I’m a fan of Alex Finley’s writing style and I was not disappointed reading his latest work. Lots of characters but it wasn’t too confusing or overwhelming. A overall solid & enjoyable thriller.

DNF at 35%

I gave it a good shot but I didn’t care about or like a single character.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Minotaur books via Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Parents of 5 college students all go to dinner and drinks on the opening night of Parents weekend on their kids college with the plan to meet their kids there. The kids don’t show and the parents all hang out thinking it’s college kids being college kids skipping out for a party. As time goes on and noone has heard from their child panic ensues and campus police have brought in reinforcements. Did they skip out on Parents weekend after all or did something happen to them?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, captivated from the prologue to the conclusion. The author’s focus on the character development, spanning from the parents to the main FBI/Police officers and each child, was particularly well developed that I felt I knew them well. I am eager to explore the author’s other works featuring some of these characters, delving deeper into their further evolution into who they became today.

If you’re a fan of whodunits, and books that keep you guessing this is one of those books. It’s a quick read that was great from beginning to end.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book. Alex Finlay's books are always a whodunit ride. This is no exception. I like the Sarah Keller character and her connection here. She was the shinning moment in this novel. It could be hard to follow with multiple families and multiple backstories. I did not find the individual families overly compelling, but the overall story was fine. Easy, quick read.

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay

Thank You NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for a complimentary copy of this novel! All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Alex Finlay’s most recent thriller is a literal race against the clock!!! It is the weekend where parents of students come to visit their kids at a private college in North California. However, on the night they are all supposed to meet for dinner, five students never show up. Afterall, this is their freshman year at college. They’re just busy enjoying college life pledging at their choice of fraternity or sorority! At least that is what their parents chalk their kids’ no-show up to. Or are they? Two of the kid’s parents are high profile...one a soon to be secretary of state and another a very high-profile judge. And just last week a female student was found dead. With so many twists and turns, will FBI special agent Sarah Keller be able to solve this case before time literally runs out for these five kids? Who is behind their disappearance? Or is it just a silly prank turned deadly? I really enjoyed this newest novel from Alex Finlay! He is one of my go-to authors and this one did not disappoint. I loved that the chapters were short, and this was a quick read for me. I couldn’t wait to get to the conclusion and find out what happened.
This novel will be AVAILABLE May 6, 2025!

Between the sheer number of characters and changing timelines, this was a bit of a confusing read. I also couldn't decide who the focus was supposed to be on (and maybe the author couldn't either?), the parents or their children. I feel like a commitment to one side or the other would have made the storytelling feel stronger and more cohesive. Instead, the focus is all over the place with way too many characters to keep track of.

📱 Parents Weekend 📱⁣
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⁣Who else loves a good popcorn thriller? Alex Finlay is one of my favorite popcorn thriller authors! Parents Weekend follows five college students who disappear on the first night of parents weekend when their families are supposed to be gathering for dinner. ⁣
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⁣Parents Weekend is a fast paced, entertaining thriller you can binge in a couple of hours. This is FBI Agent Sarah Keller third appearance in a Finlay novel. She’s a smart and entertaining character who has amazing sleuthing skills. Because there are so many characters, she’s the only one who I really felt emotionally connected to. ⁣
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⁣Overall- I enjoyed this book for the reading experience, but probably won’t remember much about it in a few weeks! Four stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
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⁣Thanks to @netgalley for an ARC of Parents Weekend. This book is out May 6, 2025!

Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella are freshmen at a private school in Northern California. It is parents weekend and their families are arriving at their school for the festivities. The five, as they are known, are from all walks of life with families that are vastly different. The five are supposed to meet their families at dinner when oddly, none of them show up. Their parents aren't worried at first, maybe they went to a party instead or decided to ditch dinner. But, as the night drags on and then the morning comes with no response to texts/calls, their parents concern grows. Campus police are called and FBI agent Sarah Keller joins the investigation and quickly realizes something just isn't right.
Review:
4.25 stars
This was a super quick and fast paced popcorn thriller. I found myself not wanting to put this one down, which is exactly what I needed to get myself out of my current book slump. There are a lot of characters and storylines to follow, but Alex Finlay writes them in a way that reminds you who is who and they each have their own distinct voices. I never had an issue keeping the characters separated like I have in other books. There is a lot of drama between the parents and students and it kept me entertained throughout the entire book. The story lines all fit together perfectly at the end and I really enjoyed the puzzle pieces falling together. I did not predict the ending for a single second.
Parents Weekend publishes on May 6th and I highly suggest picking this one up for a fun and wild ride!
Thank you to NetGalley, Alex Finlay, and St. Martin's Press for this ARC of Parents Weekend in exchange for an honest review!

