I love Alex Finlay’s books! Every year I always look for his new release on Netgalley! My favorite is still The Night Shift probably because of the 90s nostalgia.
I never had parents weekend in college, but I found this relatable. There is nothing good about a weekend where you have to be a teenager on your best behavior.
When 5 college students go missing after missing the kick off to parents weekend. everyone has their own assumptions. Did they just go off and party? Are they playing a joke on their parents? Did something bad happen to them?
FBI agent Sarah Keller is on a temporary assignment in CA and gets her first case in the area. At first all signs point towards kids being kids. Then, she starts to uncover pieces that makes her think otherwise. What happened to these five?

This was another fast paced thriller in typical Alex Finlay fashion, with his trademark short chapters, slew of characters, misdirections and a surprising twist at the end. This one packs in, not only the friend drama, but a lot of family drama to keep things even more interesting. It also marks the return of FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller (The Night Shift and Every Last Fear).
It’s Parent’s Weekend at the elite Santa Clara University and when the group of friends don’t show up for the family dinner with their parents, it becomes apparent that something is wrong. The investigation unravels more than Agent Keller bargained for, but in the meantime the clock is ticking on finding the missing students!

With a cast of characters set to keep you on your toes and keep you guessing, Finlay’s latest crime thriller is one for the books and every parent’s nightmare. Definitely recommend :)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:
🔥 multiple POV (5!!!)
🔥 3rd person POV
🔥 single timeline
🔥 MANY characters

I have read every Alex Finlay book, so it was so cool to see FBI Agent Sarah Keller pop back up in this book! I love a cross-over!!
The story started off right away with the most dramatic, exciting part and I was hooked from the beginning. It was impossible to put down!
There were so many POVs and characters in this book I do have to admit that it made it a little difficult to keep track of everyone or get to know any of the characters really.
I hated all of the characters 🤪🤪 but literally how could you not??
There was a lot of “stuff” happening all the time in this one and it made for a very exciting, entertaining read. There were no slow parts the whole way through!
I can definitely say I did not see the end coming!! That was definitely a twist!
Another smash hit from one of my favourite authors Alex Finlay 💕💕 Thank you so much to St Martin’s Press 🩷💜💙 and Alex Finlay for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I can’t wait to read Alex’s next work!!

Unfortunately this book was a miss for me. Too many characters and I wasn’t able to place who’s parents were who’s or form connections with any of them.

Being a parent of a college student I was so excited to read Finlay’s newest book about a parents weekend that goes horribly wrong. Unfortunately, the book just did not work for me. There were too many characters, which most were not given enough background so I didn’t feel connected to them. The premise was ok just feel flat.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

Five college students disappear during parents weekend at their school. The students fail to show up to dinner with their parents, after being expected to join them. At first, their disappearance was thought to be no big deal, just students being students. But as the hours slip away with no sign of the students, the parents become frantic and the FBI is called in to assist the local police. Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay is a thrilling mystery that kept me up way too late! I highly recommend it to all who enjoy mysteries and thrillers.
I was given an ARC of Parents Weekend by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#parentsweekend
#alexfinlay
#mysteries
#thrillers
#netgalley

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

Publication date: May 6, 2025

Hooked from the beginning! While I loved the suspense of this story, I needed more character development. I did enjoy the chapters alternating between the families of the missing college students. I felt like I understood the families more than the students.

I did catch myself thinking about the book when I wasn’t reading it. Overall, I really enjoyed the story and would recommend it.

I have no reservation with giving Parents Weekend just two stars. Quite frankly, this book fell flat when it came to content, climax, or really any other adjective used to describe storytelling. It was a disappointing read from an author who has written far better books! This book tells the story of five families, each of whom have discovered that their college-aged kid has gone suddenly missing. The story centers around unveiling a truth each of the families has experienced or is hiding, which oddly have no bearing on the real reason the students were taken. The glaring problem here is that attempting to tell the stories of five families in a mere 235 pages inevitably means that each family gets less than 50 pages to tell their story. In Finlay's book, this plays out differently, with some families getting more storytelling than others. And the end! Just so poorly thought out, poorly written, and barely discussed. If the book was condensed into percentages, I'd say 65% is fluff, 34% is important, and 1% is the climax. While I would not recommend this book to my friends, or other readers, I do appreciate the opportunity NetGalley and the publisher provided me to review it for an honest review.

When parent’s weekend goes awry as several students go missing, special angers must determine who is behind these cases and why. Secrets are exposed and parents learn a lot of themselves and their kids.

