Matt wakes up after a night of partying at NYU to the news his family, father, mother, younger sister and younger brother were all found dead during a Spring Break trip to Mexico. Only Matt and his older brother, serving time in prison for the murder of his girlfriend are still alive.
Matt is sent to Mexico by the FBI agent on the case to identify and claim the bodies of his family.
One thing after another goes wrong and Matt barely makes it back alive himself. The story is told from the memories of the family members, and seems to be pointing back to his older brother and his conviction and the reality show made about it. This gives you insight into everyone's thoughts and feelings and begins to point a finger at another suspect for the original murder.
This story races to the end leaving you sleepless while you try to figure out who killed whom. If you enjoy fast paced, action filled thrillers, this is the next book you should be reading.
Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and Alex Finlay for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Matt Pine is trying to live as a normal college student at NYU… until the police arrive with the shocking news that his parents and younger siblings were killed in Tulum, Mexico. Despite initial findings that a gas leak was the cause of death, Matt fears that this is somehow tied to his older brother – a killer convicted of murdering his high school girlfriend. To close his family’s affairs, Matt must go to Mexico then return home to their small town of Nebraska, with the media eagerly looking on. Though nothing adds up, Matt is sure of his brother’s guilt until the evidence of something sinister outside of his family grows too large to ignore.

This was really great! I loved the complexity and twists throughout. Matt and the lead detective narrate the present day portions of the book, while Matt’s desperate father, mother, and struggling sister narrate the flashbacks that lead up to their own deaths. I really liked these well-developed characters and could feel their pain – especially Pine family’s! I was totally hooked immediately and couldn’t put this one down. There is a lot happening in this one, and the ending got a BIT crazy, but I really enjoyed this and would recommend it.

This was definitely worth the wait! Alex Finlay wrote an amazing thriller about a family that gave me chills at different points in the story.

The Pine Family’s oldest son, 18 year old Danny, is convicted of murdering his girlfriend after a high school party. Years later, his family is still struggling with the conviction and trying to free their son and brother, including having the story become a public documentary. 7 years later, Matt Pine, an NYU student receives a call that his parents, 6 year old brother and sister are all found dead in Tulum, Mexico. Matt finds himself working with the FBI and State Department to discover what really happened to his family - while also trying to get to the bottom of his brother’s crime.

The story is told through multiple points of view - family members and a FBI agent, in the past and present. Alex Finlay does an INCREDIBLE job of linking the past and present to tell a creepy, page-turning thriller. I spent the book trying to guess what the ending would be - all while being surprised at the secrets and details exposed by the family along the way. The story is heartbreak, chilling and overall incredible!

Thank you Netgalley, Alex Finlay and St. Martin’s Press and Minatour Books for my advanced reader copy!

Matt Pine is an NYU student who gets the news that his family was found dead. His older brother Danny, has been in jail for years for the murder of his girlfriend when he was in high school. The Pines are famous for a documentary “A Violent Nature” which is all about how they believe Danny was wrongfully accused. Before his death, Matt’s dad Evan Pine, was obsessed with trying to figure out who really killed Danny’s girlfriend. Now that the rest of Matt’s family has been killed, it brings up the question, were their deaths and Danny’s case connected?

I really enjoyed the plot of this book, I was hooked right from the start and didn’t want to put it down! I found the story very compelling! I like books that are told from multiple perspectives and it goes back and forth between the past and the present.

Now for the sad part, this book had so much potential but was ruined when Alex Finlay used stereotypes to describe Mexicans, and it just wasn’t necessary nor did it add anything to the book.

Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
Pub Day: March 2, 2021

Holy moly! This debut novel by Alex Finlay is a psychological thriller you don’t want to miss! It’s perfect for readers that enjoy lots of surprises in their thrillers!

The story is told through alternating timelines and multiple POVs. It was a great way to tell the story and really allowed the reader to understand what was happening in the investigation and in the lives of the family before the murders. It was a lot of characters, and I was a bit worried as they started to be introduced that I would end up lost, but Finlay writes in a way that keeps everything organized and easy to follow!

It was definitely a story that was filled with twists, which is so important for a good thriller (in my opinion). I was furiously turning the pages to try and figure out what was going on, and every time I thought I knew, I was wrong! It made for a great story!