This book is about a group of students who disappear on parents' weekend. It is really quick to get into and remains interesting throughout. There are a lot of characters, however, and it is not always so easy to keep track of them or remember who goes with whom. Also, it feels like the parents are more fleshed out than the students because the latter only come into the book late in the story. Before that, they are mostly seen through the eyes of other characters.

The mystery is intriguing, even though it becomes clear who may have taken the students and why well before it is actually revealed. However, there is so much more to the story than the who and the why; there is the how they got to that point. That part of the story is even more interesting than who took them and why.

The story is surprisingly thought-provoking. It makes you think about how quick we are to judge one another based on hearsay and innuendo, without fully understanding what is going on with another person before judging them. It actually makes you want to be a better person and be more careful before forming opinions of others,

Loved the twisty plot - I didn’t see the plot twist coming. I also really loved the atmosphere and setting of the book, being a college campus. The writing style of multiple POVs helped propel the plot along in a very fast paced way that had the reader invested in the outcome.

I loved this fast paced thriller! Multiple POV, dark secrets, family dysfunction, and short chapters!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the ARC!

3-3.5 stars. This is an entertaining but lightweight suspense thriller about five college students who go missing during Parents Weekend at Santa Clara University in Northern California. Special Agent Sarah Keller, who first made an appearance in The Night Shift, has recently requested a temporary assignment to the San Francisco office so her husband can care for his dying father. She is called in to look into the students' disappearance--could be because most are the children of the wealthy or famous: one of them is the son of the Assistant Secretary of State, another the daughter of a famous judge and another the daughter of a wealthy plastic surgeon. Only two of the five are scholarship kids.

The story is told from multiple points of view with numerous characters who are a little hard to keep straight and mostly unlikable. The whodunit is fairly easy to figure out even though one important clue is withheld until late in the story. I would call this a quick summer vacation read without much depth.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new suspense novel via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

Parent’s Weekend is a fast-paced, emotionally charged thriller that begins with five college students vanishing during a campus event and their parents left reeling. Told through multiple points of view and timelines, the novel explores family secrets, the pressures of young adulthood, and the dark echoes of past choices. With FBI Agent Sarah Keller returning to untangle the mystery, Alex Finlay weaves a smart, twisty story full of suspense, heart, and surprises.

This was ok. I was a little annoyed by the death at the end. I wanted that particular family to get a win.

I was so excited for this as I’ve enjoyed other books by the author but this wasn’t one for me. The characters were so insufferable but not in an interesting way and everyone acted and sounded like they were 14.

Five big fat stars!!⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC audiobook of Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay!
What a great book!
This one was right up my alley!
An action packed thriller that will keep you hanging on until the very end.
Highly recommended!!

This book was awesome. Cleverly crafted and well plotted. I'm a big fan of Alex Finlay and this one did not disappoint.

In the glow of their children’s exciting first year of college at a small private school in Northern California, five families plan on a night of dinner and cocktails for the opening festivities of Parents Weekend. As the parents stay out way past their bedtimes, their kids—five residents of Campisi Hall—never show up at dinner.

Multiple POVs and a tight plot made for a satifsying reading experience. I couldn't read it fast enough.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review. This book is great. Enjoy!

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

I didn't love this one. There were too many characters to keep track of for me to really feel connected to any of them or really care about any of them. And I know it was kind of the point, but the parents were all pretty awful. Who is cheating on who, who is an actual sexual predator, etc. And then because there were so many people and so many POVs the ending felt rushed, like everything was trying to be wrapped up in a neat little bow, but because there were 6 different families it was like getting the cliffnotes version.

The way I FLEW through this book. O. M. G. All of a sudden I was 75% through and still had no clue what was going to happen. By far my favorite read of the year!

Alex Finlay has done it again — Parents Weekend absolutely blew me away! As a thriller lover, I was hooked from the very first page. I especially love when a story drops you right into the action, about a third of the way into the plot, and then rewinds to show you how everything unraveled. That’s exactly what Finlay did here, and it worked so well. The book opens with a gut-wrenching scene: a group of kids trapped in a cave as the high tide creeps in, and we know things aren't looking good. From there, we rewind three days and piece together all the events leading up to that heart-pounding moment. The suspense was electric — I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!

What made this book stand out even more was the twist. I thought I had it all figured out, but nope — the final reveal completely caught me off guard in the best way. I love when a thriller truly shocks me, and Parents Weekend kept me guessing right up until the very end. Every time I thought I had the culprit pinned down, another clue would pop up and throw me off track. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, twisty thriller that will keep you second-guessing yourself the whole way through, this one needs to be at the top of your TBR list!