Alex Finlay’s, The Parents Weekend pulled me right in from the start……but that’s about it. 🥴

As a typical college ‘parents’ weekend’ quickly turns into a nightmare. Things spiral into a gripping mystery when students come up missing, a shocking crime is discovered and a lot of family drama along the way.

Although it drew me in at the beginning, I lost focus several times while listening and had to refer back because it was sometimes difficult to keep up with so many characters.

Brittany Pressley did an amazing job with narration, as always. I love when she narrates!

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the advance audio copy.

This twisty little thriller was just the kind of one-day listen I needed. Parents Weekend kicks off with the disappearance of several college students on the night their parents are in town for a campus visit. As the investigation ramps up, secrets unravel and suspicion spreads across both the friend group and the families left behind.

Brittany Presley’s narration deserves a big shoutout. She brought great energy to the story and handled the large cast with ease, giving each character just enough distinction without ever pulling you out of the plot. She kept the pacing snappy and the tension simmering, which made it super easy to stay engaged.

The story itself had a big ensemble vibe. Missing students, their parents, law enforcement, and more. So there were a lot of names and backstories to juggle. If you like thrillers where you get to piece together a tangled web of characters, this might be your jam. Personally, I found the sheer number of characters a bit much at times. And I’ll be honest, the college kids and their “bro” speak made them tough to warm up to. I’m not convinced real college students talk like that, but hey, fiction has its liberties.

Overall, this was a fast, entertaining listen. Nothing groundbreaking, but it scratched the itch for a quick, suspenseful escape. I’d give the narration a solid four stars and the story three and a half.

This audio ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The five that’s what they are call in the head lines me the five missing college kids that went missing over parents weekend.

We follow five families though a weekend that changed them all. How the miss communications and haze week and social media changed the way one even that happen to something that cost three lives

This was a quickly easy listen. Highly recommend

The audio was great adding an extra layer of enjoyment. Thanks for the ALC!

🅣🅗🅞🅤🅖🅗🅣🅢: I really enjoyed this read. Solid, entertaining suspense. Starts slow building backstories, but quickly picks up. What works for this book is the balance between character perspectives adding depth to the story. For me, once again Agent Keller steals the show with her sharp approach. This was a twisty and layered page turner.

🌊Missing Students
🌊Layered Perspectives
🌊Family Secrets

Good fast paced thriller with a few twists in the end to keep the reader hooked. As a fan of the author's previous works, I was satisfied. Great narration!

Not my favorite book by this author, but still a pretty entertaining read. There were several POVs and at times it was hard to remember which kid belonged to which family. Sometimes a little slow but overall a pretty twisty and interesting story.

I really enjoyed the audiobook narrator.


Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Alex Finlay's latest thriller brings us back to Agent Sarah Keller on another crime to solve. I really enjoyed this character in "Every Last Fear" and "The Night Shift", so I was looking forward to reading "Parents Weekend".

Five college students go missing on a college campus during parents weekend. When the parents come together to wait for their return, we find there are many more secrets than truths. Finlay gives us the story from the many points of view - from the students to the parents to the FBI agent - creating a multi-faceted mystery that we see come together at the end. What happened to the students? Who is behind all of this? Might this be about more than just a simple college crime gone wrong?

The narration done by Brittany Pressley was very well done, and I was surprised that I fell into a rhythm with all of the characters (sometimes too many characters confuse me in audio). The pacing and storytelling kept my interest and made it fun to listen to.

I definitely felt the book slow down around the halfway point of the book, but it still kept me engaged. I would overall recommend this book because I think Alex Finlay does a fantastic job of creating characters and scenarios that make for compelling stories. While this one was a bit predictable, it was still a good read watching it all come together.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for letting me listen to the advanced audio copy of this book!

Thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for the digital copy of this audiobook; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Alex Finlay is the reason why I read more thrillers these days. I really enjoyed Every Last Fear and The Night Shift, so I was eager to read Parents Weekend, which features the return of FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller, who is a character that deserved better than this book.

That’s not to say Parents Weekend is bad. I’m glad to have read it, but it could have been something much better. Narrating by Brittany Pressley helped (she’s fast becoming one of my go-to narrators), but overall, I just couldn’t get invested in the story. Told from multiple POV, some characters worked better than others.

I do have to say that while I didn’t find this an excellent book, but merely a good book, I didn’t guess the ending, so that’s saying something. I would still recommend this book to fans of domestic thrillers, but it’s not Finlay’s best outing.

I really enjoyed this one. As a mom of a college aged daughter, I completely empathized with these parents. I can't imagine visiting for parents weekend and my kid not showing up to the festivities.

This book was full of many characters, most of whom could have been to blame for the missing children. Despite the number of characters, I was able to keep them straight, although I did make notes initially so that helped.

I found the ending to be surprising but not far fetched. It also kind of broke my heart, in a way that made this book even better to me.

The author's note at the end was sincere and funny. I loved to hear about his friendship with David Ellis. What a cool friend duo.

I both listened and read this one, and the audio was superb. I highly recommend that format with a caution to be ready with note taking in the beginning. It's so worth the little extra effort.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Alex Finlay for the ALC.

Brittany Pressley did an amazing job with the narration of this novel. Her voice was very easy to listen to.

This is a good popcorn thriller. The story pulls you in right away and has plenty of action. Unfortunately I feel as if there were a few too many characters to keep straight, but after a bit it gets easier.

The story follow 5 missing students at a college campus and all of their family drama. There is also a crossover character from a previous book, but you don't need to read that book to read this book. There is not a big twist at the end of the book, but it wraps up with a satisfying ending.