I was provided a gifted copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

(TW: sexual assault, pedophiles)

Matt Pine is a student at NYU. He’s playing chess outside when he hears the news: his entire family, save for his older brother, has died while on vacation in Mexico. It is first ruled as an accident…but was it really an accident? Or was it foul play? Could it have something to do with the father? Could it have something to do with the true crime documentary done of his older brother who is currently in prison? The story follows Matt and FBI agent Sarah Keller as they each try to find out what happened. It also uses flashbacks (and the eldest brother’s current point-of-view) to establish events.

A lot of this novel seems a tad…far-fetched, but I think that’s part of the fun of “regular” thrillers. It also tried to be part police procedural, which I liked. I would’ve liked more police procedural than Matt’s POV, but I did appreciate how Finlay showed the changing relationship between Matt and his hometown.

One thing I didn’t like about this book was that the writing felt really distant. I didn’t feel like I could connect with any of the present POVs at all; I connected more with the flashbacks and the brother’s POV. Also, side note: the documentary lady was awful (Finlay did a great job creating her personality).

I really wish I could give this book 3.5 stars. It was as psychologically thrilling as I wanted (my fault. This seems to be a common theme with me), but it kept me interested. If you like thrillers and/or true crime documentaries, you’ll probably like this novel.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I really and thoroughly enjoyed this book! Well written and there were a few twists I didn’t see coming.
I liked how the last and present came together seamlessly without having to “explain” at the end. The reader was able to catch everything as reading along.

Great character building. I was so sad about the family dying, but you get to know them because the book switched past to present with different points of view. All the characters were well written and were not flat.

What lengths would you go to to help your child? This book follows the Pine family, past and present, and the lengths a father will go to help his son who he believes has been wrongly convicted of murder.

I really enjoyed this book. The main characters were complex and likable, The plot was very interesting and moved along at a comfortable pace. I was not bothered by the back and forth between last and present or that it was told from multiple points of view, I enjoyed the way different characters held different pieces of the puzzle, and enjoyed trying to figure out if Danny was indeed guilty.

Looking forward to reading more by Alex Finlay.

Thank you to Alex Finlay, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press - Minotaur Books for the ARC.

A fantastic story. This nail biting thriller is told from the perspective of several characters. It goes back and forth between the past and the present which gives the reader a depth of perspective. It is an FBI procedural but it is also about the Pine family’s trauma and fight for justice. Matt is the one most affected and left behind to put the pieces of the puzzle together. He is the typical college student until his life gets ripped apart and it shows how his friends stand by him and never fail him. The ending will be a total shocker but also absolutely delightful.

Synopsis: Danny Pine is serving a life sentence for the murder of his teenage girlfriend, Charlotte. His family, except for his brother, Matt, believe strenuously in his innocence. A documentary on the murder brought to light issues with how the police interrogated Danny and although the Supreme Court has refused his appeal, work continues to try to overturn the conviction. Spring break arrives and the Pines head to Tulum, Mexico. Matt Pine is a NYU student and his spring break does not align with his siblings so he stays behind at school in New York. A few days later, the FBI contact Matt to advise him that his family have been found dead in their rental accommodation and while the Mexican authorities are claiming a gas leak as the cause, the FBI agent has doubts. Matt returns to his hometown in Nebraska to bury his family, along with the FBI agent in charge of the case and together they get to the truth of not only what happened to Matt’s family in Mexico but also the truth about Danny.

My thoughts: The story is told through the different character’s points of view and alternates between the past and the present day in a very effective manner. I wouldn’t call this book a thriller but it is definitely a suspense with lots of twists and turns. When I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about when I could get back to my book to continue with the story. If you are in the mood for a suspenseful read, I highly recommend this book. This is a debut novel for this author and I look forward to more books from him in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

✨ The Title/Cover Draw:
Originally this book was a pick for a book club but has since been removed for controversial reasons. However I did receive this from Netgalley and the premise sounded interesting.
💜 What I liked:
The story itself was very twisty. It is told in the POV of the past and present through many different members of the Pine family and FBI agent Keller. It grabs you from the beginning.
😱 What I didn’t like:
I did not appreciate the “stereotypical” description of hispanics. It was problematic especially since there weren’t any views that were positive at all. There isn’t diversity and it’s really negative in that way. Also the story gets really convoluted in the middle which caused me to stumble there.
💁‍♀️ The Characters:
The Pine family is Matt, Maggie, Tim, Danny and their parents. Also we see Charlotte who was killed in high school and Sarah Keller, the FBI agent. The story is told by Matt, Maggie, Matt’s dad, and Sarah.
🚦 The Ending:
I kinda started to see it coming but I felt like it was mostly plausible.
💭 Consider if:
You like complicated thrillers.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley.

