3.5 stars for another fun Alex Finlay book!
Agent Keller’s returning character was the highlight of this book! A fun popcorn thriller, with short chapters that keep you turning the pages. A little more substance to the plot and a few more twists would have bumped this to 4 stays. Thank you for this early copy!

Parents weekend by Alex Finlay

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Release date: may 6th 2025
St Martins Press
NetGalley

This was my first approved NetGalley book and I could not be more excited! Ives read several books already from Alex Finlay and I just loved them! So this was so exciting for me! And this book did not disappoint!

It has multiple POV’s and I love that! You get an insight to all the families and their current situations. Some content trigger warnings are: there is infidelity, family dysfunction, drug use used here and there throughout.

I love a strong female heroine, and FBI special agent Sarah Keller is just that! And it’s the return of her character from a few of his other books (The night shift which I read and loved. And also Every Last Fear which I haven’t read but it’s now going on my TBR list!). Her ability to solve cases is top notch! She’s dedicated and thinks outside of the box which sets her apart! Finding leads in unlikely places! I love following as she puts leads/clues together!

Thriller/mystery books are my most fave as I love the twist and turns, and the “who done it “storylines… But being that I love this genre, there’s not always the happiest of endings… This book has as close to a HEA as it can, being in this genre… I loved how Finlay finished this book!! 4 star read for me!

This was my first Alex Finlay book, so I may have been missing some context from prior books featuring FBI Agent Keller, which may have caused my read of this one to be more lukewarm. There weren't enough twists for this to be very suspenseful, and I particularly struggled in the chapters dedicated to the teenagers, whose interiors and dialogue didn't read as realistic to me.

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay
Publishing date - 05/06/25
Rating (5/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Netgalley , St. Martin’s Press , & Alex Finlay for this e-ARC. Alex Finlay is one of my favorite authors ; this is his BEST one yet!

I finished the book in less than 1 days. The characters are beautifully written and the pace is fast with so many twist and turns. It’s a great read! Highly recommend this one when it releases next May.

Fast pace & quick read. If you are looking for a page turner with multiple POVs to keep you hooked, I would definitely recommend this book. My only complaint is that I didn’t connect with any of the main characters. It may be a me problem because of the subjects that are introduced in this novel. This is why my rating is as low as it is. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc in exchange for the honest review! ❤️

This was a hot mess. I already forgot the details of the story other than being extremely annoyed by the ending. I really liked his book about the Blockbuster murders, but his other ones have been… not my favorite. I think Finlay may not be for me (but seems to have ended up in my Riley Sager / FMcF FOMO club where I know I will keep reading their books anyway because the premises are so good). 🤷🏻‍♀️

I loved this newest entry into the Sarah Keller FBI "series." It absolutely reads as a standalone though, so don't be turned off if you haven't read the other two Keller stories!

Five college students fail to show up to a dinner with their parents on Parents Weekend, and a high stakes search and rescue operation commences. The pace is perfect, and the reveals are all justified and completely plausible, which make for a truly thrilling novel that you won't be able to stop reading.

I’ve been needing a new Alex Finlay and this one was perfect! I loved the multi-perspective, multi-timelines… definitely a must read.

“Parents Weekend” is my favourite Alex Finlay book to date!! I loved the first chapter nailing the high stakes danger from the first page and then following it with fast paced short spaced chapters throughout. The pacing and the timeline was done perfectly.

2.5 rounded to 3 stars for NetGalley.

I’ve been a fan of Alex Finlay for a while and have always found their books to be a 3-4 star so giving this less does hurt a bit.

I did quite like the intention, multiple POVs and overall idea for the plotline. But I did have trouble categorizing this as a thriller. The majority of the time stayed with the parents of the college kids that it felt more like a domestic family drama than it did on the thriller aspect. I wish there had been more thriller and more of the POV from the kidnapped perspective and think that would’ve made things more exciting.

While I didn’t dislike the perspective changes and the familial drama, there wasn’t a lot of emphasis on the college kids and their lives so when the “bad guy” was revealed, I had to remember who that person was and in relation to everyone else. It felt very choppy and thrown together in this aspect that I wish it just hit harder earlier in the book. I also absolutely despised one of the character deaths as it felt so unnecessary and happened “off camera” too and I just didn’t get the point. I thought it was a joke for a moment and had to go back and reread it multiple times and I still can’t get there for it.

Sadly rating this book lower than any other from Finlay but this unfortunately wasn’t his best. I didn’t hate that I read it but also didn’t feel good upon finishing it either.

2 stars

Five families have kids at a small, private college in Northern California and the parents have gathered to have dinner with their children for the first parents weekend. Hence the title. No THE SOUND AND THE FURY beating around the bush for this author.

The parents are all at the restaurant but the kids never show. Because they are college freshman and therefore out getting wasted somewhere. End of book.

