Overall this was a fast paced read that kept its intensity high enough to keep me hooked. I loved exploring the mystery and just had to keep reading to find out the truth.

A popcorn thriller with a crazy cast of characters, Parents Weekend was a quick and entertaining read.

Five college students go missing during parents' weekend, and Agent Sarah Keller is put on the case. The five families each have various secrets and suspicions, and the clock is ticking to find the students quickly.

I liked seeing Agent Keller again and always enjoy following her as she puts together the pieces and solves her cases, no matter how wild they get. This time she has to deal with two parents with enemies, affairs, and anonymous tips from college websites while also trying to squeeze a little time with her family in on the side. Her chapters were easily my favorite parts of the book.

The cast of characters is huge in this book, making it slightly tricky to follow in the audio format until you are able to distinguish who is who and how they relate to the five students. So many red herrings are thrown into the mix with such a huge cast, leaving our investigators chasing multiple false leads on the way.

I did correctly guess at part of the ending, but not the entire thing. While this wasn't my favorite from Finlay (that would be The Night Shift), I still thought it was a good quick thriller.

Brittany Pressley does a great job narrating an extremely large cast of characters, but I do think this one is better suited to be read with your eyes instead of your ears.

Thank you to Minotaur for the ARC. 3.5 stars.

Not my favorite book by this author, but still a pretty entertaining read. There were several POVs and at times it was hard to remember which kid belonged to which family. Sometimes a little slow but overall a pretty twisty and interesting story.


Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I could not put this one down! Alex Finlay never disappoints, just when you think you have it all figured out he takes you on the twist you did not see coming. I loved the format of this book, told from the perspective of the families involved as well as the lead FBI agent. The characters are complex and entertaining. As a parent of a college student I could relate to so many aspects of this book. As a parent you envision the perfect parents weekend with your child only to encounter the moody kid that blows you off for homework or better yet a frat party. A great quick read, perfect vacation book.

Thank you NetGalley! I absolutely love Alex Finlay’s books and was excited to read this one ahead of publication. The short chapters made for a quick pace as well as the need to find out what happened to the missing college students.

Five college freshman go missing at parents weekend. After the prolong featuring the five, the story starts at the night of the dinner. Then it alternates between each of the students parents giving us background on their dysfunctional families and why they could be the reason the students are missing. With additional chapters featuring the FBI agent on the case and the students. Because of all these characters and the timeline changing a lot it made it confusing at times.

With that said, I really enjoyed this one! The premise of the story was good and I was engaged immediately. It was super fast paced, with short chapters that made it hard to put down! There were several twists, and the one at the end I never saw coming! I gave this one 4⭐️

This release on May 6,2025! Thank you to the author and net galley for this arc.

Alex Finlay's latest thriller brings us back to Agent Sarah Keller on another crime to solve. I really enjoyed this character in "Every Last Fear" and "The Night Shift", so I was looking forward to reading "Parents Weekend".

Five college students go missing on a college campus during parents weekend. When the parents come together to wait for their return, we find there are many more secrets than truths. Finlay gives us the story from the many points of view - from the students to the parents to the FBI agent - creating a multi-faceted mystery that we see come together at the end. What happened to the students? Who is behind all of this? Might this be about more than just a simple college crime gone wrong?

I definitely felt the book slow down around the halfway point of the book, but it still kept me engaged. I would overall recommend this book because I think Alex Finlay does a fantastic job of creating characters and scenarios that make for compelling stories. While this one was a bit predictable, it was still a good read watching it all come together.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for letting me read the digital advanced copy of this book!

It’s parents weekend at a prestigious university in the San Francisco Bay Area. A much anticipated time for family and student celebrations. The beautiful and the powerful gather. A woman high up the US State Department, complete with her no nonsense security detail; a philandering doctor and his wife; a high-powered attorney fresh off a high-profile and controversial verdict, and other members of privileged society. A student drowns under odd circumstances, casting a chill over the festivities. Worse, five students fail to show up for the parent-student dinner. As the police, the FBI, and other agencies search for the students, family secrets and intrigues float to the surface. Who can you trust, who should you fear? What will the privileged do to protect themselves, and their own? PARENTS WEEKEND is fast-paced, clever, and hits all the right notes. Do not miss this one.