With his older brother Danny sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend Charlotte, NYU film student Matt Pine was stunned when he received the news that the rest of the family had been killed while vacationing in Mexico. Agent Sarah Keller with the FBI had arranged for Matt to travel to Mexico to claim the bodies of his family, but Matt found several roadblocks in his path, placed there by the local police.

Evan Pine never believed that his son Danny was guilty, and he was determined to prove it, seemingly at any cost. A documentary about Danny’s case portrayed Evan as out of touch with reality, a man who had lost everything in the single-minded fight to prove Danny’s innocence, and the fallout from the movie forced the Pines out of their small Nebraska hometown to the relative anonymity of Chicago. After Evan loses his job, and is sent a short video of Charlotte in a bar in Tulum, Mexico, he decides to take the family there for vacation, confiding only in daughter Maggie, who had been accepted to MIT and was well versed in technology.

I found Every Last Fear fascinating, with undercurrents of unsavory activity buried beneath layers of respectability and shrouded in power. The Pine family was no match for the forces against them, but is everything that happened to them a direct result of Charlotte’s murder years earlier? Told through alternating viewpoints, this story has many unexpected twists that definitely held my attention and kept me guessing.

I am afraid I struggled with this book. I liked it in parts, but found all the toing and frowing from past to present with different characters hard to keep up with, and it spoiled the flow for me. This technique can work I am reading another book right now where this technique is working but for me it didn't here .I think the book had promise and I wouldn't write it off, I think, and hope other readers get into it more than I did. The story is good, and it is different which I liked but just didn't quite click with me.

Every Last Fear is a psychological thriller by Alex Finlay.    I felt it was a solid debut novel, an enjoyable read will lots of twists and turns.  It jumps back and forth in time but had a good flow which is not always the case in some books.  I enjoyed the way Matt’s friends were described as the “island of misfit toys.”  I would say most of us can identify a group of friends that would fit that description.  The characters were relatable and their interactions believable .  Overall, a very decent debut novel and definitely worth the read.

I have enjoyed psychological thrillers lately. Perhaps it is the way the author draws you in and keeps you on the edge of your seat as each new bit of information unfolds and sucks you further and further into the story. This book is no exception.

The story is told from multiple points of view and I think that made the story that much better because without the various perspectives we wouldn't have a full understanding of the big picture. Plus we would have been left wondering how did Matt's family die and why? But hearing from each character (outside of Tommy the youngest), pieces of the puzzle start falling into place but I still had no idea who was behind it all until the very end. There might be a few clues scattered throughout the book, but they were not obvious to me to put the pieces together.

The characters are very different and I really liked Matt's "misfit" gang of friends from his first semester in the dorms. This group really looks out for each other and their personalities all mesh well with each other. Ganesh is a true friend and it is quite humorous that he is the richest but cares the least about money and more about experiences.

Sarah Keller is a tough FBI agent but has a soft spot for her kids and her husband. Her husband is quite a hoot and it is obvious how much they adore each other. While a minor part of the story and rounds it out and reflects the outside life of the FBI agent. Sarah is smart and is able to obtain information from others without putting the case at risk.

The book has its moments that left me on edge and hoping that something bad wouldn't happen. I even felt some sympathy for Danny who was incarcerated for a crime that he may not have committed. But it takes the full book to find out the truth about what happened that night at the party.

Overall this is a very good book and if you are into psychological thrillers then you will like this one. We give it 5 paws up.

This book had me hooked pretty much from the beginning. I thought it was interesting that the main character was a 21 year old college student. The POV changing each chapter usually annoys me but I actually liked it in this book. I don't know if there was anything particularly new here, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Every Last Fear is a solid debut thriller!

“They found the bodies on a Tuesday.” I was hooked from the very first line. The story sunk its teeth into me and wouldn’t let go until I found out what happened to the Pine family.

The story is told from multiple perspectives and in two different timelines with some perspectives told in present day and some perspectives told from before most of the Pine family was murdered. This all took a little while to get used to since there were so many characters and so much going on, but I still felt addicted.

There were so many twists and leads that took the story in so many different directions that I could not even begin to figure out who committed both of the crimes and why. Honestly, I’m a little bit of a scaredy cat and this one definitely pushed the boundaries of what I can handle, but overall I still really enjoyed it!

