Wow, I flew through this book! With its academic setting, short chapters, and compelling mystery, "Parents Weekend" was an unputdownable popcorn thriller. I enjoyed Finlay's last book, but I think I liked this one more. It was a quick read, and I finished it in just a few sittings. My only real complaint is the number of characters. There were a lot of families involved, and it was hard to keep track of who was who. With so many characters, I didn't really feel a strong connection to any of them, but I did enjoy all of the family drama. I also really liked the FBI agent, Keller, and the campus security officer, McCray, who were working together to find the missing college students. Their investigation was intriguing, and while there wasn't a huge plot twist, the story still held my attention the entire time. Overall, a bingeworthy story that I couldn't put down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5 Stars
Pub Date: 5/6
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I will read absolutely anything Alex Finlay writes. I just love his work, and I feel like every book has such a different and great premise while maintaining that thriller / mystery vibe.
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Parent's Weekend hooked my right from the prologue. I had to figure out what was going on. It was steady to fast paced and kept me on my toes the entire time. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, Finlay comes with a curveball and throws you on a different path. The ending has a lot of different pieces to it, and I love not only that he did this, but how it was explained; it made the book wrap up perfectly.
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This story is told in multiple POV's. It starts out by family and then at times it will go to individuals. It definitely will help to have a physical copy of the book in order to get down every character. And speaking of characters, I really liked all of the characters, even the morally gray, questionably bad ones.
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I listened to this one via audiobook and it was narrated by the Queen - Brittany Pressley. As per usual - she did a phenomenal job with the narration and giving certain characters certain voices. I was so happy to have a copy of the eARC while listening to this story because there are a ton of characters in this one and having both really helped me differentiate who was who.
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Overall, really enjoyed this one, cannot wait for the next one! Mystery/thriller fans, you need to check this one out! It's fun, it will keep you on the edge of your seat and you will constantly be wondering just what happened until the very end! Huge thank you to NetGalley, Alex Finlay, MacMillan Audio and St. Martins Press for the ALC and eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC of Parents' Weekend in exchange for an honest review.

This is the definition of a 3 star thriller to me. Fast paced, short chapters, multiple points of view. It was full of action nearly the whole time and I wanted to keep reading to find out how it ends. Unfortunately, the ending was incredibly predictable and wasn't anything new or interesting. I have a strong feeling I will forget what happened in Parents' Weekend by the end of the week.

This is 100% plot focused, and nothing is really left for the characters. I enjoy reading from Keller's perspective but she is clearly a woman written by a man. I can't put my finger one what it is about her or how her character is written, but its obvious. I just don't think a woman would do or think what she does. I don't really have anything else to say about the other characters because we honestly don't really get to know them.

If you are in the mood for a quick read and an okay time, pick this one up.

Received an ARC via NetGalley.

Quick read and it held my interest but it was sort of predictable. I didn’t really connect to many of the characters but I wanted to know what happened and it was easy enough to get through.

This one seems to have some mixed reviews but I personally really enjoyed it . Although there were quite a few families ( and as a result characters ) I enjoyed the various arcs that Keller investigating a bunch of leads that eventually led her to the truth
Also it took me a while to realize Sarah Keller is the FBI agent in Night Shift - which I loved

Alex Finlay delivers another fast-paced, multi perspective thriller with Parents Weekend that will leave his fans satisfied and engaged until the very end.

Parents Weekend at Santa Clara University convenes the parents of a close group of friends - Blane, Mark, Libby, Stella, and Felix - for a nice family visit... at the worst possible time. After a bonfire at the beach days prior, a fellow student has gone missing and the group seems to know something, and they're determined to keep the secret amongst themselves. But they aren't the only ones with a secret: their parents all have secrets of their own, and when the kids suddenly disappear, they each fear that their buried truths might be the cause. FBI Agent Sarah Keller will have to work against the clock to find out what each person is hiding and figure out why the kids have vanished... before it's too late.

I devoured this in one sitting and, for the most part, didn't know where things were headed. The story is well-paced, characters are believable, and the multi-perspective narrative was very effective. I was super happy to see the return of our favourite FBI Agent Keller: a fan favourite and recurring character in Finlay's work. If you like Finlay's other works or mystery/thriller/suspense in general, just read this one: you won't be disappointed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

Way too many characters but little to no information overall to make the plot move forward. I LOVED The Night Shift so I thought this was going to be a win for me but unfortunately it ended up being a major miss. The short chapters were easy to digest but unfortunately that prevented things from feeling fleshed out like they should be. The ending felt like it wrapped up too easily as well.

The book was very slow for me and didn’t catch my interest unfortunately. There were so many characters in the beginning it was hard to keep track.

