3.50…….If you’re looking for a quick read, an escape and another fun thriller try Parent’s Weekend by Alex Finlay.

It’s college weekend at a private college in California and right as the weekend is getting started a girl is found dead. Next five students and their parents are meeting for dinner, but……..the kids don’t show up. 24 hours later the search begins.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of, many who you won’t like. Spoiler……Felix, the character I liked the most dies in the end. All in all it was a faced pace, fun read. It was fun to reminisce about my college days while reading the book.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press l Minotaur Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I look forward to reading more Alex Finlay books. They are a great way to escape from a hectic day.

Quick read. Love the short chapters. I really like Agent Sarah Keller and wish there was a bit more of her, Bob and the kids in the story. The mystery was okay. The characters could have been better. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

That prologue 🙌🏼 if you know you know ‼️

When you wish you could go back to that D on your report card or when you use to be afraid your parents would find your edible or condom stash….

I appreciated the modern day slang and use of tik tok. I was engaged immediately, but it did take me a minute to follow the multiple pov & characters.

I have decided that rich people drama is officially my favourite genre. Throw in a campus and a murder mystery and you will have me on the first page. I loved the multiple points of view this was told in, the twist, and the messiness of the characters. A fun, fast read!

It is parents' weekend at a small, elite private college, and five families arrange to have dinner together. As the night goes on, things get scary, when none of their college age children show up.

This is my second book. I’ve read by this author, and I enjoyed the first book, but this one was a little bit of a letdown. This is a mystery and a thriller, but there were so many characters and the storyline changed so much that it was really hard to follow along. I just feel like the timeline changed so often that it was really hard to keep up with what was going on.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc and alc.

Alex Finlay is back with another fantastic thriller!! I really enjoyed this book and I finished it within a day or two. Furthermore, Brittany Pressley does a fabulous job as the audiobook narrator and I love how she brought the characters in the story to life. Yes, I may have preferred it if this book had multicast narration, but if there was only going to be one narrator for this book, I am very glad it was Brittany Pressley! I highly recommend picking up this thriller this summer, and I am looking forward to Alex's next book!

Thank you @stmartinspress @minotaur_books and @NetGalley for my copy!

There are many characters and POVs in this story, but I felt that I was able to keep track of everyone. This story was a good combination of character development and plot driven. I loved agent Keller’s character in Finlay’s The Night Shift and Every Last Fear, so I was happy to see her again in this story. She’s smart and she’s not afraid to take risks. I did not see where the story was heading, and I enjoyed the fast paced journey to get there. I felt like the story ending may have been a bit rushed, but I enjoyed this one and would recommend it.

Fast paced and quick read. Although I did feel in the middle it dragged a little too much but overall a good read. Most things in the book was predictable and of course there were some that were not.

When 5 kids go missing right away people thought it was a prank or kids just going off grid for a bit. When they realize it was not a prank you have local cops and the FBI involved. The parents of these kids tend to have their own drama in their lives. It makes you think is it the parents doing that these kids are missing or is it the kids themselves?

Thank you NetGalley for this Arc!

I love this author’s writing style and knew I was going to enjoy this one going into it! Such great character development and twists!

BOOK REVIEW: PARENTS WEEKEND

I loveeee thrillers set on college campuses and absolutely loved If Something Happens to me, so I knew I had to pick this one up! I went between my @netgalley copy and audio and enjoyed both!

Five families come into town for a Parents Weekend at a small private college in California. Their kids never show up to the welcome dinner, which turns the weekend into a tailspin as the search for the missing students commences, which unearths hidden truths from each family.

This one was pretty fast paced and with multiple POVs and timelines was a little hard to follow at times for me just bc there were so many characters to track. Overall I liked it but it wasn’t my fav from this author. I also didn’t feel super connected to the missing students as the story revolves much more around the families and their drama than it did the students themselves.

I’d recommend if you want a quick popcorn thriller!

The characters in this book were messy with lots of drama and I loved that! While the description of this book totally hooked me, it ended up being way more about the detective than the students and it turned out to be a little different than what I thought it would be. There were a lot of characters and it was a little difficult to keep up with, and it started to feel totally unrealistic at the end. Overall it was an entertaining read and I wanted to know what happened, but it was not my favorite. 2.5 / 5 stars for me!

Genuinely... what happened here? This feels like the first draft you send to an editor. At times it barely feels like more than an outline just to get the basic story on the page. There are times the writing is so bare bones I thought I was missing something, and there are blatant spelling and grammar errors. I know this is an ARC but typically they're farther along than a basic editing stage. Again, this feels like a story that was chugged out within a few weeks and then sent off to the printer with no further discussion.

Even the story is pretty poor- it doesn't feel like any care was taken with any of these characters or their actions. I'm struggling to find specific things to say about it because it was just so generally terrible. I've read one of Alex Finlay's books in the past and I didn't like it, but that was more about content I disagreed with and it felt mostly competent. Is this a publishing thing, like was this rushed out? I'm genuinely baffled. It's been a long time since I read something so poorly slapped together, especially by a known and well-liked author.

Thanks for the advanced reader copy from Netgalley. Parents Weekend is a good easy beach read about college kids going missing and secrets. Popcorn thriller.

Finlay always does a good job of giving you multiple POVs that keep you on your toes. I felt like this was the true definition of a popcorn thriller. I was hooked and flew through it. It had super short chapters (my favorite) and having so many characters helped *and* hindered the story. It was hard to keep track of it. All the characters are unlikeable which kept the drama alive. The twist was predictable but it wasn’t bad, just not my favorite.

Thank you @netgalley for my copy!

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.