It’s Parents Weekend at an elite private California college, and five undergrads and their families are supposed to meet up for drinks and dinner to kick off the weekend. The parents all arrive and start getting their drink on, but the students never show. Initially thought to be forgetfulness or irresponsibility, panic starts to rise as time goes by and calls and texts go unanswered.

Alex Finlay’s latest is a popcorn thriller and police procedural rolled into one. Fans of Finlay’s earlier books will be excited to see FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller (from The Night Shift and Every Last Fear) return, relocating to the west coast with her family. Although a good portion of the story is told from Keller’s perspective, there are lots of characters and lots of POVs between the various families and students. This is a quick read with short chapters and lots of drama, juicy secrets, and twists and turns.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for providing me an advance copy of this book.

It’s Parents weekend at a small college in California. All the parents arrive at dinner to discover five kids don’t show up. One ends up dead, and the FBI agent Sarah Keller is called in to help.

Told from multiple POVs. Five families to follow. This didn’t hit the mark for me. The ending was rushed, and not my thing, but it might be yours!

Thanks to St Martin’s Press, Minotaur books, and Alex Finlay for the ARC! Pub date May 6, 2025

3.5 stars rounded up.

Parents' Weekend was a quick and entertaining thriller, perfect for those seeking a twisty and fast-paced book to get them out of a reading slump.

We are introduced to five different families, comprised of parents and their college students, at the start of the annual parents' weekend at Santa Clara University. The story is told from these alternating POVs, as well as that of an FBI agent (Sarah Keller).

Mystery and chaos ensures when the parents congregate for the opening night dinner and their five students do not show up to the event, nor are they responding to calls or texts. Given that one of the parents is a VIP, the FBI is called to investigate and track down these missing students.

While I enjoyed the large cast of characters, the length of the story ended up being a bit too short for my preference, as it did not really dive deep enough into the background and motivations of each person. That being said, the very short chapters kept me reading and listening, to the point that I devoured this one in just a day!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook and ebook copies in exchange for my honest review.

This book kept me hooked until the plot twist point,
It kinda twisted. It wasn’t such a huge surprise as to what was going on and who was in on it.

It’s the weekend that both parents and kids dread—and when a group of five college friends doesn’t show up for the first family event, everyone knows something’s wrong. No one’s answering their phones, and the silence is completely out of character.

This was another fast-paced, addictive read from Alex Finlay. I loved seeing FBI agent Sarah Keller back in action. The way each chapter focused on a different family made it so much easier to keep track of the big cast of characters—and trust me, I needed it! The short chapters kept the story moving and definitely pulled me into the “just one more chapter” trap... which somehow always turns into five or ten. 😅

Definitely a solid thriller to add to your shelf.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Parents Weekend was another page turner by Alex Finlay. I enjoyed the format of checking in with different parents during the weekend and seeing what each family was up to. I wish we spent more time with the students to understand their motives but it was still a good suspense thriller and a perfect book for your beach bag or traveling.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this one at 50%. The premise of this book sounded so good so I was hoping for a great fast paced thriller/mystery. It started off well but then you get introduced to so many characters that I had no idea what was going on and who was who. To fully enjoy this story one would have to read it in one sitting; this is not a book that you can put down for a day or two and easily go back to it. Typically I like books with many POVs but this one just didn't work for me.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and the author for a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

There were a lot of characters to keep track of. However, Finlay made it easy for the reader to understand the different dynamics of each student and their families. The book was well thought out and not easy to figure out the ending, which I appreciated. As a hotel worker, I was intrigued by the plot taking place over parents' weekend - an event that is often total chaos. It wouldn't be hard to believe something like this really happened, and it almost reads like a true crime book, rather than pure fiction.

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay is a gripping thriller that kicks off with a mysterious disappearance during a college Parents Weekend. When five students fail to show up at a dinner with their families, panic quickly spreads, and a search ensues. FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller returns to investigate the case, uncovering dark secrets and family dysfunction along the way. The book is filled with twists, red herrings, and plenty of suspense that kept me on the edge of my seat. The characters are complex and relatable, and the writing is fast-paced and engaging. While the story may seem implausible at times, Finlay delivers a thrilling, twisty read that keeps you hooked until the very end.
Very grateful to the publisher for my copy through NetGalley, opinions are my own

Rating: 3 stars!

There was a lot of families. There was a lot of chaos. And there was a lot of jumping around. Overall, the story had a lot of drama from all sides with the various families and their invididual crazies. Together though, it was hard to keep up with that many individual families (in my personal opinion) and the ending felt a little flat. Overall, its a quick read with an interesting plot.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.