy thriller all of which I enjoyed too.
Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the advance copy. This review is my personal opinion.

Parent’s Weekend was a great thriller! The plot is really well thought out, and I enjoyed trying to figure out what happened to and with the students. The story is told from alternating viewpoints which gave the story and characters more depth. I will definitely be recommending this book!

I was disappointed in this book. There were simply too many POVs, which made it difficult to stay engaged or connect with any one character. By the time the big reveal came around, I struggled to tie everything together—it just didn’t land for me. This leaned more toward a police procedural than a true thriller, which wasn’t what I expected.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the e-arc & ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I always have a hard time keeping track when there are lots of characters, so keeping track of all the families took me a little while. The storyline was very interesting which I love, I flew through this book in just a day and a half. I'll be picking up more books by Alex Finlay as this was one of the best books i've read so far this year.

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

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for This ARC

This is my first read from this author and won't be my last. I enjoyed all the povs at first it was a bit hard to keep up with but I got the hang of it. This is easily a binge worthy one day read.