Title: Every Last Fear
Author: Alex Finlay
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 368

“They found the bodies on Tuesday.” Every Last Fear opens with one of the best lines I’ve read in a long time. The premise of this book is fascinating – focusing on the deaths of four family members in Mexico. The Pine family went on an impromptu trip to Mexico and died of carbon monoxide poisoning but the State Department and FBI think it may not be an accident. The more interesting wrinkle is that the Pine family was featured in a true crime documentary where the eldest son, Danny has been imprisoned for the death of his high school girlfriend Charlotte. The documentary argues that Danny was forced to make a confession. Matt, Danny’s younger brother, has to figure out if his family was murdered and if it was connected to his older brother and the documentary.

The book alternates between the current timeline and the timeline leading up to their deaths. It switches perspectives from Matt to his various family members as well as the FBI agent helping him five different characters. I found this aspect of the novel to be quite clunky and there is not enough time spent with any one character to develop a bond. An example of this was there was some strain between Matt and his father that is never really fleshed out or explained. The one character I really loved was Sarah Keller, the financial crimes FBI agent assigned to help Matt Pine after his family dies.

I did LOVE Matt’s group of friends at NYU. There was some great rep in this group of friends that felt authentic to the college experience. The book also showed this friend group really supporting Matt during this time of intense grief.

The book is dialogue heavy and it doesn’t feel like normal conversation. Rather, It feels like someone wrote the conversations. I find when dialogue is written well – you don’t really think about it being written but hear it in your head. While the dialogue was quick to read through, I wish that some of the conversation had been edited out in favor of narrative and character development.

The pacing in the beginning and the end of the book was fantastic. However, I felt that the pacing in the middle of the book meandered a lot. There were several plot lines that did not seem to go anywhere like Matt’s trip to Mexico, and the Agent Sarah Keller’s related investigation. At the end of the book I just wondered – what was the point of that? The twists at the end were good but I did guess the “big twist” about 50% through the book. There were several days when I didn’t want to pick up the book because I felt so meh about the middle section.

Overall, I would recommend this book especially to folks new to the thriller genre. It is a solid entertaining read. I think this would be a fantastic page to screen adaptation as there is plenty of action.

ARC provided to me Minotaur Books, via Net Galley, in exchange for an honest review.

#EveryLastFear #NetGalley

Matt Pines brother is in prison for a crime he says he didn’t commit and his family believe him.
Matt receives a devastating phone call to tell him the rest of his family have died on holiday in Mexico.
The authorities claim it was a gas leak.
Matt knows otherwise and sets out to find out what really happened .
F.B.I agent Sarah Keller seems far from convinced too that this was a terrible accident.
Can they find out what happened to Matts family .
Great read
Thanks NetGalley

Absolutely thrilling, from page one to the very end. Alex Finlay never disappoints and Every Last Fear is perhaps the best one yet!

Not too bad but definitely predictable. I don’t know that this will be in my favorite list but it’s ok.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I requested this arc because this mystery sounded so intriguing and I'd never read a fiction story in which true-crime fans are apart of the mystery, specifically with the documentary that surrounded Danny's arrest, similar to Making a Murderer vibe. I was also incredibly intrigued to see how the two cases would connect, but unfortunately, there was just too much going on.

I dnf'd at 66% when a sixth character perspective was being introduced. Granted, I'm not big on multiple perspectives already, but particularly in mysteries/thrillers, I think it gets too confusing and hard to stay invested in the plot. If this had maybe bounced back and forth between Agent Keller and Matt, it would have held my attention better. The addition of two separate timelines also made it hard to keep up. The multiple perspectives meant that every person had their own side-plots with additional drama taking place, which had the main plot suffering as well and so that none of the characters' really had personalities.

Also, the way Mexico was described and how the local cops were constantly just referred to as Mexicans felt a little... racist.

After scrolling through some spoiler-y reviews, I also found out that I guessed who did it, and honestly? Boring.

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay is a FANTASTIC thriller. The characters were will written. The story was well written with multiple twists and turns.

I highly recommend this suspenseful thriller.

3.3 stars, rounded down to 3.*

I cannot tell a lie. I chose this book by its cover. The blurb was intriguing.

It is the first book by Alex Finlay that I have read.

The premise itself was interesting: NYU student Matt Pine wakes after a night of partying to learn that his parents and siblings have been found dead of an apparent gas leak while on Spring Break vacation in Mexico. Despite local police insisting it is an accident, the FBI has different thoughts. And they won't let Matt in on the reasons. The media frenzy is fast-but not just because of the deaths-because Matt's older brother Danny is serving a life-sentence for the murder of his teenaged girlfriend years ago. Matt's father had made his life's work proving his son was wrongfully convicted. But Matt saw something that night that made him believe his brother is guilty.