DP Lyle, award-winning author (Jake Longly and Cain/Harper thriller series), Lecturer, and Story Consultant and Co-creator of The Outliers Writing University
https://www.dplylemd.com/

I really enjoyed this one. As a mom of a college aged daughter, I completely empathized with these parents. I can't imagine visiting for parents weekend and my kid not showing up to the festivities.

This book was full of many characters, most of whom could have been to blame for the missing children. Despite the number of characters, I was able to keep them straight, although I did make notes initially so that helped.

I found the ending to be surprising but not far fetched. It also kind of broke my heart, in a way that made this book even better to me.

The author's note at the end was sincere and funny. I loved to hear about his friendship with David Ellis. What a cool friend duo.

I both listened and read this one, and the audio was superb. I highly recommend that format with a caution to be ready with note taking in the beginning. It's so worth the little extra effort.

4⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

This was a quick little read for me. Short chapters, multiple POVs, and a search for five missing college students during parents weekend at their college. There weren’t too many crazy twists in this one, it was pretty straightforward, but it did have you wondering who the culprit was almost the entire story. There were kind of a lot of characters to keep track of, but other than that, if you have enjoyed Alex Finlay’s novels before, you will enjoy this one.

When five students go missing during their freshmen year Parent’s Weekend, their (mostly) high-powered parents, the college, and even the FBI get involved. Fast-paced, thrilling, and featuring multiple points of view, Alex Finlay returns with another Special Agent Sarah Keller installment in his distinctive style.

I loved the nod to Ashley Winstead’s This Book Will Bury Me, which I just happened to read only a few books before this one, and would love to see Finlay and Winstead collaborate in the future.

Great, quick, captivating thriller for fans of Frieda McFadden, Allison Brennan, Lucy Foley, and Ashley Winstead.

Parents Weekend is another gripping thriller by Alex Finlay. You are immediately pulled into the action when 5 students go missing at a small university during Parents Weekend. The story is told from the perspective of the different sets of parents, the students, as well as an FBI agent who takes on the case. The story grabs you from the very beginning. I love the short but action packed chapters that leave you hanging so you just keep telling yourself, “Just one more!”

Would definitely recommend if you wanted a fast paced suspenseful read!

Looking for the next book you can binge read in a few hours? Parent’s Weekend may be that book! I sat down, started reading, and didn’t put this down until the last page. This is a fast-paced thriller that follows one detective and four families who are on a race against time to find their missing children. The short chapters make it very easy to fly through and the plot is interesting enough to keep you invested.

While I wasn’t blown away by this one and basically figured out “who-dun-it” quickly, I enjoyed the pace. Everything happens so quickly, and the reader is just along for the ride. As for the characters, I didn’t find them all that remarkable. The book just isn’t long enough to add enough depth to them. There were quite a few you keep track of in a general sense, but I don’t think it would even matter much if you got them confused because the families don’t really add much to the plot. Sure, we get a tiny bit of background but once you get to the end you may start wondering what was even the point of them? I suppose just to find the missing college students.

In any event this was a good read. Again, nothing fantastic but a fun way to spend the day if you have nothing else to do and want to read a fast-faced thriller.

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐

Alex Finlay's Parents Weekend is an electrifying masterpiece that grabs you from the first page and refuses to let go. This nail-biting drama is a true page-turner, brilliantly woven with suspense and twists that will keep your heart racing.

What sets this novel apart is its masterful use of multiple narrators. Each voice adds a unique layer of depth, offering varied perspectives that enrich the storyline and amplify the tension. Finlay expertly crafts these narratives, ensuring that every chapter leaves you eager to uncover the next clue.

