5 Stars!

Wow!!! What a wild ride! I picked this one up and could not put it down! So many twists and turns that were seamlessly interwoven.

Make sure you run out and buy this book and to clear your calendar, you will not want to put it down.

Matt Pine is a film student at NYU. His brother is an accused murderer spending life in jail. There's a Netflix documentary that details the murder and the trial. Matt's family journeyed to Mexico on a last minute vacation and wind up dead. Foul play is suspected. Why did they take a last minute trip to Mexico? Who would want to kill the Pines? So many burning questions that you will want answers to.

A special thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Alex Finlay for providing me with an ARC.

THIS is what I look for in a thriller! It’s been a while since I had a heart-racing, stay-up-too-late, can’t-put-it-down read but Every Last Fear did it!!

From the very first line “They found the bodies on a Tuesday”, I was drawn in. In the prologue we learn about a family that died on vacation in what seems like an awful accident. But was it an accident?

The Pines were well known from a documentary about their oldest son Danny who is in prison for murdering his girlfriend 7 years ago. Many people believe in his innocence after seeing the documentary and Danny’s family has never given up on trying to get him released.

I was on the edge of my seat through this whole book and loved the way the story was revealed in alternating timelines. Highly recommend! Thank you to Minotaur and Netgalley for the free advanced reading copy.

Every Last Fear was great! With the quickly-paced plot and rapid story you will not be able to put this book down. I read it all in almost one sitting. This will definitely be a hit once it goes on the shelves. 4.5 stars.

Four people are found dead in a vacation home in Mexico, leaving only NYU student, Matt, and convicted murderer, Danny, as the surviving members of the Pine family. Danny was the subject of a documentary series investigating if he was wrongfully convicted of killing his girlfriend in high school. Matt returns to his hometown in Nebraska for the funeral and is faced with hostility from the townspeople who were villainized by the docu-series as well as a fresh round of media. As the deaths in Mexico start looking less and less like an accident, Matt must unearth the truth about what happened with Danny years ago and how it could be connected to the current deaths.

The first thing I want to address is the language used in this book when describing Mexico/Mexican people. I did read an ARC so there's a chance that somethings may change in the finished copy but in the copy I read, I found the language negative, condescending, and judgemental. The town is Tulum, Mexico and is first described as a destination for celebrities because it isn't as crowded as the usual tourist spots. That description lead me to expect that when our protagonist, Matt, goes to Tulum that the beauty of the area would be in direct contrast with his grief. However, the descriptions that Matt gives to the reader are very negative to the point where I didn't understand how celebrities would be going to this place and the different images the book was giving the reader about Tulum didn't really make sense to me. Again, I was expecting Matt to not like it there because of the reason for his visit, but I didn't expect so many descriptions about how run down and corrupt everything was. As a white reader, these descriptions made me take pause so I went on Instagram and did find a few accounts from readers of color who did explicitly call out the language in these scenes as problematic and offensive. There's a chance that these descriptions could be changed in the final copy of the book, but I wanted to point it out now so readers are aware.

This book had a lot of potential to be a new favorite but there were a few pieces that fell flat for me and overall this ended up just being an okay read. My main issue is that this book is being marketed as a psychological thriller but I found it to be a pretty even 50% detective 50% domestic thriller. I kept hoping the narrative would take a twist to being more psychological but it never did. I think it did a good job at being a detective/domestic thriller but I was overall disappointed that this wasn't the type of story I was expecting. When I see a book being marketed as a psychological thriller, I'm expecting some sort of cat and mouse or some other sort of mind games to come into play. I'm expecting the big bad to be directly influencing the protagonist and making them question what they think is the truth. I found this to be a lot more straightforward physical thriller where the main character is put in some dangerous situations they have to survive. The only psychological danger Matt was in was dealing with his grief over losing his family (which I didn't feel as strongly as I think the story wanted me to). He didn't even seem that invested in independently figuring out what happened to them - it seemed to me he was fine letting the police and FBI do the investigating. The psychological aspect came in more with the flashbacks to the family before they died but it was such a small part of the story that I wouldn't use it as the main selling point of the plot.