@alexfinlayauthor has a talent for writing twisty thrillers that are quick reads and sometimes that’s exactly what I want. His upcoming book Parents Weekend is another shining example. I wouldn’t say I was on the edge of my seat but I was certainly invested and surprised plenty of times along the way! I also love thrillers with a college setting which is exactly what this was! I read the book as well as listened to the audiobook. The audiobook was narrated by one of my faves @britpressley so that was a treat as always!

Parents Weekend is an easy to read thriller. 5 college freshman miss dinner with their parents during Santa Clara University’s Parents Weekend. The police & FBI get involved in searching for the missing students. Secrets and lies are uncovered during the search. There are a lot of characters in the book and you have to pay attention to keep them all straight.

I liked this book but favorite by Alex Finlay are The Night Shift & Every Last Fear. Brittany Pressley did an excellent job with the narration.

Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for letting me read this ARC.

Huge thanks to netgalley for this arc!
I enjoyed this fast paced easy to listen to (thanks to the awesome narrator) audiobook!
There are lots of characters but I wasn’t confused and it was a fun enjoyable listen.
This isn’t my favorite by Finlay but this was a good solid 3 stars and I will definitely read his next book!

A solid if predictable thriller/mystery. The fun part was meeting all the characters. There were many, but not hard to keep track of them. I couldn’t out down the first half, there was so much promise. The investigation portion was slower, and the reveals were very predictable. Still, it was a solid read and a good time.

I recommend this book in the audio version, it was quick and (somewhat) low stakes (IMO, since I found it predictable). It was entertaining to listen to and I did enjoy it but I felt like it was a bit lacking. Lots of players in the mix and a LOT of povs. Each set of parents plus the students themselves plus Agent Keller. It was a lot to keep up with at the start.

The mystery itself was pretty predictable, I knew it had something to do with what was mentioned early on and who - just waited along for the why and how.

I know the title itself is about “parents” but I wish we had more focus on the students. I wanted more of their POV from the present and more to what lead them to go missing. The parents povs added a lot of filler, a lot of maybes and what ifs.

I was a little sad with the ending but still liked how it all came out.

Parents Weekend centers around 5 students who go missing during parents weekend. This is told through the POVs of the students, the parents and an FBI agent which allows us to get a glimpse of the dynamics of very different families. I really enjoyed the narration and thought it really contributed to my enjoyment of the book. I did have a bit of issue at the beginning keeping track of whose parents were whose, but I think that could have been a me issue as I do better with that in print.
The overall story was pretty solid and by combining the drama of all the families, it was hard to predict how everything was going to play out. However, there was something about it that felt safe, like I had read it before. I still enjoyed it and was engaged, but my jaw didn't drop at the end.
Brittany Pressley did a great job narrating the story, I always enjoy her work!
Thank you Macmillan Audio for the copy through NetGalley.

A solid mystery! I really had no idea what was going to happen. I was worried about all the POVs at the beginning, but it was easy to follow once it got going.

I really enjoyed this thriller with a throwback to college life. Five students go missing during their Parent Weekend Dinner. No one can get a hold of them, and it turns from oh you how college kids are to every parent’s worst nightmare no matter how old your kids get.

Each family had their own back story that was the threaded throughout the book. I thought Alex did an awesome job weaving in all the characters and each chapter was a different family POV.

The Maldonado Fam: Stella, Married, Dad a doctor

The Goffman Fam: Felix, Single Mom, Divorced, Mom works for school

The Roosevelt Fam: Blaine, Divorced, Mom works for government, parents DO NOT get along

The Akanas Fam: Libby, Dad is a judge, family grieving death of son

The Wong Fam: Mark, parents not present for the weekend, dad served time for multiple CSCs

I almost missed the Agent Keller Easter egg and had to do a double take. Loved seeing her back in action and her little family doing well.

This was a suspenseful and fast paced thriller. Thank you MacMillian Audio for this ALC!

This is a mystery thriller about a group of students who go missing during college weekend. I enjoyed learning about each individual student and their parents; all made for interesting characters. This book wasn’t as tense or gripping as some others I’ve read by the author, but was still a solid read that I think his fans will enjoy.

Wow! This was interesting!

So, multiple families gather together for the first ‘parents weekend’ for their freshman kids at a private California college. Many of these ‘parents’ are very wealthy, and have lots of money, lots to hide, and/or lots to say. One even has their own security detail because they are high up on the Washington party lines!

There are doctors and lawyers/judges, etc… and then there’s the one lonely Mom who happens to be the assistant to the president of the school… and her son is there on a scholarship.

The parents each think that their own kids walk on water. But that’s normal, in my opinion…. We don’t always see what’s going on right under our noses….

BUT, when everyone gathers together for the opening dinner, where the kids and the parents ALL get together to eat… well, there’s just one problem. ALL the kids, from that particular group, are missing!

And so the hunt begins…. What happened to these kids? Who saw them last? Where did they go?

Lots of questions, with seemingly no answers. 😮

For any of you who have freshman kids in college, this one is going to hit home…so, consider yourself warned!

Otherwise, this is one you don’t want to miss! There are so many things going on, that sometimes it may be hard to keep track of all of them, but in the end…well, it all just fit together!!

#ParentsWeekend by #AlexFinlay. Narrated beautifully by #BrittanyPressley.

4 1/2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 for me, rounded up to 5!!

Thanks so much to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for an ARC of the audiobook, in exchange for an honest review.

This has NOT YET BEEN RELEASED!, so please look 👀 for it on 5/6/25!!

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