Fast-paced, delightfully twisted read -- ideal for a plane ride or vacation reading. Loved the pace of the story, short chapters and the multiple POVs. Alex Finlay is a writer you can trust to bring the goods! Recommended for readers who enjoy suspense/thrillers. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the ARC. Pub Date is May 6th, 2025.

#ParentsWeekend

It's parents weekend at Santa Clara University in Northern California, and the parents of five freshman make their way west for the weekend. Little to they know the quiet dinner is going to turn into a weekend they'll never forget.

I found that I quite enjoyed this book. It's an easy read, but it keeps the reader interested. The author throws plenty of red herrings in to keep you guessing, and I found Special Agent Keller (really the main character) interesting and likeable. Some of the other characters weren't so likeable, but I don't think they were supposed to be. The author uses different point of view through out the book...each chapter is about a different character...which I typically don't enjoy as it disrupts the flow of the plot, but it was used in a way that made the story flow nicely.

Overall, a book I would recommend! Look for it May 6, 2025.

Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC!

This book is a winner! 5 college students go missing during Parents Weekend and their parents are desperate to find out what happened to them. Each family has their own unique issues and there are lots of twists and turns to uncover the truth.

This book has short chapters and is an easy read. This is the first book I've read by this author but I will definitely be looking for more of his titles. I absolutely loved this book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy!

I devoured this one! There's multiple POVs and at first I was nervous about keeping track of all the families, but it was easy to follow and each one was very distinguishable. Packed full of secrets and drama keeps the pace moving forward quickly. There's an unexpected emotional aspect to the story and it really packs a punch. Definitely not one to miss!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

My favorite author is back with another amazing 5-star read! Alex Finlay is so consistent. I just love his books. Parents' Weekend is full of action, tension and suspense. The short chapters keep the pace moving quickly and it never felt like there was a dull moment. There is a large cast of characters, and it took me a little while to remember who everyone was, but it worked because it allowed for a fuller and more complex story. The families pretty much all have some kind of baggage or secret they are keeping which makes for a lot of clues and red herrings. I did eventually realize what was happening, but not until towards the end since I couldn't quite figure out how all the puzzle pieces fit at first. There were still some surprises though! The ending ties everything up nicely but I thought it was so sad. It made me cry. Overall, I loved this book and found it practically impossible to put down. I highly recommend it, along with all of Alex Finlay's other books!

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

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was quick to get through!

If you love cop shows you will LOVE this book. I was hoping for more of a thriller not a detective case novel if that makes sense. I was expecting more focus on the parent’s relationship with each other and the kids, but we barely got any of that.

There were a lot of moments of the FBI agent trying to figure out the case, so it resembled a cop show quite a bit, which I’m not a big fan of, but if you like it you will for sure like this book.

To me, it felt like the summary misinformed you a bit. What I thought the book would be about we did not get. Even how “The Five” became TikTok sensations was barely talked about.

I almost wish it was longer so we could get to know the characters better.

The characters should have been fleshed out more and it should have revolved around the kids more. I didn’t care about them at all or wasn’t concerned why they went missing because we barely knew them. Their drama at the end was insignificant because they didn’t matter.

I only really wanted to finish the book because I was vaguely curious what the outcome was. That wasn’t really worth it to me because it was so predictable and rushed.

Too many characters and parents, and none of them really stood out, so I had to fight to remember who was who and which parent had what kid each time they mentioned a name or POV. Too much focus on the detective and not enough building up the characters we were searching for.

Most of the people were terrible people too. I don’t mind books about bad people doing bad things, but at least make them a little likeable so you can root for them, even if you hate to love them. This book did not deliver that at all. The two people that SHOULD have got a happy ending didn’t, and that made me so mad and angry.

I was disappointed with this book. Maybe that was because my expectations were not met, but there is a lot that needs to be added for it to be more entertaining.

Going to DNF this for now at 53%.

I just find myself not really caring about the outcome, there’s so many characters and we’re told barely anything about them.

Thank you NetGalley and to the publishers for giving me this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Five college students don’t show up for a dinner during parents weekend. At first the parents think the students are just being typical college kids and ditching the gathering, but they eventually start to realize that something more is going on.

It was a bit difficult keeping track of all the families and timelines at first, but once it got going, it was worth it. I would consider this a “popcorn thriller”. It’s one that once you start you want to fly through it and get to the end. I had mixed feelings about the ending because it was somewhat predictable, but it was still worth the time it took to read it. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys mystery/thrillers.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press - Minotaur Books for an eARC of this book. The opinion in this review is my own.

Parent's Weekend by Alex Finlay starts off with 5 families meeting up for dinner on Parent's Weekend with their kids. Five very different families all coming together but the kids don't show for dinner. Is this a sick joke? Where are the kids?

The book takes off from there and you won't want to put it down until you figure out if the five kids are ok.

I really enjoyed the book. I was a bit confused at the beginning with so many families that I actually made some notes to keep track. Once the story took off it was amazing. I can't say a loved the ending but still would recommend this book to my friends and followers.

Thank you Alex Finlay and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Totally obsessed with this new book by Alex Finley! His books are always so suspenseful and weave this real life stories that keeps you totally engaged and wanting to read it all at once so you know how the book ends. In Parents Weekend a group of college students families come together to visit their kids who are all in the same group only to have the student not show up and disappear. I like how this was told through the views of both the parents and the kids because I feel like it added a lot of depth to the story and was able to really dig into what was happening! If you me looking for a good suspense/ thriller book this is a great choice!

