⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Oooh this was a good one!

My main (and only, really) complaint about this one is the amount of characters 😂 There were a lot of important characters in this one and it was a bit hard to keep up with them at some points! It became easier the further you got into the book, though.

One thing I absolutely loved was how short the chapters were. I felt like it really made reading this book a breeze!

There wasn’t a super big twist in this one, but it was great nonetheless.

Check this one out when it releases — tomorrow!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Thank you @minotaur_books and @macmillan.audio for the complimentary DRC & ALC

A Solid, Entertaining Thriller

The story starts off a bit slowly, mainly because there are quite a few characters to keep track of. It took me some time to connect all the families together, which made the beginning feel a little sluggish. However, once the investigation started the pace really picked up.

While I figured out the perpetrator and their motives early on, I still thoroughly enjoyed uncovering all the finer details and watching how the plot unfolded. Something happened towards the end that genuinely caught me off guard which I always love.

It was great to see Agent Sarah Keller return and I enjoyed the narration by Brittany Pressley. While this may not be my favorite Finlay thriller or the most standout of the genre, it was still a quick, entertaining read that hit the spot. I hope Finlay continues to write more stories featuring Keller.

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay ⭐️⭐️💫

There was nothing inherently wrong with this one. It was a popcorn thriller with unlikable characters and a predictable storyline.

There were so many characters in this and so many of them were just rich people behaving badly. I found all the characters to be unlikable, and I felt like many could be removed from the equation and it would still be the same book. I finished it in less than a day, and it was a nice break from some of the heavy reads I had been reading.

Readers looking for a quick thriller to break up some heavy reads, fans of popcorn thrillers, and fans of multiple POVs may enjoy this one.

Bravo, Mr. Finlay, on making me ignore all of my chores with your newest fast-paced, addictive thriller, Parents Weekend. I mean, how could I not get obsessed with a group of missing teens and their equally suspicious parents who all sported oodles of secrets? Dripped with precision into the storyline as if from an IV, those secrets and lies were perfectly tempered—neither too minor nor too over-the-top. Paired with the well-crafted multiple POVs and short, cliffhanger chapters, I found that I couldn’t put the book down. After all, this plot managed to keep me on tenterhooks throughout as a series of shocking revelations arrived on the scene and shifted the storyline into its eventual guess-proof direction.

For me, though, the best piece of the puzzle was the array of morally gray characters. Flaunting a whole host of flaws that humanized them in my eyes, I was easily swayed by each of their plights despite some seriously bad decisions. Were they each well-developed and fully fleshed out? Well, apart from the returning persona of Agent Sarah Keller…no, not really. Despite that, however, they moved this popcorn thriller along quite the propulsive trajectory. On top of all that, I loved some of the supporting characters immensely. From the sweet, bubbly intern to the endearing chief of police, Finlay created a handful of individuals who made me smile with glee while I gave the rest of the cast side-eye glances of suspicion.

All said and done, Alex Finlay has clearly done it again. Already one of my favorite authors, the escalating sense of foreboding alongside the unguessable twists delivered an utter slam dunk in my humble opinion. After all, he always manages to shock me but good. From killing off characters I never would’ve expected to offering up plenty of believable red herrings, I didn’t have a chance of figuring this one out before the final timely reveal. Best thing of all? That conclusion felt 100% real. Plausible but also deliciously unhinged, the explosive climax delivered in spades. So if you love binge-worthy reads about missing persons’ cases that take place in a college setting, this book is for you. Just please oh please go into it blind. Rating of 4.5 stars.

Thank you to Alex Finlay, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for my complimentary physical and digital copies. All opinions are my own.

I was a bit disappointed with this one. I was expecting a psychological thriller but it’s more of a police procedural that fell kind of flat. I was also put off with the obvious political jab in the first few pages I read for escapism and I really don't want to read about politics. I would recommend if you like police procedural books

Thank you st martins press and Netgalley for allowing me to read this arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own and isn't influenced by anyone else

This really enjoyed this read. It was a little slow for me in the beginning, but once it picked up, i really couldn't stop reading. Great thriller.

