Thank you to Alex Finlay, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This one started out good, but as we got closer to the second half, it seemed to drag.

I did like the multiple points of view and the multiple timelines. It added to the story.

Sooo many characters and a dual timeline left me confused, and not really caring.

I loved his book, The Night Shift, but I’m afraid that was a one off.

Five students go missing on the first night of Parents Weekend at the same university a student died earlier in the week.

This was an enjoyable thriller that I couldn’t put down! I ended up finishing the second half in one afternoon because I had to get answers. In the beginning, it’s a little difficult to follow because each family has a POV but stick with it. I enjoyed the short chapters and Agent Keller’s character. There were a few moments that felt gratuitous but overall a great and quick read.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for providing a free ARC for review via NetGalley.

It’s Parents Weekend at Santa Clara University, and five freshmen are supposed to meet their parents for dinner. But they never show up. When it becomes clear that the five aren’t just missing but have been taken, the FBI must find the answers with the parents looking over their shoulders. Everyone has a secret….

I was fortunate to receive an ebook ARC of this through NetGalley.--thank you for choosing me! The hardcover will be released on May 6. I have read and enjoyed everything Mr. Finlay writes, and this one was no exception. It starts out with an overwhelming amount of characters (eight students, plus two parents for almost all, plus the FBI agent and her family). I did make a list of the characters and how they connected to each other which definitely helped, and I referred to it often while reading. These are mostly privileged, rich, entitled kids with imperfect parents, but of course I was rooting for them to be found. For the majority of the book, we experience the case through the FBI agent’s perspective, and I liked her character the most. Keller (Sarah) was focused, honest, and hardworking and just wanted to do her job well and bring everyone home safely. We do get a few chapters from the kids’ perspective as they are missing, but I didn’t really get a strong sense of who they were, other than what we are told through others in the investigation. The pacing was good throughout this book, and it was a quick read. I did like the ending, and how the epilogue wrapped up most loose threads. Overall, this was a solid thriller from Mr. Finlay that you’ll probably like if you’ve liked his other books. I recommend it!
4 stars

Thanks again to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for sharing this ebook with me in exchange for my honest review.

Im a big Alex Finlay fan. This was middle of the road good for me. I was able to keep track of who was who. I’m not sure I loved the stories within a story but I was able to keep up.

What is supposed to be a joyful Parents Weekend at Santa Clara University turns out to be more of a nightmare for 5 families. This is definitely a very fast-paced mystery and I loved the character of Sarah Keller, FBI Special Agent. The story is told in past and present with multiple points of view and as the story unfolds and secrets are revealed, it does become quite confusing with all the characters.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur for the ARC of this exciting book.

Parents Weekend 🏫

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Thriller
Pub Date: May 6, 2025

Its parent’s weekend at Santa Clara University. When several students all fail to show up to a group parent-student dinner, worries begin to arise amongst all the parents.

Alex Finlay is an auto-read author at this point for me. I enjoy his writing style and I like that his books are always page turners. This one was not my favorite, sadly. The premise overall was good, something about it just felt like it was lacking. I loved that FBI agent Sarah Keller and her family were back, and really enjoyed chapters from her perspective. I wonder if it would have been more enjoyable if it was solely from her point of view. Instead we rotate through all of the five missing kids families. Sure it let us see the problems within each family, but I’m not sure I needed it. It also spread us really thin and didn’t allow us to get to know many of the characters, especially the missing students very well.

While this is marketed as a thriller, it seemed more domestic drama to me with all the family issues and drama. While this definitely wasn’t a bad book, I just don’t think it holds up to other pieces he has put out in the past. I think this would make for a good palate cleanser book, or an easy beach read you can enjoy. If you haven’t read Night Shift by him, I would definitely recommend checking that one out first!

Expect fun and games when dealing with college students. Only in this story, the fun is not fun and the games might just be a tragedy or many tragedies.

Five friends, five students and their parents are suppose to have a weekend together. All of them have issues including the parents so when the weekend turns to [possible tragedies. The police, campus as well as regular, plus Special Agent Sarah Keller are on the trail searching looking into anything suspicious and learning the background of each and every person along with their savory details. For the kids are missing and after last weeks' tragedy where a student was found dead, (a possible drowning), there is much concern and worry.