Alex Finlay is a new author to me but I will be looking into more of his writing as I enjoyed this book. I was drawn to this book by the title first, then the cover and the synopsis was the final reason. I love to read books written in areas that I am familiar with and this book takes place in the SF bay area. I did have a little bit of trouble with how many characters were in the book. It took a while for the families of the 5 missing students to get straight in my mind. I really enjoyed the sections with Special Agent Keller. I see that some of the other books written by Alex have this character also and will be reading them. I enjoy it when the chapters are on the short side. The book overall was a quick read and more of a light mystery than a heavy thriller all of which I enjoyed too.
Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the advance copy. This review is my personal opinion.

Parent’s Weekend was a great thriller! The plot is really well thought out, and I enjoyed trying to figure out what happened to and with the students. The story is told from alternating viewpoints which gave the story and characters more depth. I will definitely be recommending this book!

I was disappointed in this book. There were simply too many POVs, which made it difficult to stay engaged or connect with any one character. By the time the big reveal came around, I struggled to tie everything together—it just didn’t land for me. This leaned more toward a police procedural than a true thriller, which wasn’t what I expected.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the e-arc & ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I always have a hard time keeping track when there are lots of characters, so keeping track of all the families took me a little while. The storyline was very interesting which I love, I flew through this book in just a day and a half. I'll be picking up more books by Alex Finlay as this was one of the best books i've read so far this year.

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

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for This ARC

This is my first read from this author and won't be my last. I enjoyed all the povs at first it was a bit hard to keep up with but I got the hang of it. This is easily a binge worthy one day read.

I just finished reading this book. The plot was absolutely fantastic! It was quite the page turner, and I could nor put the book down once I began reading it. I cannot wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone I know!

Wow wow wow. 5 freaking stars! This book was fast paced and had me hooked from the first page, I couldn’t t put this book down. Definitely a must read, this book, should go to the top of your TBR.

**THIS IS AN ARC REVIEW**

Wow, what a thriller! We follow a group of 5 "friends" and their parents. When they are scheduled to have a parents weekend, and they dont show up, panic ensues! I really enjoyed this thriller. It kept me invested to the shocking ending! The only thing that I didn't wholeheartedly enjoy was that there was so many characters to keep up and it made it a little hard to follow in the beginning. But once I got about halfway and connected with them, that got better! Solid 3.75 stars!!!


Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC!!!

Parents Weekend was my second read by Alex Finlay and it was a very quick and bingeable one filled with lots of action and short chapters. This book is about five missing students that takes places over the weekend where parents visit their college (I love a book with a college setting!). There was a ton of family drama and so many characters and perspectives that I found it challenging to keep track of who was who at the beginning. One of the perspectives is the detective working the case and we follow her step by step through the investigation. I think I would have enjoyed this one more if there was a bigger twist or more of shock factor for me personally as I felt a little bit underwhelmed by the end.

Overall I liked this one and rated it 3-3.5 stars. If you are looking for a quick and bingeable thriller with missing people, family drama and a college setting, check out Parents Weekend (out May 6, 2025).

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this story. The multiple storylines! The nervous parents! The content fear of wondering 'Is it my kid?"
Bravo Mr. Finlay!

The week of parents weekend a girl dies and now the night a group of parents are meeting for dinner with their kids, the kids don’t show up? Where are the 5 and are they ok?

This one has a good amount of characters! There are 5 students plus their families. We learn about 4 of them plus the FBI agent. Each chapter focuses on one of those families. We learn a lot of secrets and how they could factor into this disappearance.

I could not stop reading and a lot of the chapters ended on a cliffhanger so it made you want to keep reading to find out what happened! I did not expect the ending and the big reveal but it worked! This one is suspenseful and a little heartbreaking at the end, but a really good read!

4.5⭐️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Not Always As It Seems 🩸 🚐 🌊
This is my second Alex Finlay book and I loved it just as much as the first. I enjoy his writing style and the way the stories unravel. This books has a lot of characters to follow and at first I thought that might mess with the story for me but I was hooked and had no trouble with the multiple family drama. And the return of Agent Sarah Keller?! Yesss. Love, love, love.
The Kellers - The Akanas - The Maldonados - The Goffmans - The Roosevelts
It’s parents weekend, what could go wrong?
Blane, Libby, Felix, Mark & Stella - The Five.
All from very different backgrounds, but somehow brought together by the force that is college. One night, pranks gone wrong and revenge will alter the course of their lives. Will FBI Agent Sarah Keller be able to unweave this mystery before someone else ends up hurt?
Thanks @Netgalley for this early copy! Be sure to mark your calendars for this one, out May 6th!