Finlay has done it again. Another gripping thriller that I couldn't put down and read in one sitting.

This book centers on Santa Clara University, a small private college in Northern California. An unlikely friend group of five students vanishes during Parents' Weekend, several of them with rather high profile parents. One of the law enforcement officers on the case says something to the fact that they cannot believe they are presented with so many perps so quickly. While the whodunit becomes glaringly obvious by the end, how we get there is quite the ride. The story takes place from the viewpoint of the families of "The Five" as they become known, as well as the FBI agent assigned to the case, who made an appearance in an earlier book by this author.

The story grabs you from the beginning and makes you not want to stop reading. Will the Five be saved? To what end? Finlay has an abundance of talent for white knuckling readers from the outset. I look forward to the next book!

Many thanks to Minotaur books and Netgalley for this ARC.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Hang on to your hats when you read this one! It’s so good I finished it in a day! I loved everything about this story! Wow! I cannot recommend this enough; read it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced (AWEOME!) copy.

This was such a fun, binge-y thriller — the kind you pick up thinking you’ll read a few chapters and then suddenly it’s 1AM and you’re fully invested in the chaos.

Parents Weekend follows the disappearance of five college students at a Northern California university over, you guessed it, Parents Weekend. And let me just say — everyone in this book is hiding something. It’s messy, dramatic, and absolutely addictive in the best popcorn thriller kind of way.

I loved the short, punchy chapters that made it so easy to fly through, and FBI agent Sarah Keller was a standout for me. Give me a capable, sharp, no-nonsense agent with a golden retriever of a husband and I’m sold. I’d happily read another book with her leading the case.

Now, was the twist predictable? Yep. Did that stop me from having a good time? Absolutely not. This isn’t a deep, psychological thriller — it’s a fast-paced, over-the-top whodunit with enough red herrings and shady side characters to keep you guessing (or at least entertained) the whole way through.

“Parents Weekend” by Alex Finlay was non stop action. I couldn’t put the book down. It was such a good suspenseful book. It had a lot of twist and turns. I liked how the book was told in several narratives. I can’t wait to read more of Alex Finlay books!

At an elite college in Northern California, five families come for parents weekend only to be stood up at the dinner by their children. At first, none of them worry but when they can’t reach their children the next day they begin to suspect foul play. Police begin searching for the missing students but they have their hands full with another tragedy involving a student. Could this all be linked together, is someone targeting their high profile parents, or are the students involved in something unknown?

Parents Weekend is a twisty mystery thriller surrounding a group of college students who go missing during parent’s weekend. Most of the parents are high profile so police have to investigate multiple scenarios causing some high tension throughout. Overall this was a quick whodunnit perfect for a lazy weekend read.

I absolutely loved Parents Weekend—a fast-paced, twisty thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. When five college students vanish during Parents Weekend, their families are thrown into a nightmare that unearths secrets, lies, and deep emotional tension. Told through the perspectives of the parents, the story dives into family dynamics, expectations, and the bonds that form during those early college days.

Alex Finlay does an excellent job of building suspense while making each character feel real and flawed. The return of FBI Agent Sarah Keller adds a sharp investigative edge, and just when you think you have it figured out, a new twist changes everything.

This is a smart, emotional, and utterly gripping read. Highly recommend for fans of character-driven thrillers.

This one takes a little bit to get into because there are soooooooo many characters. Once I settled in though, I was hooked. I absolutely loved the way the plot unfolded, and the audio narration kept me listening! This was almost a 5 star read for me, but the ending just felt......anticlimactic. After all of the build up in the action, I wanted a stronger and twistier ending than we ended up with. That said, I still recommend this one!

Not my top favorite Alex Finlay thriller but still a fun and mostly easy one to read, maybe the perfect kind of beach read!

