I feel like Author Notes should sometimes be at the front of the book so you can understand the mindset. After hearing the inspiration this one made a bit more sense.

Not my favorite Finlay book, there is a lot happening so connecting with the characters is a bit difficult. It was nice to be back with Agent Keller, but the high predictably and ending were disappointing.

Audio narration was well put together.

Thank you for the opportunity to review.

I enjoyed this enough to finish it. Honestly, the audio is what saved it for me. You’re following so many families/POVs and introduced to so many characters - it was a little overwhelming.

I thought it was well written and for having so many characters I thought they were pretty fleshed out. The ending was a bit predictable and the reveal around the student that drowned felt like a complete after thought.

I did like the author’s writing style so I will be checking out some of their back list in the future.

I wish that this book hit better for me. I have ready Finlay's other works and I can say that this book was my least favorite.

I feel like it lacked originality for me. I have read a million thrillers with the same type of layout and this one just did not do anything crazy for me. If you want a face paced thriller, this will get the job done though.

The audiobook was also good, and I did enjoy the production and narration.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for my early e-arc audio copy.

Twisty in all the right ways, Parents Weekend delivers a compelling mystery that’s both easy to follow and satisfyingly layered. The dual timeline and multiple points of view work well, and the pacing kept me engaged throughout. I especially appreciated how believable the twists felt—dramatic, but not over the top. The return of Agent Sarah Keller was a nice touch, and the exploration of family dynamics added depth to the suspense. A smart, bingeable read perfect for fans of campus thrillers.

Hooked until the last word! I thought I knew what was going on the whole time and the end threw me for a loop. Loved the mystery and all the potential theories. How does an entire group of college students go missing!?! I think you should find out! The narration was amazing!!

A parents weekend at an elite college in Northern California leaves parents worried when a group of 5 students never arrive to a planned dinner. Is it an elaborate joke? Are they just ditching their parents so they can party? As time passes the worried parents call the police and a newly relocated FBI agent, Sarah Keller. The past is told though alternating perspectives as the students and their parents past is brought to light. Are the parents the motivation for the disappearances? Did the students have a secret?

This was a fast paced story, I really liked the way the story was told. The reader seemed to chase down leads with the main character, Sarah. Her character was the same one from some of Finlay’s previous books which was a pleasant surprise. Sometimes the leads went cold, sometimes there were some interesting clues. I would think I had everything figured out and then later discovered I was wrong. You can always count on a good, fast-paced story when you pick up one of Alex Finlay’s books. The ending was a little over the top, as were the parents. I would have liked to have more POVs from the students, I think it might have added a little more substance to the story.

3 ⭐️

I really enjoyed Alex Finlay's "Every Last Fear" and was excited to read another book by him! This one however was just... mid. Like nothing was outwardly bad about it, and maybe I've just read too many really great thrillers recently, but this one was just okay. I enjoyed the fast pace but the "big twist" was just okay and I never really felt like the characters were different enough from each other for me to easily tell them apart, plus I didn't really care what happened to them.

This was not my favorite thriller, but I did enjoy the young characters and the messy family dynamics of each.

I’m in the parents weekend season of life with two kids in college, so this book was very fun for me. It’s a fast-paced mystery/thriller, and the college vibes, the party games the kids play, and the darties are so recognizable. There are a lot of characters to keep track of in this one, but the way the pieces of the puzzle are laid out it’s easy to follow but hard to guess how the puzzle will come together.

Thanks, Macmillan Audio, for the ALC!

Honestly, I picked this book because Brittany Pressley narrated it, and I’m just a massive fan of her narrations. I also know that a lot of my friends talk about how much they like Alex Finlay’s works, so I figured it would be a good story. I made a good choice! PARENTS WEEKEND is a fast-paced mystery with many characters, and Pressley does a fantastic job of switching between them, as she always does.

I enjoyed Finlay’s writing style a lot. It’s fast-paced with short chapters that kept me intrigued and wanting more. I didn’t think it went extremely deep into the character development, but that worked for this story.

I did like meeting Agent Keller, who is from two of his previous works - EVERY LAST FEAR and THE NIGHT SHIFT - which are now on my tbr!

I’m glad this was my introduction to Alex Finlay, and I’m very excited to explore his backlist now!

This was entertaining, if fairly pedestrian. PARENTS WEEKEND involves six sets of parents who arrive in Northern California for a dinner with their collegiate children, none of whom show up for the dinner. One of the girls has been discovered dead, but the others seem to have simply disappeared. Two of the parents are high-profile government officials, so the police are on the case immediately. The book's focus moves from the investigator's perspective to that of each of the students, to that of each of the parents. This provides the reader with nearly 20 characters to follow. Admirably, Finlay imbues each with unique enough characteristics so that keeping track of them is not a challenge. The narrator manages to voice each character in a manner that adds to their development and separates one from another, as well. I particularly enjoyed the kindness and good will that she brought to the investigator's husband. Nonetheless, with so many characters and none playing a particularly central role, the characterization has little depth. Each of the characters serves mainly as a plot device for this plot-driven thriller.

