Alex Finlay delivers yet another gripping thriller with Parent Weekend, a fast-paced, suspenseful novel that kept me on edge from start to finish which makes it hard to put down!

If you’re looking for a page-turner that will keep you guessing until the very end, Parent Weekend is a must-read. I would highly recommend.

Alex finlay is becoming a go to author for me. So I knew I needed to read this book when I saw it on netgalley.
It’s parents weekend at a private school in Northern California. So 5 students parents show up to welcome to the school dinner. As the parents are getting to know each other and taking shots, they think their kids are just rebelling against them and miss the dinner on purpose. After none of the parents hear from their kids the next day, they start to panic.
I enjoyed this book, it was fast paced and kept my attention. One thing about it is there was way too many characters. If I didn’t write them down it was hard to keep track of them.

FBI Special Agent Keller is back!

There's something so comforting about Finlay's writing style. He's my go-to thriller/mystery author. I know what I'm going to get. There will be some cool references to 80s/90s pop culture and a healthy dose of true crime podcasts/social media used as clues—all elements I find infinitely entertaining.

While this book meets my Alex Finlay expectations, there was one storytelling choice I found to be weak. The mystery isn't as tightly crafted as his other books. The red herrings are too obvious and the real mystery lacks breadcrumbs. As a reader, I didn't have enough information to make any guesses as to what really happened. There are also a lot of characters! So much time was needed to set up all the players that the story doesn't start until ~25% into the book. I forgave this delay only because I love Agent Keller and will wait for her to arrive on the scene.

Still a fun escape read! If you're already a Finlay fan you'll enjoy this one, but probably not as much as his other hits.

Parents Weekend is my fifth novel by Finlay -- he's one of my favorite authors and I have enjoyed his back list so much. It was so good to be back with Special Agent Sarah Keller and her husband, Bob! The Keller Family chapters were definitely my favorite. Parents Weekend was multiple POV -- essentially a group of college kids doesn't turn up to dinner for parents weekend at SCU and the different POV's are all the different parents. I found it difficult to really connect to the characters as there is SO many different students and parents to remember. I found myself taken out of the story a lot of times because I was busy trying to figure out who was who at the beginning of each chapter. I think if even one POV was taken away it would've made for a more enjoyable experience. With that being said, I didn't feel much for these characters since I couldn't really get to know them very well, with all of the different POVs.

I thought the reveal at the end was clever (with the sea claves and the prank on the beach and the professor) but it did feel a bit rushed. A solid crime thriller, but not my absolute favorite by Finlay.

Very very entertaining and engaging. This one is a real page turner. Once started it was very hard to put down. It has a very interesting flow and chapter breakdown. It makes it easy to follow the story yet remain curious what lurks around the next corner.

Parents Weekend was a surprise from the start. I loved meeting each couple and seeing their dramas. Those played out amongst the larger plot of the missing children and made for excitement on every page. I especially enjoyed the Kellers, particularly Bob, who was such a great, lovable character. I couldn’t get enough of the book and in true Alex Finlay style, this book is a star! Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This author can be hit or miss for me, and Parents Weekend was somewhere in between. The setup was engaging, and there were some tense, well-written moments, but the pacing felt uneven, and some characters fell flat. It kept me reading, but it didn’t fully deliver the impact I was hoping for.

I had high hopes for this one considering the fact that I adored Alex Finlay‘s most recent book before this one, but this was definitely a mess for me and I should’ve known this going in because I suspected that this was a vacation thriller and I am not a fan of that trope but because of my having loved the last book I decided I would give it a chance and much to my chagrin I quickly realized I was right to think that I would not enjoy the tropes in this one. It honestly felt to me like a different writer, the characters were not nearly as fleshed out and I did not find them particularly likable. The writing also felt very mediocre which was especially disappointing when I thought his last book was well above average. This was enough to make me less excited for any of his future books but I am not opposed to giving him another shot as so far it’s only one to one Ratio of go to bed. I did enjoy the cup though and wish I could keep it but I’m trying really hard to get rid of books I read and do not like and only keep ones that I have loved or enjoy enough to potentially read them again or need them for reference. Others might like this more but this to me felt like your run of the mail dime a dozen low quality page Turner with an ending that is so convoluted and unrealistic that it really spoils the effects of a thrilling ending because it’s just too ridiculous.

Finlay immediately grabs your attention in this book and holds it throughout. The prologue is intense and attention grabbing and sets the tone for the book. However, I did find the beginning a bit confusing with all the characters and their families. And with such a large cast, it felt like many of the characters were surface level developed and it was difficult to become truly invested in their outcomes. It did start to come together a bit around the 25% mark and the confusion cleared up. I will say, every character in this book has a dirty little secret, and it was so fun to learn them all. The parents chapters were interesting to read and compelling, but the kids chapters felt a little YA and less developed. I honestly had no idea that this book was an installment in Finlay’s continuing series, and it does work very well as a standalone. From the beginning, I had a good idea of what was going on, and ended up being correct, but Finlay did throw a few good twists in. Overall this was a gripping, fast paced, and engaging read that kept me turning pages until the end. 4/5 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this eARC!!

