Just like all of Alex Finlay's books, Parents Weekend is a fun, quick popcorn thriller.

I would recommend the physical or ebook format for this book, because there are quite a few characters and perspectives. I wouldn't have been able to keep them all straight with an audiobook, but it wasn't difficult with my Kindle copy.

I flew through the short chapters, and while the story isn't super memorable, it definitely kept me entertained. I found the ending to be surprisingly emotional, which was an unexpected but welcome twist.

Parents Weekend would be a perfect, not-too-heavy vacation read, and I also think it would make a great Netflix miniseries.

In anticipation of parents weekend at their children's college, the parents of five freshman plan a dinner to kick off the weekend. Except the freshman don't show. Assuming they've been blown off, the parents enjoy their night. But when no one of them can reach their children the next day, they start to realize that something must be very wrong. Lots of twists and unexpected revelations as expected from an Alex Finlay novel.

In a genre where plots often blend together, Alex Finlay's "Parents Weekend" grabs you by the collar and refuses to let go. The premise is deceptively simple: five college students vanish during parents weekend. But were they kidnapped, or did they deliberately ghost their families? This question hooks you immediately and keeps you turning pages with increasing urgency.

FBI agent Keller emerges as the story's moral compass. New to Santa Clara and navigating a male-dominated field, she's refreshingly competent without being superhuman. Her determination to follow evidence rather than assumptions makes her instantly likable, and her outsider perspective mirrors our own as readers trying to piece together the puzzle.

Finlay deserves applause for masterful misdirection throughout the narrative. I found myself so distracted by the fascinating revelations about each family that I completely missed what was happening in plain sight. When the final twist arrived, I actually gasped aloud. The red herrings were perfectly placed—obvious in retrospect but invisible in the moment.

The true measure of a great thriller is its grip on your attention, and "Parents Weekend" held mine so completely that dinner went cold and bedtime was postponed. My only regret was finishing it too quickly—some books deserve to be savored, but this one demands to be devoured in a single sitting.

Thank you, Minotaur Books and NetGalley, for my free E-book for review.

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay is a thriller novel that revolves around the mysterious disappearance of five college freshmen during Parents Weekend at Santa Clara University. The story is told from multiple perspectives, including FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller, who returns from previous novels by Finlay.

Having never read any novels by Alex Finlay, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was really drawn to the book, as I have a son in college and thought it might be a fun departure from my usual reads. The plot sounded really appealing, but once I started reading the book, I quickly realized that it wasn’t for me. While the novel explores some very real life situations that many could identify with - dysfunctional families and relationships, as well as college life and friendships, it just never really digs beyond the surface. I’m not sure if it’s the Authors writing style, or just this book, but I found it to be a little cliché. The characters didn’t really have much depth and were a little unlikeable, and overall the story sadly felt like a bad Lifetime movie.

Overall, though Parents Weekend seemed to have potential, it fell a little flat.

I liked this one a lot! There is a familiar character, as well as new mysteries to solve. Parents Weekend at SCU is a big deal for the parents and their kids. Then the kids don’t show up for a planned event, and the mystery starts unfolding. Each parent and kid has something going on, and it was interesting to see how it all came together. The ending was a bit rushed, but I was satisfied with the conclusion. Will definitely read this author again!

This was the type of book that keeps you going page after page. The multiple viewpoints enhance the story and tie together perfectly. I also love the nod to his pervious novels.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC!!! All thoughts are solely my own and not influenced!
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My favorite Alex Finlay characters were back in action to help find 5 missing students who failed to show up to their parents weekend dinner!! You start by briefly meeting the students and their families, and then this book gets RIGHT to the action. I got whiplash from the twists, turns, suspects, and dead ends. The final reveals just felt right, and you know I LOVE a years later epilogue to wrap everything up.
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NOW this book started off so FAST, and it didn't help that there were a million characters to keep track of. You basically meet everyone, a chapter each, and then the main plot point happens leaving you like this trying to piece together the characters and their flaws and the plot points.
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I would've loved more time with the main characters before we lost them, in order to bond/care a little more.

I have read a few of Alex's books and I'm always unsure if I like them until the very end. This book continues that tradition in the fact that it was interesting and I thought it was going slow, but before I knew it I was 3/4 of the way through it. Trying desperately to figure out what was happening.

Parents weekend is about a group of college freshmen who are meeting with their parents at parents weekend. At the set time the group is supposed to meet their parents. They never show up. One is the son of a government official and she calls in the FBI to help assist local police. Eventually they find out there are secrets that each of these families and students are keeping. Some more dangerous than others.
More dangerous than others.

I love that the author brought back agent Keller. I really enjoyed the other book I read with her, it's nice to see a strong woman as the person in charge. I love the fact that she's also relatable given she has a husband and kids at home, but still is able to do a kick-ass job.