I felt like there were SO many different characters and different families and a lot going on and at the same time almost nothing going on? Who’s cheating on their spouse, who is an important political figure with agents watching their back, the average mom just trying to work so their son can go to college… so you’d think that somewhere/somehow all the families would be connected and there would be some ground breaking plot twist .. but NOTHING! None of that mattered, I don’t know why it was mentioned with such detail to begin with because none of it truly mattered? I don’t know if it was just suppose to be a bunch of red herrings or what.. but it was kind of weird lol.

Also I loved Finlay’s books in the past, and really enjoy that the same FBI agent keeps popping up in his stories but the lack of plot twist in this one made me kind of sad 🥲.

Overall, interesting enough I finished it in a weekend but the ending was a bit lackluster.

On opening night of parents weekend at a small private college in Northern California, a dinner is planned for the parents of 5 freshman of Campus Hall. The parents all arrive for the dinner, but then none of the five students show up. At first, no one is worried...they are probably out just being typical college kids and lost track of time. But as the night progresses and calls to each of their cell phones goes unanswered, the parents begin to panic. Campus police are called, who in turn call for reinforcements. Because two of the students have high profile parents, and that could be a possible motive for their disappearance, the FBI is called in as well. Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella—The Five, as the podcasters, bloggers, and TikTok sleuths call them seem to have vanished without a trace. Where did they go? And could it be the sins of their mothers and fathers come to cause them peril or a threat to the friend group from within?

This book was so good. I was captivated from the very first chapter. It is told through multiple points of view, and it brings back FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller from Every Last Fear and The Night Shift. The suspense had me on the edge of my seat through most of the book. Although I had guessed what had happened to The Five before the end of the book, there was still a twist at the end. I also like that the book ended with their graduation, and where they all ended up. I had the opportunity to read the book as well as listen to the audiobook, so I switched back and forth between the two. I really liked the narrator for the audiobook and thought they did an excellent job bringing the characters to life. If you enjoy a good thriller, then you should definitely check this out!

Parents Weekend was another great thriller by Alex Finlay. Five families are visiting their children's college for their freshman year's parents weekend. They're supposed to have dinner with their kids for the opening of the weekend celebration. Once the parents get settled into their hotels and visit with their kids briefly, they get ready for dinner. The parents will meet the kids there as the kids will leave from their dorms. As the parents all arrive they are looking forward to celebrating with their kids. The weird thing is all of the parents have arrived, but no kids have shown up. Where are they and why are they all late? The parents figure they're enjoying a party on their own and will arrive late. They decide to enjoy each other and party themselves.

As the night comes to a close, the kids never show up. Some of the parents are very concerned as they don't think their son or daughter would've skipped the entire night. None of the parents can reach their child on their cellphone. They're not answering their text messages or calls. That's really weird for college students who art attached to their phones. As the next night come and goes, panic starts to set in to the parents. This just can't be teenagers having fun. No one has seen them since their initial arrival. The police are called and the news of 5 missing college students brings in the media. The small, private college is all of a sudden swarmed with press and law enforcement. The press is calling the students "the five" when they write about them.

As you read the book you will find out that some of the parents have reasons that someone might want to hurt them. Taking someone's child is a quick way to do that. Is that why the kids have been taken? Why would someone take all 5 kids though? The kids also have secrets between them. Is it something they did to anger someone? Are they really missing or did they go away together? The book is told from various points of view and it bounces back and forth between past and present. I had a hard time figuring this one out as you have many possible suspects. I enjoyed Parents Weekend and rate it 4 stars with a high recommendation. The book is available on May 6 and should be added to your TBR pile if you love a good mystery. I'd like to thank NetGAlley and Minotaur Books for an advanced copy of Parents Weekend in exchange for a fair review. #ParentsWeekend

College Freshman Find Themselves In Grave Danger

Time is of the essence. The tide is coming in, and they need to get to the sea cave. The path is narrow. They are holding hands to help them descend the jagged rocks while the waves threaten to wash them out to sea. Will they find them alive or just lifeless bodies? With this glimpse into the near future, this novel starts.