Parents weekend by Alex Finley

At a small school in North Carolina families gather for a parents weekend to see how their children have been doing in school. As the parents of five families come together, and the children don’t show up. The hours pass by and the students still don’t arrive, parents start to panic as the story rises of a missing girl just weeks previous. FBI Detective Sarah Keller gets involved in the case. And starts unfolding the dysfunctionality of the families involved. Which makes everyone suspicious.
This book was interesting as there were multiple POV’s. I enjoyed the book but wasn’t thrilled. I had an idea of what was happening early on so I didn’t have the ah-ha moment. It was a good book to pass the time. Thank you, NetGalley and St Martins Press

Having enjoyed his last book, my expectations were high. While I do love his short chapters and multiple POVs, the story kind of meandered for me. It does come back to a point and make sense, it’s just a little disappointing for me. Alex Finlay is an auto buy author for me and I have one left in his backlist!

ARC provided to me by St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much!

Like Finlay's previous book, Parents' Weekend is an extremely fast-paced and unputdownable thriller. Every chapter in this is action-packed — I found it hard to take my eyes off the book until we solved for the mystery surrounding the disappearance of five college students during Parents' Weekend. As the story progressed further, you slowly realize just how MESSY their lives and their family's lives is.

The only major gripe I had with this was the large ensemble of characters — it was tough at times to keep track of who was who. The mystery and the perpetrators were predictable, and the ending felt a little rushed in my opinion but I would definitely still recommend this for those looking for a quick read/palette cleanser.

When five college students don't show up to the dinner with their parents, things get a little intense, especially after another student is found dead a few days prior. Alex Finley writes good thrillers that make me want to keep turning the page. There were a lot of characters to keep straight, but the story was written in a way that was manageable. The mystery was good and only slightly predictable. I found myself unsure of exactly where the story was going to go. I'll continue to read books by this author! Thank you, netgalley, for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion .

I have had mixed experiences with Alex Finlay’s books over the past couple of years. I really enjoyed The Night Shift and now find myself comparing all of his subsequent novels to that one. Neither What Have We Done or If Something Happens to Me were favorites of mine, but I was hopeful to give this latest novel a try since it was the return of Agent Keller from The Night Shift.

While I don’t think it was as good as The Night Shift, I did enjoy it more than his other most recent books. The multiple POVs really worked and I liked the setting a lot. There were some interesting twists but it was missing the “wow” factor that I hoped it would have. 3.5 stars rounded up for this one. I think I’ll continue to read Finlay’s Agent Keller novels but might forego any others.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press- Minotaur Books for an ARC of this novel.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“Parents Weekend” by Alex Finlay delivers a suspenseful, multi-layered mystery centered around the disappearance of five college students during a university’s parents’ weekend. FBI Agent Sarah Keller, familiar to readers of Finlay’s previous books, is back with her family and on a temporary assignment in California. While this book stands on its own, fans will appreciate the further development of Keller’s character, as she balances her investigative prowess with her role as a mother. There is also more development of Keller’s husband, Bob, which I really appreciated as he is my favorite character from Finlay.

The story is told through a range of perspectives—those of the missing students, their families, and Keller herself—creating a tangled web of family secrets, hidden agendas, and dark histories that slowly unravel as the investigation unfolds. Each family brings its own set of issues to the story: a divorced State Department official, a disgraced writer, a Superior Court judge, and more. These characters reveal messy personal lives and flawed relationships that add depth to the plot and highlight the lengths parents will go to protect their children, which is the overall focus and theme of this book.

The book opens with high-stakes tension, plunging you into a whirlwind of fast-paced chapters and alternating points of view that keep the pages turning. The dynamic narrative structure offers glimpses into the hidden lives of the characters, capturing not only the parents’ personal struggles but also how these affect their children's identities and behaviors. As Agent Keller dives deeper into the case, you witness a compelling blend of psychological tension and emotional complexity, with each revelation adding weight to the central mystery.

The sprawling cast of characters may be challenging to keep track of, especially in the beginning. I am absolutely horrible with names, so I found it difficult to remember who everyone is, especially with the various plot points and secrets that each family kept. While the various families are initially difficult to differentiate, though Finlay’s short, focused chapters help mitigate this, grounding you in each character's perspective. The mystery itself is fast-paced and filled with red herrings, though the primary twist was a bit predictable once a certain connection was made, but it fit with the book’s overall theme perfectly, and I enjoyed the resolution of the mystery.

Finlay's latest blends grounded thriller elements with well-paced, realistic suspense. It’s a compelling exploration of family dynamics under pressure, complete with a satisfying conclusion that hints at potential future cases for Agent Keller and/or her new protégé, Annie, who is introduced in this book. Overall, “Parents Weekend” has a character-driven approach and psychological insights that make it an engaging read for fans of domestic thrillers and realistic mysteries.

“Parents Weekend” by Alex Finlay had me hooked from the very first page. The story follows five families who arrive at a college for Parents Weekend, only to find that their children are missing—never showed up for dinner, and no one can find them. The question is: is it a prank, or are they in real danger? Finlay does an incredible job of building tension and suspense, keeping me guessing the entire time. With unexpected twists and a fast-paced plot, this is definitely a must-read for any thriller fan.

Another strong story by Alex Finlay…he never disappoints. Normally when a story has so many POV’s, I struggle to keep up. But Parents Weekend flowed beautifully, with every single piece fitting together.
Everyone comes into parents weekend at college loaded with baggage. But whose baggage leads to the disappearance of the students?

I really enjoyed Finlay's newest book. It was PACKED full of well fleshed-out characters (like, I could picture some of these moms & dads) and though you might not care for some of them, they were plenty interesting. And, wow, were there twists around each & every corner (or family)! But not too many that you can't "keep up". This was a very suspenseful read but there was lots of familial drama as well. Four fabulous stars!

This book has officially moved Alex Finlay to my "auto-buy" list! This thrilling, action packed story sucked me in from the first page and was full of twists and surprises.