This story was told in multi-POVs and dual timelines which I usually am a sucker for. In this case, however, I didn't absolutely love it. There were a number of chapters that just felt like filler. It wasn't as if a whole POV was unnecessary, but just the occasional chapter here and there that I didn't think was necessary. I can stand back and look at the chapters from a structural or plot standpoint and say "that chapter established X relationship" or "that chapter showed how Y changed" so I think all the chapters were technically needed for the plot, but I sure didn't care when I was reading some of them. There were a number of subplots that I really didn't care about but I knew that if they were in the book then they must be important to the ending so I had to read them. I think the best multi-POV stories are the ones where all the POVs are entertaining to the reader so even when the POV changes, the reader shouldn't ever feel disappointed. I thought the dual timeline was very well done and it was really interesting for the reader to know one thing from timeline A but then see the characters find out about it in timeline B a few chapters down the line. I also think showing the lead up of the family before they died made their on-page deaths really emotional because we've gotten to know them over the past 300 pages and we're hoping for a different outcome even though we know exactly how this is going to end.

Detective thrillers are one of my favorite types and I think the FBI investigation portions of this book were really well done. Looking back, I would have preferred if this same plot was handled as a pure detective story since I didn't really enjoy the domestic side of the story as much with Matt grieving and going back to his hometown. My favorite character was FBI Agent Keller and I would read more books following her specifically. I found her to have the most well-rounded characterization in the book. Everyone else I felt like we know one or two main aspects of their personality and that's it. For example, we know Matt likes movies. He's going to NYU to study film and he is constantly making movie references and his friends make comments about how he is constantly making movie references. And since Matt seemed to be content at letting Agent Kelley do her job, I didn't really feel a need to follow him around at all. There were a few thrilling scenes in Matt's chapters, but they were the minority and when I think back over the story as a whole, those scenes don't stick out in my mind.

This story did finish really strongly which I think is one of the most important parts of any thriller. The last 20% or so was really great and when the puzzle pieces started falling into place, I couldn't read fast enough to figure out all the different connections. From a plot perspective, the big reveals were pretty standard for a domestic thriller but it was still a satisfying conclusion. The ending was a little bittersweet for reasons I can't go into because of spoilers but the chapters in this last section were very short and we were jumping in between POVs very quickly which really ramped up the tension as well. There were two sort of epilogues at the very end after a time jump so we do see all the plot strings tied up by the end which is always satisfying.

I really liked how the docu-series was integrated into the story. There would be some chapters where we would read the script from a scene from the documentary. We also got different character's perspectives on the documentary and it was interesting to see the after effects especially since true-crime documentaries/podcasts/etc are very popular. The documentary scenes served as nice little breaks in the narrative so I could get a moment before jumping back into the investigation. I think it was also interesting since the documentary filmmakers also showed up in the current investigation so seeing how people reacted to them now vs how they reacted in the initial filming was cool.

Overall, this story had a lot of interesting aspects that in the end just fell a bit flat for me. It was an interesting journey to find out how everything is connected and while the ending was solid, the journey getting there wasn't as interesting as I would have hoped. This is a solid debut that had some really strong elements and I'll be interested to see what Finlay writes in the future.

368 pages

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC.

Expected publication date: March 2, 2021.

Review will be posted on my blog February 12. I'll update with the direct link at that time.

This book started off really strong and sucked you right in with various twists and turns. There were a lot of characters, points of views and multiple time lines to keep track of though and that got confusing at times.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Matt Pine lost most of his family in a freak way in Mexico, and he has a brother in prison. The story starts with a lot going on and unfortunately for me, this one was not a good read.

The story was not written as clearly as I would have liked. Some chapters were labeled with the character whose perspective was in it, some were not. It wasn’t always clear what the timeline was. I think it may be in need of some editing in that respect.

There were also a ton of characters and they were not all clearly explained until the end, some not even then. I just trudged through this and really skimmed at the end. Did not care.

3.5 stars. This book sucks you in right from the beginning and there are tons of small reveals throughout. It’s fast paced, dark and stressful (maybe too stressful for me at times), and keeps you guessing until the very end. I thought I figured out who did it, but didn’t - love when an ending surprises me! While the plotting was pretty good, the writing itself was lacking. Not that I expect a thriller to be written beautifully, but the writing was noticeably bad, with lots of stereotype filler characters. I’ve particularly seen some complaints about the part of the book that takes place in Mexico and the stereotypes used to describe the country and people. Finally, this book had a few too many narrators for me. I think I would have preferred if this book was just narrated by Matt and Agent Keller as they uncovered the secrets rather than us being blatantly told them through backstory. Overall, if you’re a true crime fan and like a fast paced thriller with lots of twists, you’ll probably like this one!