Perhaps, though, the kids are just pranking their parents being college kids and engaging in shenanigans. But worry persists and a search continues expecting the worst because of a treacherous cave the kids like to visit.

It was an interesting story but not up to the usual I thought, for an Alex Finlay story. There is a goodly amount of characters and that usually is an issue for me. However, I soon got into the groove and did overall enjoy the story.

I want all the books with Sarah Keller! This wasn’t my favorite Alex Finlay book, but still kept me in my toes.

Phew - this was a mental workout. 20+ characters made it challenging to keep track of who, what, when, where, why, how?!
While there was some level of suspense, it wasn't as enthralling and exciting as I was hoping for.
Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for access to this eARC.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: May 6, 2025
When five students attending an elite, private college disappear during Parents Weekend, everyone assumes the students are simply being flaky, choosing a party over commitments with their parents. But when “The Five”, as they become known, are still not heard from hours later, reinforcements are called in and the local area is searched. A young woman’s body is found, but she isn’t part of “The Five” and she was dead days before the group went missing. Is she connected to the disappearance? Where did the students go and, will they be found in time?
Alex Finlay, author of “The Night Shift”, “If Something Happens to Me” and many others returns with his newest high-octane thriller, “Parents Weekend”. I’m an avid fan of Finlay and have been blessed to have the oppourtunity to read four of his previous novels, so I was not missing out on his new work and, as usual, he impressed me.
Each chapter in “Weekend” is narrated by a different parent from “The Five”, as well as FBI Agent Sarah Keller (who made appearances in several other of Finlay’s novels), helping readers gain an understanding of the complex relationships between the students themselves. There are a lot of players in the mix, so it’s necessary to pay close attention, but Finlay knows how to craft a creatively addicting plot.
There are numerous twists and turns (did you expect anything less from Finlay?) and the conclusion is drawn out in full Finlay fashion, ending the novel with a power punch. The outcome was enjoyable, if not entirely unpredictable, but the journey to the finale was the best part. I devoured every page-turning plot twist, relished the young and entitled college students and their complicated family dynamics, and was satisfied by Finlay’s conclusion.
Alex Finlay is reliable in his ability to never let me down, which is one of the reasons he remains on my radar. I will read anything he writes and I hope he continues to provide me with goosebump-inducing who-dunnit’s in years to come.

I absolutely enjoyed this quick and thrilling read and having the return of Special Agent Sarah Keller! I enjoyed the fast-paced chapters and the diverse characters. I did feel like parts of the book were rushed, but overall, this was a fun read that I will be recommending!

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

3.5 rounded up to 4 for GR! prob my second fave of his (have read them all). if you are looking for a QUICK, popcorn thriller book with 2-3 page chapters, this is the one.

i wanted a quick binge and this delivered. his books are truly the definition of popcorn thrillers—they pull you in right away, are SO quick to fly through thanks to the short chapters and have tons of action. they’re not super unique or “WOW” as i don’t always remember his books 2-3+ months after finishing them, but i sure have a blast while reading!

it’s also a campus thriller trope! one of my faves. also follows a missing person case (or 5 missing people…).

my gripe with this one was there were SOOOO many characters. seriously, there are 20+ 🥲🤣 take notes. it follows a story of 5 missing kids but you also have the drama of all their parents/families (and boy is there TONS of family drama…🫣). it was a bit hard for me to truly feel connected/care about the missing kids (that sounds awful but bare with me) as we didn’t really get to know them before they were missing. the plot focused their parents and family drama much more closely which wasn’t a bad thing, just happened to be the focus.

there’s also character crossover in this one featuring the detective from some of his other books! it was giving the Will Trent series lol 🫶🏼

there wasn’t really a big twist in this either…the author kind of ruled everything out one by one so by the time you got to the twist you were like “oh yeah okay makes sense.” one part of the ending felt VERY quick to me (something with one of the 5…) and the final chapters left me wanting a bittttt more.

i always like my thrillers to have a jaw dropping / savage ending so this was a bit wrapped up for my taste.

all in all—a perfect binge, a quick read, interesting and action packed, lots of characters, overall a fun time!