There were some things I didn't enjoy about this book, although agent Keller seemed like a intuitive agent + very good at her job, some of the clues just seemed like they fell into her lap. Like when they looked at the geofence it was obvious what was happening and how she was the only one who figured that out was perplexing. Otherwise, I enjoyed the character.

I enjoyed the wrap up to this book because it made sense who was doing the kidnapping. But not sure that it seems believable given who they were and that they were kidnapping three adult men and two women.

Thank you netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review

Once you start Parents Weekend, you'll have a hard time putting it down. It has the perfect pace and kept me wanting more from start to finish.

It pops off when the Parents Weekend for the parents of five college students attending a private college doesn't go as planned when their kids don't show up for dinner, resulting in an investigation and search for the missing students. Rumors, panic, and questions surround the mystery of the missing five. I loved seeing the return of FBI Agent Sarah Keller, who was also in the books The Night Shift and Every Last Fear.

This has everything I love in a thriller:
🌊 Outrageous moments
🌊 Interesting characters
🌊 Mystery, twists, meyhem
🌊 Nor-Cal Bay Area location
🌊 Numerous POVs

I hope this gets picked up for film adaptation. Finlay is definitely a favorite thriller writer for me. He never disappoints. I'm a fan.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books for this ARC in exchange for a honest review. 3.5 stars. This was a fun read. It was a little scattered, but it kept me engaged. Every family had their problems and possible connection to the missing five. It tied up nicely without the perfect happy ending.

This was an intense thriller than was easy to read in one sitting. I was completely hooked! I loved the use of red herrings and the complexity of the characters. It was fast paced and the story was told from multiple viewpoints, with each family and individuals within the family having their stories told.

The only thing bringing my rating down for this book is the fact that I figured out who and why extremely early on. While I didn’t figure out the level of complexity as to how things unfolded and let to the point they did, I still figured out too much too soon. There was something in the book that basically spoiled it and I feel that the author could have done better to make it less obvious. I will not elaborate in case it wasn’t as obvious to others.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for honest feedback. - 3.5 stars

Well written but the “twist” was a little bit of a let down. Not shocking but still an enjoyable read

I really enjoyed this one! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. Suspenseful throughout with seamless changes in POV that were easy to follow (for someone with ADHD). I highly recommend!

FBI Agent Sarah Keller is Unforgettable

SUMMARY
Cocktails and dinner are planned for the opening night of Parent’s Weekend at Santa Clara University, a small Northern California private college. The parents are there, but five students from the same dorm don’t show up for the dinner. Is it a student prank or a rebellion? Some parents start to worry, but others pass it off as them just being college students. On the second day, when none of the students can still be found, the parents are panicked, and the FBI is called in. Are they hostages? Why is there no ransom demand? Are they even still alive? Is this related to the case of another missing student?

REVIEW
Parent’s Weekend is a captivating mystery about the five missing students. The search is a life-or-death chase, and the writing weaves an entertaining tale of tension and intrigue.

There are a multitude of characters in this novel Between the students, their parents, the school administration, the campus police, the city police, and the FBI. It may take a few extra brain cells to keep everyone straight. Adding to the complexity, the story is told from many different points of view.

However, the one person you will not forget is the indefatigable FBI agent Sarah Keller. Keller is moving from New York to California with her family and is thrown into the case of the missing students before she even has a chance to unpack her suitcase. Sarah dives in wholeheartedly, showing courage, resilience, and determination to locate the missing students before it’s too late. We first met Keller in Finlay’s 2022 novel The Night Shift. I said she was unforgettable back then, and I believe she is even more unforgettable in this novel.

Like Finlay’s other novels, Parent’s Weekend is suspenseful, unpredictable, and fast-paced.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Publisher St Martin’s Press
Published May 6, 2025
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

I kind of wanted this review to just say "I Love Alex Finlay Books" and nothing else. But that wouldn't do this story justice.

I think this is my favorite book from this author. We get to see FBI Agent Sarah Keller, again, which made me even more enthusiastic about this story. For the record, if you have not read other books by this author, you can still read this story and everything will make sense.

This story bounces between different POVs: the different families, Agent Keller, and the missing students. This was never confusing, which I applaud the author for. Sometimes, when you have so many characters, it can be hard to remember who is who. The layout of this story made it easy to keep track of everyone and the role they played. The students have secrets, but their parents may be harboring even bigger, and more dangerous, secrets of their own. But again, it was presented in a fascinating way, and the parents are just as important a part of the story as the students are.

This was a story with some great twists and turns. That said...they made sense. You could see the pieces shifting, and some fell into place, while others led you down another direction. It was the perfect mystery for me.