Every Last Fear started off with a bang and had the potential” of being a killer thriller (no pun intended). Within the first 5 pages of the book we’re told that Matt’s entire family is dead and his life gets flipped upside down. Now, it’s up to Matt, a film student at NYU to pick up the pieces.....literally. Matt’s older brother Danny had been in prison forever after a murder conviction. His father and sister have been trying to clear his name, but to no avail. Is he innocent? Is the case related to his family’s death? All of these questions, and more, need to be answered. While we got most of the answers by the end of the book, there was A LOT going on. A lot of characters, a lot of story lines, a lot of points of view, just A LOT. It got to a point where it was very confusing and because of that, I lost interest. I was interested enough to know what happened but I think it could have been executed much better.

Even though my Spidey sense kicked in early on with a suspicion of how it would turn out (and I was right), this action-packed book was a real treat. By the halfway point, I started to plow through it like a crazy woman, stopping only after my usual bedtime when I couldn't keep my eyes open a minute longer.

At first, I was a bit skeptical; this is one of those books in which chapters switch both from individual characters' perspectives and chronology - a trend that seems to be a favorite of mystery-thriller authors these days, but in general not by me. This one, though, is especially well done, with each chapter building on background that led up to the death of an entire family - father, mother and two children - in Mexico. At first, it's thought to be an accident caused by a gas leak; but when the FBI gets involved, thoughts turn to suspicions of murder.

Two members of that family remain alive: Matt Pine, a filmmaking student at New York University, and his older brother Danny, who's been in jail ever since he was convicted of murdering his teenage girlfriend Charlotte. After a team of producers released a video reminiscent of "Proven Innocent" in which Matt's father goes off on a rant about his son's innocence, the townsfolk shunned the entire family and forced them to move from the small Nebraska town to Chicago.

Meanwhile, the FBI - in the person of agent Sarah Keller - has been investigating the Chicago accounting firm for its possible ties to a Mexican cartel. As it turns out, Matt's father Evan worked there as an accountant. There's no discernible connection to the family's deaths, but needless to say, it raises a few suspicions in Sarah's mind as she tries to collect enough evidence to successfully prosecute bigwigs at the accounting firm.

And that, friends, is all I'm going to tell you - except that this is an intricately woven story that's a delight to read. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to get an up-close-and-personal look prior to release.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and author.
What a ride this was, I was hooked from the very beginning.
I loved the Pine family and it was heartwarming how the family stuck together throughout this novel. The strength of a family thru think and thin. Full of twists and turns.
Loved the characters, well written.
Highly recommended.

O M G
every last fear is a magnificent, scrumptious and terrifying story.

this is definitely one of my favourite thrillers that I've ever read. when I tell you that I was AFRAID to go to bed. i hid under the covers for nearly an hour from who knows what.
On another note, this book is SO well-written, the characters were multi-dimensional and of course the plot, WOW! I didn't see that ending coming at all, but the twists and turns throughout the story didn't even let me breathe.

overall, this book is a must-read for thriller and mystery lovers, and I cannot wait to read more by this author in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I do not regularly read thrillers, but after reading the description of Every Last Fear, I was intrigued. Matt Pine has lost everything. His brother is incarcerated for a crime many believe he didn't commit. While he's away at NYU, his entire family dies in Mexico in an apparent gas leak. Conspiracy theories quickly emerge, trying to link his brother's closed case to the murders. Matt is caught in the middle, trying the put the pieces together, along with the help of the FBI. Burying his family brings back memories, but also dredges out a media frenzy surrounding the cases. Will Matt be able to put together the pieces and solve the mystery of both his family's murder and his brother's supposed crime?