This novel starts in a way I have not seen before. Police procedurals usually start with the crime, but this novel starts with the prologue near the investigation’s end. There are two threads. The first thread sets the stage for the second thread, the investigation. The first four chapters introduce the central characters, the students and their parents. A few other central characters are also introduced in those chapters. The fifth chapter does the same for FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller. It reveals why she and her family are moving from the prestigious New York Office to a temporary position in the San Jose office, a satellite office of the San Francisco field office. The first thread reveals the characters' actions up to the Parents Weekend Dinner, where the five students do not appear. The second thread starts when Agent Keller’s new boss asks her to look into the missing students. Three of the students have high-profile parents. In the investigation, something more ominous is happening. The heart of the story then proceeds. Trying to track the actions of now five college students is challenging. Her boss takes over the investigation and side-tracks her. That does not deter her. The tension builds as the novel proceeds, and it becomes more evident that the students are in a grave situation. This novel captured my interest as I tried to figure out how all the information fits together.

Sarah Keller's background is provided in her introductory chapter, which provides information on her excellent reputation. The reader even sees her in action on the flight to California. She proves her reputation was well earned as she discovers information that makes the disappearance more dire. There is a B-story line between Keller and a student intern at the campus police station. Much of how Keller works is revealed when working with the intern. This duo makes some of the most significant advances in the case. This aspect of the novel enhanced my reading enjoyment.

Some aspects of this novel can cause some readers to stop reading. While there are no intimate scenes, there is a noticeable but not excessive use of vulgar, rude, and impious language. The novel starts with most violence described in the less edgy after the fact, but as the novel proceeds, the violence shifts to the edgier as it occurs. This aspect helps to heighten the tension in the novel.

The only issue I had with the novel was that in the novel’s family portions, the author used Sarah Keller's last name the same as in the chapters where she acted as an FBI agent. It just seemed strange to me. On the positive side, I liked how the B-storyline with the student intern ended. While I was happy with the novel’s ending, there was a sad aspect during the graduation weekend for one of the parents. As for reading, the novel was easy to read, and it took me the average time for a novel of this size. This is the fifth novel by this author that I have read. He is one of my Must-Read authors. I am looking forward to reading his next novel. I enjoyed reading this novel and rate it with four stars.

I received this novel's free prepublication e-book version from Minotaur Books through NetGalley. My review is based solely on my own reading experience. Thank you, Minotaur Books, for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

The premise of this book immediately grabbed my attention and I couldn’t wait to dive in! As I started reading, I expected it might follow a trajectory similar to the tragic events in Norway at a youth summer camp, which added to the intrigue, but this was not the case.
The story centers on five missing college students and is told mostly through the perspectives of their parents and law enforcement. While this angle was unique, it felt stifled. The extremely short, sometimes choppy chapters made it difficult to connect with the characters or fully invest in the unfolding mystery. Or to feel empathy or understanding for them as it seemed to be all over the place.
It also felt strange that the narrative leaned so heavily on the parents' POVs, especially since the students were hinted to be hiding something major. Yet that really wasn’t explored until the final chapters. The ending, while full of potential, came off as rushed and cliché.
That said, it’s a fast and easy read, and if you're a fan of twisty plots and red herrings, this might be one to check out.

*Thank you to Alex Finlay, St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and Netgalley for the ARC copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

Parents are going to be spending a weekend with their students at Santa Clara University. There are five families with varying levels of enthusiasm waiting to join their offspring. The festivities begin but there is a problem, where are the students?

The event falls apart because none of the students show up at the event. The book is well written but the format of the story left me flummoxed. I found myself torn, wanting a more consistent dialogue regarding each of the families and was left wanting answers.

Because there are five families, ten adults, I could not maintain a logical thread in my reading. Therefore, for me, the story fell through the cracks in the narrative. 4 stars – CE Williams

I was a bit disappointed with this one. I was expecting a twisty mystery, but it’s more of a police procedural that fell kind of flat. I didn’t really care about the characters or what happened to them. I was also put off with the obvious political jab in the first few pages. Just not a book for me!

Thanks for the opportunity to read in advance!