I've read multiple books by this author, and he consistently delivers engaging stories. This one is no exception! Set during parents' weekend at Santa Clara University, it follows a small group of freshmen and their families. The plot is filled with suspense and unexpected twists. I highly recommend it!

Holy molly Alex did it AGAIN 🤯
That was the most intense & edge of my seat thriller reads of 2025!! by far this book will be a huge hit this year 👏, It was truly captivating. This
was beautifully written and put together in multiple POVs with the past & present touches really brought each character and their own stories together. I loved the return of FBI Agent Sarah Keller from The Night Shift and the glimpse into her family.
Highly recommend you preorder Parents Weekend out on May 6,2025 l promise it won't disappoint it's so twisty and addictive.

I really loved the first half, but the ending was much slower. I wasn't a fan of the specific ending, although I certainly did not guess it

There are a lot of characters in this book and a lot of flipping around. Which for me made things confusing. What kept me hooked was it was based near me at Santa Clara University so some of the places/areas referenced I knew. There was some good banter which I appreciate but as a thriller it felt all over. I plan to maybe read again once released to just see if maybe it’s just a miss right now. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Alex Finlay's Parents Weekend hits every parent's deepest fears right where it hurts. Set at a small Northern California college, this thriller takes a seemingly innocent parents' weekend celebration and turns it into pure nightmare fuel when five students vanish without a trace.

The genius of Finlay's storytelling lies in how he makes you care about these families before he tears their world apart. Through multiple perspectives, including the sharp-eyed FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller (a familiar face for Finlay's fans), we watch as a simple dinner and cocktails spiral into a desperate search for answers.

What makes this book stick with you isn't just the wild twists – though trust me, there are plenty. It's how Finlay nails those awkward, tender moments between parents and their almost-adult kids. Anyone who's ever dropped a child off at college will feel this story in their bones. The way he weaves these universal growing pains into a high-stakes thriller is nothing short of masterful.

Sure, keeping track of all the characters can feel like herding cats sometimes, and Finlay loves throwing red herrings at you like confetti. But these minor quirks barely dent the impact of this emotionally charged page-turner. The story grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go until the final page.

As First Clue Reviews says, "Plan a weekend to devour this terrific thriller." They're not wrong – this is a one-sitting kind of book that'll have you checking on your college kids more often than usual.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars for a thriller that proves that sometimes the scariest stories are the ones that hit closest to home.

Thanks to NetGalley for a preview of this book. It follows five families' experiences around the disappearance of a group of college students. The chapters bounce around the perspectives of the various families. For me, it was a lot of characters to keep straight. I tend to read books over two to three days, so it was ok, but I think the longer it takes to read the harder it is to stay engaged with all of these different points of view. While the story was engaging, it was somewhat predictable. My rating falls between 3 and 4 but more leaning towards 3.

3.5 stars

I must say I loved the way the chapters were laid out, yes there were a ton of characters, but I liked that each chapter was a different family or single character and we get to know a little more in each one of the students/families/cops in every chapter. I'm not sure its much of a thriller but definitely a mystery. A quick, fun read that flows well, always a good time.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for access to an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Parents weekend centers around 5 college students who are discovered to go missing as they are to meet their parents for dinner during parents weekend. Each chapter discerns one of the five families background stories in conjunction with what they are experiencing in the present day. Chapters are also dedicated to the lead FBI agent Keller, who has a story of her own to tell as we move through the the weekend and the mysterious disappearance of the students.
Overall, I enjoyed this book on vacation over two days. It was not page turner nor was it filled with twisted and turns like I had hoped. There was so much attention paid to the specific families and the issues they needed to overcome that I thought that would somehow tie into the solving of these missing students but it really never converged when it could have done so with more plotting by the author. I was just waiting for something to strike me in a how-could-I-have-missed-that type of way and it never really came. It was a solid beach read and held my interest and I would recommend it as an interesting mystery with a few oohs and ahhs.

I love the way Finley write a thriller. The plot keeps moving & keeps me engaged. The characters are enjoyable. The mystery is entertaining. The way this book was put together with the clues was fun. Def recommend for a fun thriller!

WOW! This is the third book I have read by this author. He certainly knows how to set the stage, giving the book amazingly realistic settings that it times are also grim.

There is a lot to take in here. Many of the characters are flawed with somewhat dysfunctional home lives. The students seem to be typical college students, until lots of things change in everyone's life. The characterization, to pull everything together is extremely well done, and it was easy to get wrapped up in this story.

The suspenseful events kept me glued to the story. It's one of those books that are hard to put down. Things are going south, but I didn't know why,, just that they are, and this one kept me up at night.

Well done!

Alex Finlay has mastered the short-chapters that keep you guessing from minute to minute as you fly through trying to figure out what is happening and who is to blame. I found this one to be a little more obvious, but I still enjoyed the ride of getting there. It was wild reading some very modern and up-to-date references (Rizz? X?) in a novel already, but I'm here for it. Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for my ARC!