I enjoy a good thriller with some build-up and surprises but without twists that give me whiplash and this book certainly fits this description. The setting is a college campus hosting a parents’ weekend and the parents introduced are a mess of secrets with big personalities. When their 5 children don’t show up for the featured dinner, an alarm is eventually raised especially in light of the recent drowning death of a fellow student. Since special FBI agent, Sarah Keller is currently in the area visiting family, she is asked to help local police and campus security with the investigation. While most of the parents and students are annoying and unlikable, Sarah is a great character and a smart and thorough investigator. She methodically solves the case and as mentioned earlier, she encounters some surprises. The pacing of the book is just right and the twists are nothing over the top, making the book an enjoyable and entertaining read.
I listened to the audio book version and found the narrator to be very good, easy to listen to.
I received an ARC of this audio book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own.

0.4% and I was already hooked!
Blaine is in college and his mom is visiting she is very important has a security detail and everything. Blaine and friends have a secret.
Stella is another student her parents have some interesting friends.. and like Blaine her parents don’t get along but they are still married. Her parents seem to have a secret
Natasha the missing student her parents are there for parents weekend, but not her. She has been in trouble with the school in the past.
Felix seemingly good boy at the school for free because his mom Alice is a secretary for the dean.
Libby’s parents seem very distant due to trauma. Her dad is a prominent judge.
Keller and her husband Bob have twins and they seem very happy unlike the other parents. Keller gets involved because she is FBI
The way the chapters are set up it’s easy to keep track of everyone which I love!
It seems both the kids and parents have something to hide. There was an important dinner all parents are there but none of the kids..
this book is full of mystery and suspense highly recommend!! Especially to people who like fast paced and a lot of little mysteries rolled into one.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for sending me an early copy of the audio for this book!!

This was was meh in my opinion. The story was shocking in some parts but overall I found myself getting distracted and bored throughout a lot of the story. Nothing sucked me in.
There were also sooooo many characters all narrated by the same person which made it very confusing to listen to, so maybe pick up a hard copy if the book sounds interesting to you. I didn’t hate it, didn’t love it, but would recommend if you like dark academia and thrillers that have lots of characters! I will definitely pick up more books by this author, just probably not on audio.

Finlay always has and always will be an auto read for me. Unfortunately, I did not quite enjoy this one as much as I hoped. I felt like it was very rushed, and it just was not pulling me in like his books usually do. I will still continue to read and buy his books, this one just was not a favorite of mine. The narrator, however, was excellent, I enjoyed their voice and tempo.

Alex Finlay's Parent's Weekend, narrated by Brittany Pressley, offers an engaging listening experience, especially for those who find the written version challenging. Pressley, one of my favorite narrators, brings the characters to life with her distinct voices and emotional depth, making it easier to follow the plot despite the large cast.

The story starts strong but loses momentum as it progresses, with the multitude of characters becoming overwhelming. While the audiobook format helped me finish the book, the complexity still detracted from my overall enjoyment. I also felt as if the story ended just a bit abruptly. I had to go back and relisten to the last part of the book.

In summary, the audiobook is a solid choice for fans of Brittany Pressley and those who enjoy thrillers, even if the story itself didn’t fully resonate with me. I'm still a fan of the author and while disappointed with this particular book - I will still look forward to reading what he writes.

I thank Macmillan audio and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this audiobook.

This was such a good book. Very suspenseful and got me hooked very quickly. I have other books by this author, I can’t wait to dive into them.

This was a bit too slow and muddled for me. I struggled to keep all the characters straight and found I only cared about the mother who worked at the deans office and not the other stories. If the whole thing had been told from her POV or her and the fbi agent that might have been better

Another fun-filled tale of college students behaving badly, and their parents behaving even worse! Everyone is suspect and no one is the same by the time the story reaches the end. I can always count on Alex Finley to deliver a twisty popcorn thriller that keeps me listening on the edge of my seat. I always enjoy listening to Brittany Pressley. She made the experience even more fun!!
*Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley

✨The unstoppable FBI Agent Sarah Keller is back and still my absolute favorite. This was a solid campus thriller with just right pacing that kept me engaged and entertained. I loved it on audio with the incomparable @britpressley as narrator.

🌿Read if you like:
✨Campus settings
✨Domestic suspense
✨Family drama
✨Multiple points of view
✨Dual timelines
✨Returning characters
✨California settings

Parents Weekend | By Alex Finlay
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fast paced, short chapters, various POV

This book is short and packs a punch! I could not put this book down it was so fast paced and thrilling!

Parents weekend takes place at the parents weekend for a college. First a girl dies, then a few students go missing and Agent Keller (yes the same one from The Night Shift) along with some agents are tasked with finding the college students before it is too late! The book had 5 points of view which was both entertaining and a little hard to follow at times; however, I still really enjoyed the book! The narrator was great - Brittany Pressley - such a wonderful and expressive voice!!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press - Minotaur books and Macmillan Audio for the digital advanced readers and listeners copy!! This novel will be published May 6, 2025! Add it to your TBR!

<u><b>Parents Weekend</b></u>
Alex Finlay
Narrator: Brittany Pressley
Release Date: May 6, 2025

ALC courtesy of Macmillan Audio and NetGalley.

<i>Parents Weekend</i> is a fast-paced, suspenseful thriller featuring a comeback by author Alex Finlay’s FBI agent Sarah Keller. It involves the disappearance of five friends, coed at a Northern California university during Parents Weekend.

The narrative is brisk, with short chapters told from multiple shifting pov’s. I feel that this method also has the downside of making the story seem convoluted and confusing, and the multiple characters suffer from being two-dimensional and underdeveloped. Nonetheless, the story is exciting and compelling, and surely will appeal to readers of the mystery thriller genre.