If you already enjoy books from Alex Finlay, you obviously need to check this one out. But if you're also looking for family secrets, kidnapping, and twists you won't expect, you should definitely check this out.

Thank you to @netgalley and @minotaur_books for providing this eARC for my review!!

Pub Date: May 6, 2025

⭐️: 3/5

I really enjoyed The Night Shift by Alex Finlay, and it’s because of that that I keep giving his subsequent books a shot. Some have been ok, and some have been a little less than ok, including this one. One of my biggest pet peeves when reading is when dialogue feels stilted and awkward, and you find yourself at a loss to even begin to imagine a real person saying the things a character says. It just takes me out of the book so much, which kept happening in this one. It was almost like the author was told that some comp reads used more humor to up the entertainment factor so he should use humor, but it just never was funny, and just felt off. I did think it was cool that Agent Keller reappeared from The Night Shift though!

The pacing was super off in this book too, where it felt like the plot was moving at a snail’s pace, but the book itself was short, and a quick read, so we never really got off the ground. There was far too many characters and POVs, I think it would have been a much more enjoyable read if only a few of the multitude of POVs were focused on. The names were SO hard to keep straight, but even with that confusion, it was so obvious where the book was going and what the explanation at the end was going to be. I still want to read Every Last Fear by this author, since I’ve heard good things, but I also think in the future, I’ll hold off on his newly released books until I read OTHER people’s reviews 😂

First, thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book in advance. Last year, I read Finlay’s last outing (𝘐𝘧 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘦) and didn’t hate it. The book, while definitely not without flaws, knew what it was and was entertaining, if not “high art.”

This new book, though, is a mess.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗱:
- Short chapters. Finlay writes suspenseful novels and I feel like the short chapters help keep action continuous.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
- Way too many points of view. Listen, I like unique points of view. I wrote my master’s thesis on point of view. But there is absolutely zero reason that a 248 page book should have (by my count) 11 different points of view. It means that none of the characters ever develop.
- Too many characters. The book follows a group of five students plus their parents plus the FBI agent tracking the missing students plus her spouse. The book is too short to develop any of these. And it’s hard not to spoil it with this, but there are three more very important characters who are barely in the book at all.
- Dialogue. One of my major gripes with the last Finlay book is there was a ton of exposition as dialogue. This one did the same thing. People don’t talk like real people.
- The ending is out of nowhere. Again, trying not to spoil it, but in a crime novel, the perpetrators should be someone you’ve met more than tangentially. There’s no twist at all.
- Every single parental couple is having an affair. Every one. Either the husband or the wife is cheating or has cheated and somehow the jilted lover/relative is in town for revenge. All of them.

𝗩𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁:
It’s a mess. It’s not a good mess. If you want to read a thriller with a mystery and a twist, grab something from Lucy Foley.

Thriller set a small, private college in Northern California during Parents Weekend when all five students in a cohort go missing while their parents are visiting. This could have been a solid thriller, but I felt like it was trying to do too much. Too many characters and too many red herrings to the point that I thought, "Oh, yet another character is having an affair??" Everyone is rich, everyone drinks too much, everyone has a secret. I did like the return of FBI agent Sarah Keller from previous Finlay books (although it was distracting that the author calls her by her last name when everyone else gets the first-name treatment).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Parents Weekend" by Alex Finlay is an engaging, fast-paced thriller that is difficult to put down. The short chapters leave the reader eager to read just one more, and then another.
As their children begin their first year of college in Northern California, five families plan a night of dinner and drinks to celebrate the opening festivities of Parents Weekend. As the parents enjoy their night well into the late hours, their children fail to show up for dinner. Initially, it is that the students have opted for more exciting plans. However, when another day passes without any communication from the students, panic sets in. The police are called, and rumors begin to circulate as bloggers and TikTok sleuths take to social media to speculate on the events of that night. Is the disappearance related to their parents or perhaps their peers? FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller is determined to uncover the truth before it is too late.
The narrative, told from multiple points of view, switches between families and the short chapters keep the reader excited to start the next one. This action-packed book is a quick read with a twist that is sure to surprise. A highly enjoyable read that will leave you wanting more.
Thank you, Netgalley, for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Parents arrive at a small private college in California for their freshman students’ Parents Weekend. Five families gather but then realize their kids are missing.

This was a good one that kept the pages turning fast. I loved how there were many different perspectives: investigators, parents, and students. Usually I could be confused with different parents and students but they were all different enough that I kept them straight. The parents’ dramas were interesting and the students’ college antics added extra drama. There was a lot going on from different areas, but it was never too much; it was the perfect amount of drama.

“An investigation is a team sport. Sometimes you’re the star, sometimes you’re on the bench, sometimes you’re the water boy.”

Parents Weekend comes out 5/6.