No, sadly, it can’t be that easy. That’s what the parents THINK the kids might be doing but as more time goes by and none of them make contact worry sets I , especially because one parent has a high government position which I forget and one is really rich and one was the judge in the OJ trial, or something like it. I don’t know. This book wasn’t great and I might have only been half paying attention. There might have been a clown in it at some point? Or a Smurf? Something odd. Anyway where are they?

We eventually find out and it’s dull. Sarah Keller, FBI agent is in it, and I think I’ve read a book with her in it before. I also think Finlay wrote a pretty decent book about a murder at a….Blockbuster? A deli? Good Lord, I should quit while I’m ahead. Don’t waste your time with this one. Go find the one about the video store. Or whatever.

Thanks NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

When I started this book, I was nervous about how many POVs there were and keeping everyone straight, however, this was not an issue. This book was written in true Alex Finlay style, fast pace and suspenseful! I read it in less than 24 hours, I really couldn't put it down. I normally don't enjoy police POV, however, after reading Every Last Fear by the same author, I grew fond of Sarah Keller and again, she didn't disappoint.

However, I did find the end of the book to be a little rushed. There was also a lot of fluff information.

Overall, a solid read, 4/5 stars

This was another entertaining thriller from Alex Finlay. There are a lot of characters to keep track of but none of them are truly memorable. It was easy and quick read and fans of Alex Finlay will enjoy it. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Alex Finlay is back with another fast-paced thriller! This one also re-introduces Agent Keller as one of the main characters. Overall, this was perhaps my least favorite Finlay book, but given my 4 star reading, it is still really great. We get a lot of Agent Keller. Although I love that character, this one read as more of a police procedural, which is not really my jam. I personally would have loved more focus on the other characters.

Like every other Finlay book, however, this one will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time and is easily a one-sitting read. Finlay is one of my favorite thriller writers out there and I will continue to pick up everything he writes.

Every Last Fear is one of my top 5 thrillers of all time, and I was SO excited to see that Parents Weekend brings the return of FBI agent Sarah Keller! In Parents Weekend, the Kellers have moved across the country to California to care for Bobs ailing father, and Keller takes on a field assignment in town, where her FBI credentials result in her getting pulled into an investigation of five college students who have gone missing on Parents Weekend at the local university. Two of the missing teens have very high-profile parents and the investigation quickly makes national news. The story is told from multiple POVs in short punchy chapters that oscillate between the students' parents, the students themselves, and Agent Keller.

The early story hooked me and had every potential to be great, but unfortunately it fell completely flat. There were so many characters in this (7 parents, 5 kids, a recently deceased student and her parents, as well as Keller +Bob) that had to be fit into only 320 pages. That means no character was ever fully fleshed out or had any real journey or arc, many were reduced to tired tropes, and I never felt connected or really cared about any of the characters outside of the Keller family. There is a big death at the end - but for some super odd reason it happens off the page and did not further the plot or story arc of anyone else, it was just gratuitous. And again, it was hard to really care that much because you barely spent any time with the character throughout the book. Even for a lover of a good popcorn thriller, this book was just too basic and straightforward to me. Even just a simple twist would have been nice.

I am not giving up on you Alex Finlay. I know you can write a fantastic novel! This one just seems like an incredibly early first draft instead of a completed story. It needs way more writing, way more editing. I do love that Finlay was inspired by his son's college and incorporated his experience at his own child's parent weekend and the return of Agent Keller.

Thank you to Alex Finlay, Minotaur Books, and Netgalley for the advance readers copy in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

This was a decent novel by Alex Finlay. In my opinion, it had the right amount of suspense and it kept you guessing. At first, I didn’t think I would keep up with all the families and switching back and forth between each family. However, once the Author started giving pertinent information then it became much easier to keep the drama with each family straight.

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters. The story flowed and it kept me wanting more from beginning to end. I strongly encourage others to read this one.

Thank you Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, I really did not like this book. It was easily bingeable which I guess is a plus, but I didn't like any of the characters, the story wasn't enthralling enough, and the ending was a let down. I hate saying such negative things about someone's work and I haven't read anything else by Finlay so this specific book may just not have worked for me. If you're looking for a quick read that won't leave a lasting impact, this would work..

This was my first Alex Finlay book and most likely NOT my last! It was a nice quick read. Part of me wished for more depth with the characters in this book yet also enjoyed the lack of background to keep the reader guessing as to who kidnapped The Five. I figured it out fairly early on, but the action kept me going. I would’ve rated it 4 stars but the ending let me down. I had hoped for a bigger reveal at the end which is why I rated it 3 stars instead.

This book is a breath of fresh air for all the thriller/mystery fans 💫

I really enjoyed the mystery of this book and the perspective of all the families involved. But please be patient, there’s a lot of characters so it may be hard to stay focused.
Be ready for dysfunctional families, buried secrets and shocking betrayals.

Overall, this is a solid beach book that will be released just in time for summer 2025 👙☀️⛱️

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

Release date : May 6th, 2025

So wonderful! Quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! Don't miss this one, each keeps getting better!