Broken into four parts (3 separate days in a row and then a 3 year gap). Told from 3rd person POV of multiple people. Takes place at Santa Clara University in California.

I really liked the characters and their POVs. Sometimes bored other times not. Was more of a dramatic thriller and not like his usual books.

No one does it quite the same as Alex Finlay. It's like every twist and turn is carefully calculated. Every time you feel like you've finally got a handle on what's happening, some new aspect pops up that changers your entire theory. It's not until the end that you can finally see the thread that is stringing all of these events together, how they're all related.

AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
From the bestselling author of If Something Happens to Me, comes one of the year’s most anticipated thrillers. Read this!

The pace, thrills and agent Keller make this a really great read! I can’t wait to read what twisty and complex adventures agent Keller gets up to next

A fun terrific read for parents of kids of all ages! Great job creating a bunch of different characters and fleshing them all out. Lots of suspense, surprising ending.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and Alex Finlay for the chance to read ‘Parents Weekend’! This felt kind of rushed and I didn't like it as much as I did 'The Night Shift'. It was fine but nothing really stood out. I did like that it had the same FBI agent as the previous book (and I think the other books are connected as well).

✨ Publication date: May 6, 2025✨

Parents Weekend is a multiple pov mystery/thriller book by Alex Finlay. I really like this author and this new book did not disappoint.

Its Parents Weekend at a small private college in Northern California. It’s supposed to be weekend of catching up and celebrating successes but after the body of one student is found and five more go missing, it seems the students aren’t the only ones keeping secrets.

Each set of parents has a pov in the story, layered in with the FBI agent assigned to the case and the missing kids themselves.

As each family uncovers their own secrets in an attempt to determine if they are the reason the kids have gone missing, time is ticking and the longer they go without any clues or contact from the missing students, the less likely they will be to find them all alive.

This was a good quick read with a few twists and turns throughout. I wasn’t overly surprised at who dunnit but there were several options so it wasn’t super clear until the reveal. This was a 4 star read for me.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#NetGalley #alexfinlay #parentsweekend

Parents' Weekend—the event every college student and parent secretly dreads—takes a dark turn in Alex Finlay’s Parents Weekend, and I was hooked from the first page. When five college friends vanish without a trace before the weekend’s kickoff dinner, the silence is deafening—and deeply unsettling. Their phones go dark, and it’s clear something is very wrong.

Finlay delivers another suspenseful, tightly woven thriller, featuring the return of fan-favorite FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller, who once again takes center stage with her sharp instincts and steady presence. I especially appreciated how each chapter spotlighted a different family group. With such a large ensemble cast, this structure helped keep everyone straight and made the emotional stakes hit even harder.

The short, punchy chapters kept me flying through the book, falling into that familiar "just one more chapter" trap that inevitably turned into ten. Finlay continues to impress, and this latest addition is a standout—gripping, fast-paced, and perfect for fans of twisty thrillers with heart.

Parents Weekend is a solid, fast-paced thriller that plays with the fears every parent has about sending their kid off to college. I liked the multiple points of view and the way the families’ secrets slowly come out, even if some twists felt a bit telegraphed. It’s an easy, engaging read with short chapters that keep you turning pages.

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay in quick, rapid-fire thoughts.

Finally! I've been a big fan of Special Agent Sara Keller's for years now, so I was extremely happy for this book, which was very much her book! Annie Hafeez made a perfect sidekick for Keller and I'd love to see them together again!

Although slightly predictable, (though not necessarily in a bad way), this thriller was a quick, entertaining read.

I will say that not knowing exactly what a parents weekend was caused some initial confusion; it would have been great to have some sort of explanatory introduction to kick-start this story!

This audiobook was voiced by Brittany Pressley who did a great job bringing life to this story! She was a very logical choice to narrate multiple perspectives as she performed the many different rolls with ease. I loved that the Reader's Note and Acknowledgements were included in the audiobook and were read by Finlay!

I'm a big fan of the nostalgia Finlay writes and will happily continue reading whatever he pens!

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary copies to read and review.

It’s Parents Weekend at a Northern California college, and the freshmen five (Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella) never show up for dinner with their parents. Are they just off doing crazy college stuff? Their parents are wondering when is it time to panic?

This one’s told from multiple POVs which I liked, but you definitely have to keep track of a LOT of characters! Makes sense that the backstories build slowly and then ramp up definitely adding layers to the story. This is a solid thriller with surprising twists.

Thank you @smp for granting me access through @netgalley and to @macaudio for the listening copy. Narrator Brittany Presley added dimension to these characters.

Buckle Up—This Thriller Doesn’t Let Go!

From the very first page, Parent's Weekend grabs you by the collar and doesn’t let go. Five college students. Five very different families—from a high-powered political figure to a respected doctor—gather for what should be a joyful weekend at a California college. But when all five students mysteriously vanish before the welcome dinner, the parents’ concern quickly spirals into panic.

At first, it seems like a typical college misstep—maybe a party gone late. But as the hours tick by and the investigation begins, it becomes chillingly clear: something far more sinister is at play.