The pacing is impeccable. Just when you think you've figured it out, a new revelation shatters your assumptions, pulling you deeper into the mystery. The characters are compelling, the plot twists are jaw-dropping, and the emotional stakes are sky-high.

Parents Weekend is not just a thriller—it's an experience. If you're looking for a gripping, edge-of-your-seat read that will keep you guessing until the very end, this book is a must. Alex Finlay has delivered yet another unforgettable story. Five stars without hesitation!

Thank you to the publisher for a Netgalley.

This one was good. I really enjoy Agent Keller as a character, so it was fun for her to reppear.

What I Liked: Agent Keller, McCray, and the pace of the plot. It moved fast and I like my thrillers to be fast. Writing style is always on point for Finlay.

What was just fine: The ending. Felt like many other thrillers I have read. Because of the amount of characters and shorter length of the book, they all felt very surface level. The how much random political stuff we could throw in.

Overall, I think Finlay is a solid thriller/suspense writer. This was not my favorite of his, but he is an auto-read author for me for sure.

Suspenseful: parents kept on tenterhooks😧

College freshman friends go missing and their parents are wringing their hands wondering how to retrieve them safe and sound. The short chapters and the constant switching between each student's parents kept the tension going. The parents, including a plastic surgeon, a judge, a high State Department official and an employee at the university, have amongst them almost as much drama and as many secrets as their kids. Occasionally the story provides a brief slice with the kids to slowly reveal their status and the events that led up to their disappearance. Personally, I would have liked more about the missing students and less about the parents.

The easy writing style kept the pace fast, the pages turning, but I don't think it's the author's best. I felt the story did not devote much time to character development, especially for the kids.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Review shared on 5/2/25 on Goodreads, and with Barnes & Noble and BAM. To be shared with kobo and Google Play upon publication.

This is one of those popcorn thrillers that reads quickly and will keep you guessing until the end! 🍿

We follow four different families in town for Santa Clara University’s Parents Weekend, and between the kids and their parents, there are a ton of characters to keep up with. We also get a perspective from Special Agent Sarah Keller, who has appeared in some of Finlay’s other thrillers! This was my first of his books though, and I didn’t feel like I needed to have read the others to enjoy this one as a standalone.

Keller, her family and the university police were really the only characters I ended up liking. But to be fair, they were the ones we got to know the most. Keller’s character really kept me invested in the story as she investigated leads, followed her gut and made split-second, life-saving decisions.

With that said, I do think there were opportunities for further character and plot development. We just scratched the surface on each of the parents, and got very little depth or added context for their kids. This created a disconnect for me where I didn’t find myself caring about them as much as I would've liked.

It’s also a short book, which makes for a good beach read, but I felt like more could have been explored at a slower pace to take it up a level and build greater suspense. And although the ending was a mad dash for Keller to solve the case, it felt too rushed and chaotic for me.

Overall, I liked it, but I wouldn’t say it’s a must-read. I would also recommend the physical vs. the audio if you’re interested in this one because it could be easy to get lost in all the perspective changes when you’re listening 🎧

Parents Weekend centers around 5 students who go missing during parents weekend. This is told through the POVs of the students, the parents and an FBI agent which allows us to get a glimpse of the dynamics of very different families. I did have a bit of issue at the beginning keeping track of whose parents were whose, but I think that could have been a me issue.
The overall story was pretty solid and by combining the drama of all the families, it was hard to predict how everything was going to play out. However, there was something about it that felt safe, like I had read it before. I still enjoyed it and was engaged, but my jaw didn't drop at the end.
Thank you Minotaur Books for the copy through NetGalley.

A solid mystery! I really had no idea what was going to happen. I was worried about all the POVs at the beginning, but it was easy to follow once it got going.

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay was an average read for me. While I enjoyed the overall storyline, I found the narrative more of a relationship drama than a thriller. Finlay's writing is straightforward and accessible and I look forward to reading more from this talented author. Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Alex Finlay for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.