I definitely recommend this one to crime thriller readers and true crime lovers! Every Last Fear publishes in the U.S. on 3/2.

4/5 stars!
Thank you so much to Minotaur Books and Netgalley for my gifted eARC!

Matt Pine returns to his dorm room to devastating news: nearly his entire family have been found dead from an apparent gas leak while vacationing in Mexico. The local police claim it was an accident, but the FBI seem less certain. This isn't the first time the Pine family has been in the media spotlight though. Matt’s older brother, Danny is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Charlotte, and was the subject of a viral true crime documentary.

I enjoyed this thriller and was hooked from the beginning. The story is told in alternating perspectives from the characters, and switched between the past and present day. This helped you piece together what each person was thinking and experiencing at the time, and I felt the tension and emotions with them.

You feel like you're right by Matthew's side as he handles his grief, navigating anger, sadness, and fear while trying to figure out what happened to his family. I also loved the strong ladies, Agent Sarah Keller with the FBI, and Matt's 17-year-old sister Maggie who focused her energy and intelligence on proving Danny's innocence. I do wish we got a bit more about and from Danny — I didn't have a strong connection to him so it was hard to feel sympathetic and want to exonerate him.

Other readers have pointed out the portrayal of the Mexican characters is problematic and the use of Mexico as a location is unnecessary to the story (it could have been set anywhere) and after reflecting on it, I agree. I read a review copy so some of this may have been modified in the final copy, but want to point it out before you choose to dive in or support the author.

If you like true crime podcasts or documentaries, this book was made for you. It’s a solid thriller that consistently builds suspense as you try and piece the puzzle together.

As a result of the oldest child's murder conviction and a subsequent popular documentary that questions his guilt, the Pine family is infamous. The deaths of his father, mother, sister, and little brother from an apparent gas leak thrust Matt Pine back into the spotlight and leave him with one remaining sibling who is in prison. Devastated by their deaths, Matt realizes that not everything is what appears when strange things start happening. Working the help of the FBI, the NYU film student must figure out what happened to his family. Are the two mysterious crimes related or just a bad coincidence?

I absolutely loved this thriller. It has a complex plot that captivated me from the first sentence to the last one. The story is fast-paced and full of secrets and twists. Plus, there is a significant focus on the interpersonal relationships among the various family members. Matt must deal with the traumatic events since his brother's arrest and mend his relationship with his only remaining sibling. Matt’s parents also must seek forgiveness from each other to repair their ravaged marriage.

There are two bada$$ women in Every Last Fear -- FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller and Maggie Pine. The two are the driving force behind solving the puzzle behind the two crimes. Both are unique, smart, independent, strong women.

The secondary characters in Every Last Fear shine! My favorites are Ganesh, Kala, and the rest of Matt's NYU crew; Reggie, the chess player from the park; and Bob, Sarah Keller's husband (I loved how he calls her G-woman!). Acting as a character, the true-crime documentary about Matt's older brother's murder case tells that story through interwoven excerpts.

If you are looking for a captivating page-turner, grab Every Last Fear! It's one of the best thrillers that I’ve read in a while and definitely a top 2021 read.

After a true crime documentary about the wrongful conviction of one of their family members puts a spotlight on them, the Pine family is again hit with another tragedy when all but two of the members die on a vacation.
The first thing I thought when I started this book is that I hoped they were not about to random twist me. While reading, I briefly worried that there would be a random twist, one of those plot changeups in books that I as a reader cannot track or expect. Never earned, but fans of the book will always be like how did you not see that coming? This happens more often than I would like when I’m reading thrillers. Fortunately for me, Every Last Fear did not fall into that category. There are plenty of surprises, but they all feel entrenched in the book’s world.
The main characters, from the Pine Family to Agent Kellerman, are not overly analytical in that way that doesn’t feel like an authentic person. I enjoyed the parallels between the Pine daughter/sister Maggie and Agent Kellerman, as I felt they were both great at pursuing new leads without feeling like they were holding our hands through it. The book also dealt with the public consumption of tragedy as entertainment, and the cost of that on people who are inside of the tragedy versus just watching it. I would have liked to see more connections to the documentary, but that is likely just me being true crime obsessed.
Overall, it’s a great thriller with interesting family dynamics, an FBI agent I did not hate on sight, and a mystery that could be solved with the clues within the pages. A fun thriller for a not-so-fun time of year.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC!