When the bad person is revealed, I definitely understand how they got to this point and did what they did. This was a twisty thriller that kept me guessing to the end. I look forward to reading more of Alex Finlay's work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this one.
I love Alex Finlay’s writing. His characters are always so well written.
The book starts with introducing the reader to the families. 5 sets of parents are gathering for Parents Weekend at a college campus in CA. Their kids are part of a Capstone group and will meet them for dinner that evening. I liked how you got. Glimpse into each of the parents lives and back stories. As they gather for dinner, wiring for their kids the night is endless. Because the kids are a no show. At first they think they are plying a prank or at a party. But they aren’t. Bring in Special Agent Sarah Keller. (Love when characters from previous stories make an entrance).

They quickly realize the kids are not gone of their free will.

The clock is ticking and no one knows what’s going on. Who has them or why.

Pretty soon some clues come out and you realize something big is going on.

Fast paced. Really interesting and fun read.

This was my first Alex Finlay book so I'm not sure how it compares to the rest of his writing. I wouldn't say this book makes me want to read another one of his right away but maybe in the future. There wasn't really much connection with too many of the characters, and I didn't really get too into it until the very end when it was all coming together.

I was so thrilled to be given the opportunity to read Alex Finlay's new novel "Parents Weekend." Overall, an enjoyable read, just not a favorite like "Every Last Fear" is to me. I rounded this one up for a 3.5. This new book centers around a California college, its town, and a group of students and their parents at Parents Weekend. Thinking back to my own college kids' parent's weekends, it evoked many pleasurable memories. This book was not about those kinds of idyllic parents' weekend; this one is every parent's worst nightmare! A female student has turned up dead on a local beach and foul play is suspected. Next several of the dead young girl's friends go missing. A cleaver who-done-it, and though somewhat predictable, I found it a very enjoyable read. An interesting group of characters keep you wanting to keep turning the pages and make it a good little suspense novel.

Thank you, Alex Finlay, Net Galley and Minotaur Books, for another good eARC in exchange for my honest review. Keep pumping them out Alex, I will keep reading them! Make sure you give this one a read if you want an easy, enjoyable read.

I wish I could give feedback on this book. I requested this book when it was still possible to transfer on Kobo.

I'll update this review once I read this book on my own.

I’ve read The Night Shift and ever since, Alex Finlay became an autobuy thriller author for me!

I love his fast pacing and he writes in short chapters that makes reading so bingeable! I also love following the investigation part of all his books. And his latest book, Parents Weekend is another one you should add to your list if you’d like to read a book that you’d honestly just fly through.

I listened to it mostly on audiobook and even if the book was told in multiple POV, it wasn’t confusing at all because the narration was easy to follow!!

Now for the plot. It’s Parents Weekend at a small private school in Northern California. When the kids didn’t show up for the first night dinner, the parents thought that the kids were just being kids until they soon later find out that five of the kids were missing. Aaaand that’s all I’d say about the plot without giving anything away! 😂

Thank you @macmillan.audio for the free audiobook!!!

💭 Do you guys know that Mormon Wives season 2 is now out?! Haha. I’m excited to binge it! Also, I just finished binge watching a new show on Hulu called High Potential! It’s really good too!!! Please give me more TV show recs!!!

I’ve come to really enjoy Alex’s books. This one was a quick and easy read and I was definitely intrigued from the outset. There were a lot of different POVs to keep straight but once I had them figured out it wasn’t too hard. Keller, the female FBI agent, is probably my favorite of the characters. If you want a quick thriller this is a good choice.

This book had a lot of potential but this was not for me. From the beginning, I knew I was not going to like it and it turned out to be true. I didn't like the characters or the plot. The story telling was good but the book lacked depth. I am a huge fan of fast pace thrillers but this was a huge disappointment.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC!

This was a fun popcorn thriller. It moved along quickly with short chapters. It wasn't a ground-breaking story and I didn't really connect with the characters or plot, but it was entertaining enough to hold my attention. I feel like it would be a good book to read while traveling because it can be read in quick bursts.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

I have now read three of Alex Finlay’s books and they are always so much fun to read! For Parents Weekend, I knew I was going to love it going in because I love a campus thriller and also am a big fan of multiple POVs.

With there being multiple missing kids in this book, you get POVs galore with the parents of each student, some of the students themselves, and more! It was fun to follow the interwoven storylines of each and how all of the pieces fit together!

Read this if you like:
🧑‍🎓Campus Settings
🕸️Multiple POVs
🔦Missing person storylines

In the mood for a fast moving binge worthy thriller with multiple POVs and some twists you don’t see coming?

I read Parents Weekend the other day and had a great time. Five college students go missing on the opening night of Parents Weekend at a prestigious California campus. As the mystery of what happened to the unfold we also get the dysfunctional dirt on each set of parents as the families converge around a shared tragedy while the university scrambles to control the scandal.

I enjoyed the multiple POVs which added depth to the plot without unnecessary confusion. Some of the reveals were predictable, but I still enjoyed the plotting overall and the pacing kept my interest. The story had a satisfying conclusion that brought closure and some surprising without getting so far out there it lost believability.

I have really enjoyed a couple of Alex Findlay’s books, particularly Every Last Fear and The Night Shift. I was eagerly awaiting his newest book Parents Weekend, but it fell flat for me. This is a story of essentially 5 college students who go missing from a small private school in Northern California. They also happen to go missing during Parents Weekend. It was supposed to be a joyous event, but for these families, that wasn’t the case.

First off, way too many characters. I thought it would have flowed better if less people went missing. Each students parents/couples had their own background story going on, so it became a lot of alternative points of view. I would have it enjoyed it more if the story was more in depth with just a couple families. Not 5.
The story itself, was meh. It wasn’t my favourite books of his. I was finding myself struggling to pick up the book, because I just didn’t find it very engrossing. The story needed more depth.

Things I always enjoy with Findlay’s books are, his writing style, and the way he ends his chapters. Little cliffhangers.
Although this was a miss for me, I look forward to reading anything he writes.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Publishing Group for the early copy. This book was released May 6h, 2025.

Over the last few years I’ve become quite a fan of Alex Finlay — as I’m sure most thriller obsessives can attest, his books are just plain fun. The bestselling author’s pulse-pounding mystery novels The Night Shift, Every Last Fear, and If Something Happens To Me are complex whodunnits full of shocking murders, memorable characters, and satisfying twists, all revolving around an emotional core. While I’m happy to report that all of those elements are indeed present in Finlay’s latest, Parents Weekend, it feels like they’ve been watered down. The twists and the colorful assortment of characters are all where they should be, all technically hitting their marks, but they . . . just don’t come together in the way I’d hoped, I guess.

Fan-favorite character FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller returns in Parents Weekend, which makes for a nice surprise. Keller’s dynamic with her husband, Bob, reminds me of the relationship between police chief Marge Gunderson and her doting husband Norm in Fargo. I always enjoy their scenes together, and their bond helps to ground the story. They’re also a nice contrast for all of the other failed (or failing) couples in this book, of which there are many — the large (extremely large!) cast of students, parents, and university faculty are individually interesting in their own ways, but all drawn a little thin.

If you’re not someone who enjoys keeping track of multiple characters and endless switch-ups in POV, this book will send you running for the hills. Personally I don’t mind that structure, but I think this novel could’ve done with losing two or three characters so the story had more of a chance to breathe. (For example, one core character’s death happens entirely off-page while we’re following someone else, which seems strange for such a pivotal moment in the story.) It reminded me of early episodes of Game of Thrones, when scenes constantly switch to different locations and people, halting the story when things start to pick up speed; just when I really began to feel invested in someone and their story, the next chapter yanked me over to a new perspective.

Aside from that issue, I don’t think the writing is as smooth as in Finlay’s previous novels. Don’t get me wrong: it’s still captivating throughout. But there are some pretty clunky attempts at teenage/college lingo that made my eye twitch, and clichés abound. (Side-note: the most unbelievable thing in this book? That kidnapped college student Blane’s stereotypical, bro-y fraternity “respects women” and excommunicates racists. Mhmm, yeah. Suuuure they do.)

TL;DR — If you’re in search of a fast-paced thriller to zip through on the beach this summer, Parents Weekend isn’t a bad choice by any means. It just might not measure up to Finlay’s earlier work, that’s all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Good thriller with twisty family dynamics and drama. The story follows five students from at University who mysteriously disappear during Parents Weekend, leaving their parents frantic. This was a quick read, I loved FBI Agent Sarah Keller and loved the multiple POV. I found it interesting and easy to go through in one day.

Title: Parents Weekend
By: Alex Finlay
Pub. Day: May 6, 2025

Genre:
Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

Trigger Warnings:
Abuse, Suicide, Missing Person’s, Infidelity, Profanity

Summary/Review:
Agent Keller has relocated to California when she’s called in to the local private school where a group of five students have gone missing. At first, the parents think nothing of it, as they recall how college life goes, until Stella, Libby, Blane, Felix, and Mark can’t be reached or located. The parents start to suspect the kids might be playing a prank, but as the story unravels the truth comes out. Will the students be found? And if so, will they be found alive?

I was engrossed in my last read by Alex Finlay, however, Parents Weekend fell short for me. The author started the novel off strong and I was quickly engaged in the plotline. However, as the novel progressed I became confused as additional characters were introduced. I felt the story had too many characters to follow. Since the story was told from multiple points of view, following the characters created a bigger issue with my comprehending of the content. Too many characters made the transitions of the storyline between characters hard to follow as well. For this reason, I rated this novel three stars.

Thank you to Alex Finlay, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity of an Advanced Readers Copy. I am voluntarily leaving my review.

#ParentsWeekend
#reluctantreaderreads
#advancedreadercopies
#NetGalley

Agent Sarah Keller is back!

This new case involves five university students—Stella, Libby, Blane, Felix, and Mark—who all go missing during the Parents’ Weekend dinner at Santa Clara University. Campus police and the FBI are called in, as one of the missing students is the child of a Federal State Department official, and another is the child of a famous judge.

Sarah, temporarily working in California, is assigned to assist with the case. She senses something serious is afoot, not just kids fooling around. She must determine if the incident is payback for something one of the parents has done or if one of the students triggered it.

I always enjoy Alex Finlay’s books. This one features short chapters from multiple POVs. The audio, narrated by Brittany Pressley, helps me keep everyone straight. I wasn’t thrilled with the denouement, but overall, it was an entertaining novel.

It’s worth mentioning the addition of an interesting character, Annie Hafeez. I wonder if she and Sarah will team up again.

Cliffhanger: No

3.5/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Macmillan Audio via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It’s parent’s weekend at a fancy shmancy Santa Clara University. Five different dysfunctional families decend on the campus to spend time with their definitely NOT up to no good children. These lovely cherubs, thrown together in a freshman cohort, an unlikely group of friends (friends?), go missing on the first night of parent’s weekend. What could have possibly happened?? Good thing FBI Agent Sarah Keller is in town to help solve the case!
Any other details of the book are deeply unimportant, I read it a few weeks ago and have forgotten almost everything about it. It’s giving scooby doo, it’s giving bargain bin paper back but it’s also giving…..compelling?? Once I started reading I absolutely could not stop! The brief multiple POV chapters made this so readable I stayed up late to finish it.
I didn’t realize that Special Agent Keller and her family are recurring characters but she was great and I would definitely pick up another book just for her.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this delicious snack (deeply consumable, highly forgettable, no regrets).

I finished this book like 4 days ago and already forgot everything that happened. I remember mostly enjoying it but it clearly did not leave much of an impression on me.

I love when a thriller has a compact timeline and this one takes place over one weekend. It was good having Agent Keller back from Finley’s other novels - I really do love a competent FBI agent! It took me a second to get into it with all the characters because there are many but once I did it was easy to keep track of who everyone was and how they were connected. The ending was neatly tied up, if not a bit predictable.

Don’t you remember sleeping in bed and your mobile phone goes off, and its your daughter supposedly calling screaming out have another. Another Butt call, but I couldn’t stand it. Finlay has captured the realities of college life today. We unfortunately can track our children’s every move driving us crazy, but in this case that ability might have saved four lives.
Using a technique of dissecting each character and their family in a different chapter and then through the time line for the rest of the book sometimes proves overwhelming for following the plot. These chapters are interspersed with chapters of the present to solve the mystery.
Finlay’s other books had a little better story line, but this is a quick read, basically good story and outcomes that were quite interesting. Basically, a group of five friends from very varied back grounds are at a somewhat elite college getting ready for Parents Weekends when they ghost their parents. To the rescue is Finlay's FBI par excellance, Sarah Keller.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books, NetGalley and author Alex Finlay for this digital ARC.