The story hops across time- from past to present giving you various characters' perspectives.

This would be a great movie. I'd recommend it to spy thriller fans. The writing is fine-if not inspired. I devoured it.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Minotaur Books for sharing this with me in exchange an honest review.

I did not expect this to turn out the way it did! I was completely blown away by the fantastic writing and wonderful characters.

When Matt Pine is notified that is his Mother ,Father, sister and little brother have died in a carbon dioxide accident while on Spring break in Mexico he is shocked. How much more can happen? Matt's older brother Danny is in prison for the murder of his girlfriend though he swears he is innocent. The family never stopped believing in Danny's innocence, especially his younger sister Maggie and his Father Evan. They had fought so hard to prove Danny's innocence that they drew the attention of a couple who make true crime documentaries. When A Violent Nature is released on Netflix Danny's case becomes mainstream.

When it begins to look like the death of his family is not an accident Matt and FBI Agent Sarah Keller must solve the mystery before it's too late.

Ho Hum! For some reason, it took me forever to get through this one. I wanted a quick intense thriller or mystery and I felt like I got bogged down in a murky labyrinth. The premise was interesting. A few years back, Matt’s brother is sent to jail for the murder of his teenage girlfriend. Flash forward a few years, and the rest of Matt’s family dies while on a trip to Mexico. Are the two incidents connected? The whole story has a media overlay because Matt’s family has developed a level of notoriety due to a documentary on Netflix. My interest picked up at the end, but overall I found this one a bit disjointed and also that there wasn’t much depth or originality to the characters. There are good reviews for this one, so I suspect it just wasn’t for me. Thanks to Netgalley for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

Wow! I loved this book!
Action packed it had me hooked from beginning to end!
The story starts with "They found the bodies on a Tuesday" which refers to the Pine family on a vacation in Mexico. They became infamous when a true crime documentary is made about a crime involving their family. With two surviving sons, it's up to one of them, the other being in prison, to figure out what happened. The Mexican authorities claim the deaths as accidental but the son, with the FBI at his side, suspects foul play.
What a wild ride!
This psychological thriller is Alex Finlay's debut novel and it's not to be missed!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

“They found the bodies on a Tuesday.” So begins this twisty and breathtaking novel that traces the fate of the Pine family, a thriller that will both leave you on the edge of your seat and move you to tears.
After a late night of partying, NYU student Matt Pine returns to his dorm room to devastating news: nearly his entire family—his mom, his dad, his little brother and sister—have been found dead from an apparent gas leak while vacationing in Mexico.
The tragedy makes headlines everywhere because this isn’t the first time the Pine family has been thrust into the media spotlight. Matt’s older brother, Danny—currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his teenage girlfriend Charlotte—was the subject of a viral true crime documentary suggesting that Danny was wrongfully convicted.
When Matt returns to his small hometown to bury his parents and siblings, he’s faced with a hostile community that was villainized by the documentary, a frenzied media, and memories he’d hoped to leave behind forever.
Told through multiple points-of-view and alternating between past and present.
The Pine family sure has gone through some tough times and as the story moves along we learn more about what happened to Danny's girlfriend, how the town treated the Pine family nd what lead up to the Pine families deaths.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Minotaur for the ARC to review.

WOW, what a thriller! Right away from the description, I knew I wanted to read Every Last Fear, the debut thriller novel from Alex Finlay.

Every Last Fear starts with NYU student Matt Pine getting devastating news: his parents and two younger siblings have been found dead in Mexico while on a spring break trip. Their deaths make the national news, and unfortunately, this isn't the first time the Pine family has been in the spotlight. Matt's older brother, Danny, is spending life in prison for the murder of his high school girlfriend and a recent Netflix documentary brought national attention to the case.

With the deaths abroad and some suspicious circumstances, the FBI gets involved, and Alex Finlay takes us on a hunt to find the truth. The story follows several different characters, alternates between past and present, and has short chapters (my favorite)! I was a little overwhelmed at first with all the characters, but the audiobook narrators, Cady McClain and Jon Lindstrom, did a great job, and I quickly caught up with all of them. Once I had the characters straight, I could not stop listening! I was hooked on this page-turner from the beginning and it never slowed. I thought it wrapped up well and was a solid debut thriller, I'm looking forward to more from this author!

Talk about a wild ride! And a fast read. I did not see any of the twists coming. This thriller is a great change of pace from the domestic thrillers I’ve read lately.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been discussing the West Memphis 3 with a book club or what. But this book definitely gave me WM3 vibes. Thankfully, this book was different in that we actually find out what happened. And that there was a good ending, or as good as can be under the circumstances. My heart broke for this family.
I enjoyed the splices of the documentary sprinkled throughout the book. I also liked how the story progressed in different timelines as well as multiple people’s perspectives. I liked how, little by little, the entire story was revealed. Definitely kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting more.

