Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay was a great read. 5 kids, 5 sets of parents all come together for a parents weekend at a private school. The parents are excited and looking forward to time with their kids, but they each have their own agendas or issues they are grappling with before they even arrive at parents weekend. The Five (as the kids are referred to), seem to be ordinary students, but it soon becomes clear something is very, very wrong. As each family tries to figure out what happened to their child, enter FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller. Keller has appeared in previous books by Finlay. As Keller tries to navigate her way through the student's and parent's lives, she is faced with more questions than answers. Will she be able to separate what's relevant and what's not in time to find The Five? There are many characters, and Finlay provides back stories for all through past and present details. There are times I wanted the writer to get back to the main storyline, but the book still held my interest, and I would recommend to my friends.

#NetGalley #ParentsWeekend

This was not my favorite book but my lest favorite though. I would say hard middle. It felt rushed but also unfinished and felt more like for the attention span of a child. I did like the characters and the mystery but it just didn't end well in my opinion.

I really enjoyed all the different back stories of the families and all the drama they brought to the table. The beginning of the book caught my attention right away and found it was a major page turned. However I feel like the middle part of the book fell flat and the ending climax didn’t thrill me. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

I really enjoyed this book, it kept me wanting more. That being said, I feel like it was a bit YA, the writing felt juvenile, but the story was interesting. There were a lot of characters to keep track of, but once I got that all figured out, it was a fun read.

Okay is this one of my new favorite thrillers?! OMG. I loved it!! I literally cancelled plans to stay home and read it. Loved the ending!

A nice little book of suspense about five college students going missing during parents weekend. Told through each parents reaction and their own secrets interspersed with Agent Keller and her attempt to find out what has happened. A nice conclusion on the why and the circumstances leading up to this abduction.
Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you Netgalley & publisher for this e-arc of Parents' Weekend by Alex Finlay.

This is a thriller mystery novel. 4*.

Synopsis:
"During Parents' Weekend at a small Northern California college, five students from Campisi Hall—Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella—fail to show up for a planned dinner with their families. What starts as frustration over youthful irresponsibility soon turns into panic as hours pass without a word from the group. As search parties form and the campus becomes a media circus, dark secrets begin to surface, hinting at dangers tied to the students' bonds and their families' hidden pasts. Told through alternating timelines and multiple perspectives, Parents’ Weekend delves into the complex lives of five families grappling with the mysterious disappearance of their children. FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller returns to unravel the truth, confronting buried sins and the pressures of family expectations while uncovering what really happened on that fateful night."

Things I liked:
• Characters
• Not knowing what was going on
• Pace

Things I disliked (if you can call it that):
• There are too many family stories to follow
• To many side suspects
• Sentimental aspects

Easy read if you like mystery-thriller-type book I would recommend it.

I loved reading this book which featured dysfunctional families filled with drama and suspense. The plot twists kept me on the edge of my seat, constantly guessing what would happen next. The characters were complex and flawed that I both loved and hated. As the mystery unraveled and secrets were revealed, I found myself invested in the outcome for each character. The way the author intertwined each family’s story and connected the dots between them was well done. The pacing was perfect, with just the right amount of suspense and intrigue to keep me turning the pages until I finished it the same day I started it.
Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a thrilling read. It’s a rollercoaster of a story that will keep you guessing until the very end.

The perfect "popcorn read" for your next long plane ride or beach trip — Finlay makes sure that the pages of "Parents Weekend" fly by at a quick pace. It's open house weekend for parents visiting their students at a California university. Each arrives with their own complications, yet eager to set those aside and spend time with their children. When the five kids don't show up to the planned family dinner, however, suspicious quickly arise and things get messy as the hunt for the missing students ensues.

There are a lot of characters in this novel, and giving room for all of them means that none of them are quite as deeply fleshed out nor benefit from the character growth that I might want. Not all thrillers need to be lofty works of literature, though, and this one more than does its part on intrigue instead. Finlay includes a number of red herrings and plausible culprits that will keep readers engaged and guessing. The plot is a little convoluted at times, but still entertaining. My only complaint with this novel is that the ending fell quite flat for me, as we trudged through an extended epilogue with a chapter dedicated to wrapping up each of the five families. This dragged on for me, and I felt myself wanting to set it down as soon as I'd discovered the guilty party.

A big thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy for honest review. I'm a Finlay fan and will continue to seek out his books in the future.

This wasn’t my favorite Alex Findlay book but I did love it. I enjoyed the characters and really liked the twists and turns. I didn’t see it coming

I loved Alex Findlay's books in the past especially his first few. I've found though, that recently they have lost their magic. It seems the author is pumping out books quicker but I think in doing so, it lacks quality. This book in particular has elements that make it mediocre by far. I thought the plot of "Parent's Weekend" was weak, very little to no mystery, and almost all of the characters were unlikable. I would not recommend this book to a friend as there are SO many other books out there (this author's included) that are much better than this book. I just hope that Findlay finds a way to get back to his roots as I really did like him early on.

I have loved all of Alex Finlay books and I am so thankful I was able to receive an advance reader copy through NetGalley. This book did not disappoint. It was suspenseful and kept me wanting more. I loved the multiple points of view and the fact that it had so many directions it could have taken I had no idea how it would end! This will make a great audio book! I loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

It had lots of positive reviews online and was highly recommended so I was so excited to read it. It did not disappoint!

I loved it and seriously recommend. I think it is going to be a best seller. I can see it being made into a movie!

Loved it!

Recomend!!

Wow! Of course Alex Finlay has done it again!

I could not put this book down, well until I had to because I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer but wow!

Where to even begin?

Finlay can take a simple idea and turn it into a sinister story and I am always always here for it.

Parent's Weekend at a college in Northern California turns deadly and five students go missing. The five sets of parents, all perfectly imperfect are introduced to. us in short, from their perspective, chapters.

And FBI agent Sarah Keller is back (LOVE HER).

The short chapters, the characters, the pacing, the story itself are perfectly executed.

This is a must for Finlay fans! If you haven't read Finlay yet, well you simply must!

I’m going to preface this review with the fact that I loved almost all of his other books. This one, not so much. Wayyyyyy too many characters (I felt like I needed an appendix just to keep track) and the storyline was just blah. It didn’t hold my interest. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

This wasn’t my favorite Finlay… nothing has quite lived up to The Night Shift- all three of the most recent I’ve read were overly convoluted, too many red herrings, and too many characters.

I enjoyed this one more than What Have we Done and If Something Happens to Me, but hope that Finlay returns to a form that is a little more cohesive!

I have enjoyed all of Alex Finley’s books and this one is no exception. It was a quick Saturday read, compelling and quick. I can see it becoming a fun Netflix thriller aka the many Harlen Cobrn books and would totally binge it! Great setting, good characters, tight pacing!

This book had me hooked from the beginning and I didn’t want to put it down. The story starts with a college parents weekend. The parents arrive for a dinner, but their children never arrive. The story goes on and we soon learn how the students are tied together.

I hate to say this but I was genuinely underwhelmed. The first quarter of the book was introducing a myriad of characters that honestly partially didn't even matter in the end. The book was short and easy to read. However, that didn't stop me from having to put it down once I reached the end of a chapter or so, or even go back and look at who all of the characters are. I have read multiple Alex Finlay books in the past and I have been blown away but the depth and content in them. This book was a miss for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a copy of this book!

Alex Finlay knows how to write a page turner that leaves you guessing until the very end! Loved going amongst all the point of views. Made the suspense that much more palpable!