A fast paced enjoyable thriller. I could not put it down!
There were a lot of characters that were hard to keep track of. For a while it slowed down my reading and messed with the flow of the book. I finally decided to just read and trust that Finlay would get us where we need to be. And he did. I stayed up late into the night to get to the end and figure out what happened.

This book was intriguing, but ultimately lackluster. The mystery felt it was missing an apex, like we were building up to something but never really got there. I enjoyed some of the characters, but there was too much complexity and messiness going on.

This book was a pretty good read, but definitely not a favorite by him. The story line seemed rushed and lacked depth. The ending also left me unsatisfied. It was just an okay read for me.

A nice popcorn thriller. Just about each chapter ends on a cliffhanger so it helps move the story along. Wasn’t expecting to follow an FBI Agent for a majority of the story so was kind of let down by that. Not a big fan of reading a thriller on the police pov.

Fun book, until the ending. Worth a read tho.
Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

This was a good one! After The Night Shift I was so excited to see the bad ass Special Agent Keller was back! I enjoyed the setting of the college/beach and the premise of the crime taking place at Parents Weekend. I felt that was a unique idea for a thriller. It gave it a domestic thriller feel which I loved. My only gripe is that there were a lot of characters to remember due to the 5 students and their families! Other than that I thought it was well paced, interesting and had a great ending I didn’t see coming.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my copy of this audiobook which publishes 5/6

Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella are known as The Five by reporters and TikTokkers alike after they go missing from a small private college in Northern California, on parents’ weekend. What happened to them? Agent Keller is hoping to find out just that.

Told from the perspective of each family and Agent Keller, this beachy thriller has multiple points of view and a load of secrets to uncover. We see into each parent’s personal lives, the students in their current setting, and stories from their freshman year, and Agent Keller’s homelife in a way that adds depth to the story and keeps you guessing.

Why Kirsten loves it
Some books can’t pull off this many narrators, but Parents Weekend does. I loved learning about the secrets of each family, what baggage the kids are bringing with them into college, and how their past experiences shaped them at school. I could totally see this story being adapted as a TV series, it’s utterly addicting – an excellent beach read! #Gifted by Macmillan

I love a good Alex Finlay thriller and am always excited to jump into his page turners.

It’s Parents Weekend at a small private college in Northern California. Five families wildly different families are gather for dinner, expecting their children to join—but the students never show up. Initially dismissed as typical college behavior, concern turns to panic when the group remains missing overnight, prompting a major search and media frenzy. The missing students come from very different backgrounds, raising questions about family secrets.

As with all Alex Finlay books, this was a page turner, and I read it so fast! The mystery was compelling, and the pacing kept me hooked from start to finish. The use of multiple points of view worked well, especially in how each character, particularly the parents, were intricately tied to the story. Finlay does a great job balancing tension with emotional stakes. Add in multitude of perspectives there is plenty of depth and drama for all my mystery fans. If you’re read Finlay’s other books, you’ll see a familiar character in FBI Agent Sarah Keller. I’d loved getting a deeper look into her home life and honestly could go for a series following her cases.

There was one element (which I won’t expand on to avoid spoilers) that felt a bit like an afterthought — more of a red herring than a meaningful piece of the puzzle. It didn’t quite land for me and honestly, I think the story would’ve been just as strong without it. That said, it didn’t take away too much from my overall enjoyment, it just wasn’t my favorite.

Definitely recommend if you’re into fast-paced thrillers with layered characters and a touch of interconnected storytelling. This one will make a great summer vacation or pool read!


Parents Weekend comes out May 6, 2025. Huge thank you to Minotaur Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my: Instagram @speakingof.books.
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Finlay has a way of keeping me invested in the story and wondering how everything will turn out. Not my favorite Finlay, but I’ll keep reading as long as they keep writing!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I loved this book! It was written in such a unique and creative way: focusing on each of the different families and their perspectives. This kept the book fast-paced and made me want to keep reading. I had ideas about where the book was going, but was surprised by the ending! It was a twist that I wasn't expecting! I loved the graduation 3 years later chapters, and seeing what had happened to the different families and the kids. I would definitely recommend this book to others!

Family Weekend by Alex Finlay is a stand-alone novel. Special Agent Keller takes a special assignment in Northern California to be with her family and care for her ailing father-in-law. Her first case involves 5 missing college students, some with high profile parents. During the investigation she uncovers infidelity, sexual abuse, suicide, and many other disturbing facts. But with all the leads, not one gets her closer to solving the disappearance of The Five. The characters are complex and deep. Alex is a masterful story teller who weaves together a fascinating tale of family dynamics, politics, college culture and loss. It is exceptionally well written. Be prepared to be sucked into it.

First off, thank you for this ARC!

I really enjoyed The Night Shift by the same author, so was so excited to read this book. I loved that Alex brought in the FBI Special Agent from that book too - slightly tying them together, well done.