The story line is complex, relying mainly on the students' shenanigans with a good deal of adult poor behavior included. It may be a statement about today's world that it does not take any suspension of disbelief the find the plot twists realistic. The chapters are short as each character has his or her time explaining what is going on, or what happened in the past to contribute to the kids' disappearance. This helps move the plot along. Because the reader knows the characters only on a surface level, however, it is hard to care much about any of them. After the plot reaches its resolution, the author provides a long epilogue-ish set of chapters telling us what happened to each student and family. For some readers this will provide the closure they long for at the end of the book, while for others it will be tedious.

The writing is straightforward and easy to read, making this a quick read. Most readers will have no trouble using the bare bones descriptions of setting to conjure an oceanside university to mind, so the lack of evocative language won't be a disappointment. With workmanlike writing, surface level characterization, and a somewhat predictable storyline, this plot-based thriller will appeal to those who enjoy escaping into the world of poor behavior of the rich and the consequences that behavior engenders.

I typically really like Findlay’s novels, but this one didn’t work for me. On audio in particular, I found it nearly impossible to keep track of the many characters and narrative changes.

This was a great listen!!

Parents go to spend the weekend with their first year college students for parents weekend. The parents gather for dinner and drinks, but oddly, the kids don’t show up and can’t be reached. As the hours continue on, the parents realize that something must truly be wrong and decide to get law enforcement involved to help find their college kids. Where are the kids?

This is my second Alex Finlay book and she loves a long list of characters! This isn’t a bad thing but it does make it nearly impossible for me to listen to her books on audio. I’m glad I switched to my physical copy of this one.

I really enjoyed Parents Weekend. It was a page turning thriller that kept me engaged and up way past my bedtime. There were parts where it slowed, but for the most part it was pretty quick moving. I loved being in the POV of Keller, the special agent, it felt very Criminal Minds to me. I do not recommend it on audio and will probably stick to print for Alex Finlay books in the future.

3.5 stars.
A weekend with parents congregating at an small private college is the setting for this tense thriller. We meet the parents as they arrive, and quickly see families full of angers, jealousies and secrets, putting on a face for their young adult children, who are much more aware of the frictions present than their parents know or would like.

Five of these students are slated to arrive at the same dinner with these parents, and we meet these young people earlier in the day, nervous about a secret pertaining to a recently drowned fellow student. The Five, as they come to be known, never end up meeting their parents, which sets off a rapid security and police response.

Sarah Keller has recently joined the local FBI office; her father-in-law is quite ill, and the whole family has temporarily relocated to be near the man. Sarah is called into the search, and does what she does best: asking questions, seeing connections, and finding important clues that lead to reveals amongst the affected families, and, eventually, the location of the students.

The pace really picks up after the introductions of all the characters (and there are a lot). I was also quite happy when Keller appeared, as I knew things would start moving fast after.

The high character count meant that I was frequently confused about which parent I was dealing with, and the mystery was not as twisty as I was hoping for, but I still enjoyed this, going back and forth between the book and audio. The talented Brittany Pressley narrates, and skilfully inhabits each of the many characters in this story. Since I often will choose to go the audio route for a story if Pressley is the narrator, I was glad she took us through this latest from Alex Finlay, which, though not his best, was still a compelling story.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and to Macmillan Audio for this ARC in exchange for my review.

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.

Brittany Pressley did a great job narrating this story.

Rating: 4⭐️/5

A thriller with a murder mystery, anonymous social media gossip sites and five missing college kids. It follows the five different families and the FBI agent assigned to the case. The chapters were short switching POVs between the students and their dysfunctional families.

I thought the plot line was really good with interesting leads and the narrator was very convincing! She was able to switch between a lot of different accents.

I did think that the climax for this novel was very rushed and it almost seemed anticlimactic. There was a ton of great build up and then it kind of fell flat and was very rushed.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review.

While Parents Weekend isn’t my favorite Alex Finlay novel, it still delivered a quick and entertaining read. The premise is fun and fast-paced, keeping things moving even as a large cast of characters makes it a bit tricky to track everyone. I didn’t guess the plot twist, which was a plus, though the ending didn’t completely surprise me either.

Brittany Pressley’s narration is always a highlight of any audiobook! And the author’s note at the end was great! All in all, not the most memorable of Finlay’s work, but a solid, enjoyable ride for his fans.

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for my ALC.

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.

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay starts with five first-year students vanishing during a university dinner. It spirals into a fast-paced mystery that’ll make you question every orientation icebreaker you’ve ever participated in.

Finlay delivers his signature short chapters like academic credits—easy to collect, but dangerously addictive. You’ll be flying through perspectives like a stressed-out student registering for electives at the last minute. There’s a lady FBI agent, panicked parents, shady administrators, and enough secrets to fill a dorm room with dread—and pizza boxes.

Some of the twists are a bit over-the-top (I half expected a mascot to get involved), and keeping track of who’s who can feel like a chaotic group project. But it’s entertaining as hell, and Finlay knows how to serve up suspense with just the right amount of dark humor.

Basically: come for the parents, stay for the plot twists, and maybe rethink that college campus tour.