4.5 Stars (I received an e-arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

This is definitely the most complex story from the author, with so many different POV's and at times was a bit overwhelming. You had the parents (sometimes both parents), the kids and the FBI agent. A lot of red herrings, single parents, creepy forums and a smart confident female lead. I don't want to say much else but I probably took a half star for what happened to a character I loved near the end. You know what you did Alex!

Alex Finlay’s suspenseful thrillers always keep me guessing until the very end, after all the evidence has been collected and the clues have been investigated. Fortunately for the missing college friends, FBI Agent Sarah Keller was on the case, with her relentless pursuit of the truth at all costs. Mr. Finlay’s fans will remember Agent Keller from his excellent book, “The Night Shift” which was my introduction into his book world.

As the story begins, we are introduced to the parents of the students involved, whose lives are full of enough drama to have their own book. They all have something to hide, and even though they love their children, they don’t try very hard to really understand them. I found myself disliking most of them because when it came down to helping Agent Keller and the local police, they really didn’t have anything useful to say. If it wasn’t for Agent Keller’s out-of-the-box investigative style we would have been left with many unanswered questions.

The longer the friends were missing, the more anxious I became. I could only imagine how distraught the parents were as they did their best to stay positive. It was hard to put the book down because as I became more involved with the story, my desire to get to the bottom of this surreal mystery took me away from everything else. As stated at the beginning, I had no idea how this book would end, but what I do know is that once again, Alex Finlay has created a game of cat and mouse, where only the strong would survive.

A slow burn mystery that speeds up to a stunning conclusion.

It's parents' weekend at SCU - a time for the parents to swoop in and see their kids, the campus - have nice dinners and feel good about their hard earned money paying for the school, food and board of their teenager. But when a group of kids don't arrive to meet their parents for dinner, it's just the beginning of the mystery - one that Agent Keller will need to untangle in order to try to save them.

I won't lie - I absolutely love this author, Alex Finlay. I always enjoy the mystery and the characters that Finlay builds. In this one, we have Agent Keller again! I didn't remember her from the first story the intern made mention and I gasped!

In this, we meet a really interesting group of parents. These aren't your average teens or parents and the tension ramps up quick once they go missing. There are a lot of red herrings in this one, but the mystery was compelling. I had no real guesses, just a few maybes, up until the very end. I was fooled and twisted and led astray and I loved every minute of it.

Another great mystery. I can't wait for the next!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

This book was fine. I wanted to like it more than I did. The premise is interesting-the parents of a group of college freshman show up to dinner, but their kids never show up.

Unfortunately, it didn't deliver like I had hoped. It seems like there are too many characters. I enjoyed Agent Keller and her detective work. I just never felt connected to any of the parents or the kids. The development just wasn't there. Plus, it didn't really do anything exciting at the end. It just wasn't the best.

2.5 stars-Even though this wasn't my favorite, I still appreciate receiving the ARC

Alex Finlay has done it again! Whoop Whoop! He is easily one of my favorite authors. His book, Parents Weekend, was expertly written and had the best twists and turns throughout his chapters. I was happily surprised that the well-developed characters were also trying to solve the mystery of the missing college students in the same way I was...with panic! I am a mother of three so imagining that one of my children were one of the 5...my heartbeat definitely stopped a few times reading this fabulous thriller! Exceptionally written and a definite must-read for mystery/suspense lovers out there!

Thank you to Alex Finlay, St. Martins Press, and Netgalley for the e-arc of Parents Weekend! Suspenseful, action packed read with short chapters! Agent Keller is back at it again! Ending wrapped up nicely! Loved the night shift by the same author! This book publishes on 5/6/25!

It's Parents Weekend at a private college in Northern California. Five families gather for food and drinks, but their children never show. Everyone begins to panic, especially since a student was found dead on campus not long ago. The police and eventually the FBI are called in to investigate.

Thoughts 💭
This story has multiple points of view as each family has their own chapter. It's really hard to keep everyone and their stories straight, especially at first. Once you get past some initial confusion and backstories, I really enjoyed the mystery of how all the students are tied together. A few different scenarios are presented to you about the reason they disappeared, but nothing is really concrete until the end. I was wondering how the death of a student prior to these events was connected, and I wasn't disappointed. The FBI agent, Sarah Keller, is in other stories by this author, but you don't need to read them to understand what's going on. This is a solid thriller!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.