This is such a fast-paced book, I was hooked and loved it. There were A LOT of characters to keep track of which kind of took away from the ability for me to focus and follow it easily. There wasn't a tonne of twists, however it was still a fantastic read with some mystery.

St. Martin's Press provided an early galley for review.

Finlay has become one of my go-to authors in recent years. His books always bring something thrilling. Combine that with a college setting (a time in my life I still look back at fondly decades later), and I was very eager to check out this new novel. I've been on both sides of the parents weekend, so this was familiar territory.

The story has a large cast; between the students, their parents, and the faculty, there are a lot of names, personalities and plot threads for the reader to juggle. The chapters are fairly short in length, though, so things move around from viewpoint to viewpoint quickly and often. Finlay knows how to end chapters to keep the reader turning the pages.

If you've read Finlay's earlier books Every Last Fear (2021) or The Night Shift (2022), you'll see a familiar face in FBI Investigator Sarah Keller. The author brings her into this story, thus loosely placing the novel in a shared world with some of his other books. Once she's brought into the investigation, the focus spends a lot of time with her. Since she's a character I find enjoyable, it kept the story moving along for me.

It was a good, cotton-candy sort of read (quick, tasty but no over-filling). Overall, I found the characters of the parents more engaging than I did the students. I suspect that's due to where I am in life.

A domestic thriller involving multiple families, lots of secrets and motives as five college students disappear over the parents' weekend and the police race to figure out what happened. I thought this was just okay, I liked Brittany Pressley as the narrator (she's one of my favs) but I didn't especially get invested in the story. I also didn't guess the ending so if you like books by Shari Lapena or Mary Kubica you may enjoy this one too. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for proving me with a copy to read and review.

A good, solid mystery/thriller that was a fast read and while I’ve liked the author’s previous work more, the premise was unique and not overly predictable.

And in my opinion, the final chapter was perfect.

I just finished reading this fantastic book by Alex Finlay and I was amazed by it. It follows 5 college students' who's parents all come to town for Parents Weekend. Once dinnertime comes, none of the 5 students show up and leaves the parent's wondering to what is going on especially when none are answering their phones or texts. Where are they? What will be found? Who did this? Find UT by reading this amazing 5 star read once it is available!

Very entertaining thriller. I enjoyed this book; it kept me interested and wondering what was going to happen next. Multiple POV's but they were easy to keep up with it. There were a lot of twist and turns and had me staying up to finish the book. This was my first book by this author and can't wait to read more. The chapters were quick and most ended on cliff hangers. Very easy read. Really enjoyed Agent Keller chapters. Parents on the other hand were full of drama, but I was here for it.

Did not finish after about 20% in. There were just too many characters and I couldn’t keep everyone straight nor did I feel liked I cared to. It felt like a
Lot of chaos that I just don’t have it in me. Maybe I’ll revisit when the skies aren’t gray here in Michigan and I am praying for summer.

It’s Parents Weekend at Santa Clara University. We are introduced to five families en route for this big weekend but upon arriving for the dinner, it’s just them. Their kids are nowhere in sight. Is this a case of college kids just being college kids or is there something more nefarious going on? Agent Keller, who was recently relocated to California is brought in to investigate.

I had a really hard time trying to decipher which family went with which college kid and I also had the same issue in regard to which college kid was which. They all kind of just blended together. I think if they had been more developed with some more depth to them that may have helped. This was also told through the eyes mainly of Agent Keller, as well as the parents. It would’ve been nice to get more POV’s from the kids, and I think that would’ve also helped with the development of both the characters and the plot itself. There is also a piece of the plot that is divulged to readers later on during the conclusion that had me scratching my head as to why that reveal wasn’t investigated sooner. Definitely being vague as to not spoil anything. The positive is that it was certainly a fast read and I was able to finish it very quickly. It does have you turning the pages.

Overall, this was certainly a fast read, but I feel that some of Finlay’s earlier novels had more of the wow factor over this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Alex Finlay has been a favorite mystery author in recent years. You can always count on him to give you a fast-paced novel full of twists, turns, and unexpected villains. This book was no exception in that regard.

This story is focused on five college students who all go missing on Parents Weekend at their university. Told through rotating POVs from all five families, you quickly move through the story. The downside of so many POVs and characters is the ability to keep everyone straight and not intermix storylines. In addition to the five POVs, we also get Sarah Keller back with her POV, making for a minimum of six POVs. Towards the end, we get a few more sprinkled in. While I appreciated the fast pace, the amount of things happening & number of characters, I struggled to keep everything organized in my mind as I read. It forced me to slow down my reading. I often had to flip back to make sure I had the characters straight. This would be a big struggle for me to do on audio without the visual of names on pages.

All in all, I enjoyed the book & the twists and turns included. This wasn’t my favorite of Finlay’s books, but it wasn’t a disappointment by any stretch of the imagination either.