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay was INTENSE man. It's probably a guarantee that any book that starts with “They found the bodies on a Tuesday” is going to be, but I was impressed by the author's ability to keep that intensity going throughout the novel until the very last page. Plus considering the fact that this is also a debut is enough to impress anyone and it sure impressed me! I was also excited about how fast-paced the novel was which is something I needed in my life right now. This book was inspired by a trip the author took to Tulum, Mexico where part of the book is set, and I found that to be such a fascinating piece of information.

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of the audiobook from the publisher, so I listened to this while I followed along in my physical copy and that was the way to go for me. The audio is narrated by Cady McClain and Jon Lindstrom and I loved the choice to do both a male and female narrator. The book is told from multiple viewpoints and having the two distinctive voices for the audio really enhanced them. Along with multiple viewpoints, Every Last Fear is also interspersed with excerpts from a true-crime documentary and that added another element to the story which was awesome. The end did get a little confusing for me, but once I figured out everything that was going on my mouth dropped open and it was very shocking. This is a promising debut from Finlay, and I can't wait for whatever comes next!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book is a mystery within a mystery—it’s so deliciously twisty I couldn’t put it down! Part murder mystery, part police procedural, it will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up!

FBI agents greet Matt Pine at his NYU dorm after a night out, to tell him that most of his family has been found dead while on spring break in Mexico. But this isn’t the first time the Pine family has been in the news under horrific circumstances. Matt’s older brother was convicted of brutally killing his girlfriend, and is currently serving a life sentence. That murder was the subject of a true-crime documentary that changed so many people’s lives, and not for the better. Nothing is quite as it seems though, and it all starts to unravel as Matt, and the FBI, learns more about the truth.

I wanted a little more from the FBI agent’s perspective, and a more in-depth explanation at the ending—the motive wasn’t fully explained to my satisfaction—but it didn’t detract much from my enjoyment of the book. I was hooked from the start and seriously couldn’t put it down.

This would make such a phenomenal movie or tv series. I can already picture it in my head now!

I loved this book! It was thrilling and tragic which isn't really a combination you see that often. If you are looking for an uplifting book turn around, this is not the book you are looking for, but if you are up for a whodunnit that pulls no punches, then I can't recommend it enough. Not for the faint of heart but so good. I didn't figure it out until RIGHT before the reveal. I had my suspicions once but I had moved onto other possibilities. At this point I'm just gushing, maybe later I can write more intelligently but for now just 5 stars

Wow. I absolutely loved this book. I finished it in a single day, it was that good. I was hooked from the first page! I will say... I hate when kids are murdered (that's only a baby spoiler, it happens instantly and overtly.) Which means I also have to say that the ending was pretty rough for me in that regard, as well. Just a heads up, in case you're like me.

The parts in Mexico practically had me hyperventilating, the stakes were so high and the suspense was REAL.

Agent Keller is a *star* protagonist (even though she was a co-protagonist here.) My point is, I need a whole Keller series, okay? I was rooting for her even more than I was rooting for Matt. (But also... poor Matt! My heart was aching for this poor fictional orphan, who went through more than any character should have to.)

People keep calling this a debut, but it's either a hell of a debut OR the author (who uses a pseudonym) is a actually seasoned writer.. because this is impressive.

Basically, if you like thrillers/mysteries: you have to read this one. It's worth your time and money.


Huge thanks to #Netgalley #StMartinsPress and #MinotaurBooks for the complimentary copy of #EveryLastFear by #AlexFinlay in exchange for my honest review.

I would give this book 3.5 stars. It was a fairly good mystery that kept me turning pages from start to finish.

Matt Pine is dealt a devastating blow when an FBI agent shows up at his dorm room and tells him that his whole family was found dead while vacationing in Mexico. The only other family member still alive is Matt's older brother Danny, who is imprisoned after being charged with murder. As clues emerge, suspicions grow about the Pine family's deaths and questions are raised about Danny's murder charge.

There was a lot going on in this book. On one hand, that helped to keep the intrigue and suspense moving. But on the other hand, it just felt a bit messy by the end with a lot of different characters/plots brought together in this one story. I wasn't too sure what to think of it all by the end, but I did enjoy the journey!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a twisty fun ride of a book. Sure to please all psychological thriller and regular thriller fans!

Great thriller full of unexpected events after a late NYU party. This thriller will make the reader feel all the emotions! Awesome story told from multiple points of view and timelines.