3 stars
4 stars for the narration

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC.

I’ve said it once and will continue to say it: Brittany Pressley is a freaking story telling goddess. I love her narration so very much.

Parents Weekend made me so very thankful that I got my degree online instead of on a campus. This story was twisty and fun.

This is how Alex Finlay’s books work for me:interesting start, and an ending I find odd or unsatisfying. Yet I keep ready since they’re entertaining, and they have great narration. I like them, even when I find the twists a bit odd. That’s a testimony to Finlay’s good storytelling.

Nearly DNF. I am very sorry, but I found the story confusing and didn't care enough about any of the characters until the very end at the reveal.

I've enjoyed other Alex Finlay books and that's what made me interested in his new book Parents Weekend.
Wow does this book have a lot of characters and a lot of POV's, so be prepared for that. All those people made it hard to remember what kids go with what parents and vice versa. I was lucky enough to have both the book and audiobook. I went back and forth a lot to try to figure out and remind myself who goes with whom. I was very happy to see that Agent Keller was back to do her thing and solve the mystery of where the college students disappeared to during Parents Weekend. Narrator Brittany Pressley is always great and gave life to this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced readers copies of both the audiobook and the book.

Alex Finlay is an auto buy author for me. His latest, Parents Weekend was such a great listen. Don’t miss out on this one!

I am not a fan of domestic dramas. More times than not, I end up feeling sorry for all the messed up kids who got stuck with crappy parents. So why would I voluntarily choose to read a story about a bunch of missing college kids and their crappy parents who descend on their kids for parents’ weekend? Two words: Alex Finlay. This is only the third book of his that I have read, but it most certainly won’t be the last. I like Finlay’s work; he’s a good author and a really good storyteller.

The book summary basically just introduces the primary storyline of the missing students and their parents. However, there is so much more going on here. There are the Roosevelts, mother Cynthia, an Asst Sec of State with her own Secret Service detail, and father Hank, a failed writer and unemployed adjunct professor, and rebel son, Blane. Then there are the Akanas, father Judge Ken, and mother Amy, a former attorney turned caregiver and stay-at-home mom since their son was diagnosed with cancer and later died, and their forgotten and neglected daughter, Libby. There are the Maldonados, father David, a good-looking, successful plastic surgeon and perpetual philanderer, and mother Nina, a stay-at-home mom, who puts up with her husband’s cheating, and their rebel daughter, Stella. Then there is the Goffmans, single mother, Alice, the Dean’s assistant, and her son, Felix, who is a scholarship student. Lastly there is Mark Wong, whose father is a sexual offender, who was recently released from a 10yr sentence of sexual assault.

Every one of these parents and their kids are harboring secrets about their pasts and current activities. Way too much to unpack in a book review. Once again, I have so many moments where I feel so sorry for the messed-up kids whose crappy parents have totally screwed them up. However, in typical Finlay fashion, there are just way too many other intriguing things going on with the missing kids and scary scenes playing out among all of the parents and their own ridiculous drama. It isn’t until deep into the second half that I start to suspect who the kidnapper is, but I’m also prepared for Finlay to blow me away with a shocking ending. While I wasn’t way off base about the kidnapper, I was so absolutely wrong about the killer, but I am not disappointed with the shocking end.

The character development of the parents and their kids was pretty good and even the continuing character development of the returning FBI agent, Sarah Keller, and her hubby and their twins was nice to see since we didn’t get much the last time back in Every Last Fear. The pacing was fast, and flipping back and forth between the ebook and the audiobook made for a pretty quick reading experience. The storyline was interesting and the writing typical Finlay, in other words, well written and shocking. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.3 that I will be rounding down to a 4star review. I want to thank NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for sending me these eARC’s in exchange for my honest review.

NetGalley #StMartinsPress #MacmillanAudio #ParentsWeekend

Parent’s Weekend started off exciting, but it quickly became challenging to keep track of the numerous characters and their complex backgrounds. Just as I anticipated an intriguing character backstory that might influence the plot, it was explained, removing the mystery. This made it difficult to stay engaged, and I often found myself distracted, needing to re-listen for the second half of the book.

I also wish I had known upfront that geofencing played a significant role in the story—this wasn’t clear until the author's message, by which point I had already overlooked details I initially thought were minor. Despite these challenges, it wasn’t a terrible listen. It kept me entertained overall.

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay
🌟🌟🌟🌟
This is an entertaining and fun thriller story!!
Five families go to visit their kids at College for a parents weekend. The problem is that the kids don’t show up for the dinner the families have planned. The parents are trying to figure out if their kids could possibly be in danger or if it’s just a college prank? The police are eventually called and the search and thrills begin!
I enjoyed the character development, which gave us background and insight into the different family dynamics and their kids. I liked to hear about the fun and crazy drama that each family had!
I did enjoy the first 1/2 of the book a bit more than the second part. The whole book was very good, I just found the beginning a bit more suspenseful and exciting.

Thank you to NetGalley for an audio arc of this great book! The narrator did an excellent job!
This is my first book from this author and I’ll definitely be checking out more!
*This book comes out May 6th. Grab it for an entertaining and thrilling read!*

4.25 rounded down. Great audio, listened to it in one day!

Solid mystery surrounding one main incident and a proceeding incident involving the same characters. The story unravels and while that happens we get to meet a supporting cast of family member thanks to parents weekend. While the whole isn’t particularly surprising, the overall story is good, interesting and entertaining.

Advanced listener copy provided by Macmillan Audio but all opinions are my own.