Enter FBI Agent Sarah, a financial crimes expert who’s just transferred to the area for family reasons. She’s used to chasing paper trails, not missing persons—but this case will test her instincts and resolve like never before.

Alex Finlay masterfully weaves a high-stakes, pulse-pounding narrative full of twists, secrets, and shocking revelations. The pacing is relentless, the characters are compelling, and the ending? Absolutely satisfying.

This book is a wild ride from start to finish—tense, thrilling, and impossible to put down. Huge thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this gem early. Parent's Weekend is a must-read for thriller fans. It did not disappoint!

I was bummed I didn’t catch Alex Finlay when they were @pghbookfest this summer, but I was honored to receive an advanced copy to review.

It’s a short, fast and fun-to-read thriller. Five college students go missing on Parents Weekend after another student is found dead and the investigation ensues from there!

The ending was hard to predict because the clues really didn’t come together until the book revealed them purposefully.

I have been reading a lot of multiple POV thrillers lately and appreciate when the characters are clearly developed like in this book. Each chapter was about / from the perspective of each family of the five missing students.

I also liked the FBI agent, Sarah Keller, and the Campus Police Director, James McCray. The way the investigation developed was compelling.

The ending was satisfying, as I like to say. This is worth a read (but as a mom to a high school grad, we’re having some talks after this). 😅

3.5 stars—it was good! I liked it but it wasn’t my favorite novel by Alex Finlay. I thought a lot of the plot/twists were predictable. I was worried about the number of characters in the story, but he did an exceptional job at making it easy to keep the characters straight in my opinion—Dr Maldonado, judge no drama akana, etc.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the advanced readers copy.

Parents Weekend had a super intriguing setup—murder, secrets, and chaos on a college campus during what should be a normal family visit. Right from the start, it throws you into the action, and Alex Finlay definitely knows how to keep the pages turning. There are short chapters, multiple POVs, and plenty of cliffhangers to keep you hooked.

That said, while it was a fun and quick read, it didn’t totally wow me. Some of the twists felt a little too over-the-top or convenient, and a few of the characters blended together or felt underdeveloped. I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened, but I didn’t feel super connected to anyone by the end.

In this thriller, we are following a group of parents who come to their children's university for the parents weekend visit, only to find that their children have been vanished. All these families are keeping secrets, but they are forced to work together to try and figure out what happened to their children.

I have read some of this authors books in the past, and really enjoyed them, but unfortunately, this one didn't really work for me. There were way too many characters to try and keep track of, and remember who was related to who. The plot moved very slowly, and was very predictable, especially when it came to who had the missing kids and why. I found this one very middle of the road.

I enjoyed this book very much. It reminded me of my daughter’s time in college and waiting to hear about all the friends she met and what they were doing on their time off from school . It was full of suspense as I read on and was wondering what happened to the friends. The ending explained everything I was wondering about. If you enjoy college experiences with friends then you would love this book. Pick it up and read it. It is very interesting and very well written. I have read other Alex Finley books and they are all good reading! Highly Recommended!

Okay first of all, this book was absolutely amazing and even gave me some nostalgia as it took me back to MY college days (without all the craziness that ensues in this book, lol).

It’s Parents Weekend at SCU & the first night opens with a dinner for the parents & kids. However, five friends never show up to the dinner & are soon presumed missing.
FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller is on the case with the local SCU campus police chief & they embark on the craziest weekend discovering all kinds of secrets that the kids (& parents too, I might add) have been hiding. But this begs the question: Where are Libby, Stella, Blane, Mark & Felix? Why were they taken & is it too late to find them? It all started with Natasha Belov’s disappearance & later death. Every family has their secrets, but how far are they willing to go to protect their own?

I love multiple POV’s and this book has exactly that so I was basically sucked in instantly 😍 I didn’t know what was coming or where the book was taking me until the last twenty or so pages 🤣 I love me a really good thriller & this one just did it for me! If you’re looking for a fun, summer-y & light thriller, this just might be the one for you!

As always, huge thanks to NetGalley, the publisher & of course Alex Finlay for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts on it. All opinions are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Started Strong, But Lost Momentum

Parents Weekend had a great setup—fast-paced, mysterious, and packed with potential. Alex Finlay knows how to draw readers in quickly, and the first few chapters definitely hooked me. The college setting and the underlying tension between characters made for an intriguing start.

However, as the story went on, the momentum started to fade. Some twists felt predictable, and a few characters lacked the depth needed to make me fully care about what happened to them. I was hoping for more emotional impact and tighter plotting as the mystery unfolded.

That said, it was still a decent read with a few solid suspenseful moments. It just didn’t wow me the way some of Finlay’s other books have. A good option if you’re looking for a quick thriller, but it may not leave a lasting impression.

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: mystery/thriller 📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
A fast paced domestic suspense featuring 5 college students and their families

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Multiple POVs (five families)
Domestic suspenses
Family secrets
High stakes tension
University setting
FBI procedural
All the red herrings
Emotional depth
Unlikable characters

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
Social media driven suspense
Fast paced

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
Hard to keep track of all of the characters
Rushed Emotional resolution