Every Last Fear is told through multiple points of view, as well as jumping back and forth between the past and the present. The first half of the book took awhile to digest. There are a lot of characters (many that were completely unnecessary once you get to the end) and the switches of POV/time had me going back to reread certain parts to keep the plot line straight. Once the pieces started falling into place around the 60% mark, the book moved quickly. I was definitely entertained by the book and enjoyed the multiple twists trying to figure out "who done it." Every Last Fear keeps you guessing until the very last page. Once I understood what was happening, I enjoyed seeing the past told through Matt's deceased family members' eyes and the present through Matt and FBI agent Sarah Keller.

This is not a book that I would gravitate toward normally, but I was appreciative of the advanced copy to try something new. If you like thrillers, you should definitely check this one out! It's a quick read and definitely entertaining.

Every Last Fear follows a classic mystery/thriller format. For that reason, it's easily digestible, quickly read and fairly captivating all the way through. However, I couldn't give it over 3 stars because I did not feel that it was really anything special - it is a good book, yes, but I wouldn't go out of my way to tell people that it's a must-read. It's my understanding that this is either a debut or an experienced author that's writing under a different name, since Alex Finlay is a pseudonym. Either way, it's clear Finlay is a good writer, and I would probably read other books by them in the future as filler books when I don't want to read anything too complicated.

Thanks to NetGalley, Alex Finlay and St. Martin's Press for allowing me an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

5 Every Worst Nightmare Stars
* * * * * Spoiler Free-A Quick Review
When I say Spoiler Free, I really try to do that with my reviews. To give you an understanding of how great this was, I pulled another silly Wendy, meaning I started this at 11PM and could stop reading until 4AM. Ridiculous, I know.

When you come across a book so well done like this, it would be a crime to give you any hints about it...it is that great. I went into this with only the blurb and it was enough.

I was very moved by this tale, there were moments that hit me in the heart, making my eyes leak.

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
Oh My God! This story had me from the very beginning. The mystery slowly unraveled and I questioned everything until the very end. This reminded me of "Making a Murderer" on Netflix and I could easily see some similarities.

This book was a solid suspense. I’ll be honest, I guessed the who and why by about halfway through the book, but I wanted to know how they would catch the person. I really like the multiple POVs, I liked the before and after, and I liked that we got the family perspective as well. I felt there were a few loose ends not tied up in regards to the family autopsy and the company racketeering, but overall, a great suspense/mystery for a quick weekend read.

Thank you to Alex Finlay, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this with me in exchange for my honest review.

This book started a bit too slow for me and it was difficult trying to follow the different POVs written at different times. But once I got halfway through, it started to pick up. I felt accomplished when I was actually able to put the bits and pieces together... yet, I still didn’t figure out the ending (loved that!).

I definitely enjoyed the twists and turns that were thrown in there. I just wish it came much earlier in the book. At times, I also found myself starting to get attached to the characters, but never really there. I wanted more from the relationships.

I still finished it in less than 24 hours nonetheless. So if you enjoy thriller, I recommend this one!

Having read my fair share of books in the genre of thrillers, I was pleasantly surprised by how Alex Finlay was able to stump me while reading this book.

We started off learning about Matt Pine and his family. Matt is a student at NYU Film School on scholarship who learns his whole family except for his brother Danny (who is incarcerated for murdering his high school girlfriend) were killed in Mexico while on family vacation. The FBI gets involved because of their popularity trying to pardon their son by being part of a documentary to help (think Making a Murderer on Netflix...)and the fathers career in a investment bank that is being investigated for fraud. Matt and the FBI try to figure out if his family's murder was because of either the oldest son's alleged crime or the fathers old job.

The story goes back before the murders with different family members and in the present as Matt and FBI Special Agent Keller as to who killed the family and why. I did not see that twist on who the killer was until the very end.

I found the different narrations with the different characters refreshing. Having multiple family members POV made this book more interesting because we didn't just see what one person went through. We saw them all in a new light. We saw the mom Oliva's problems, the dad Evan's problems, the sister Margaret's problems, Matt's problems and even Danny in jail and his problems and downfall as to what actually happened the night his girlfriend died.

All in all, I definitely will recommend this book to my friends and family as to a good thriller of 2021 and I look forward to more of what this author writes.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGallery for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of thrillers that keep me glued to the pages with plots that twist this way and that. While this book fit in that category, I figured out who was behind all the killing before the person's name was revealed. I did, however, feel at one point my conclusion was about to be abruptly proven wrong, only to have another plot twist revealed and yes, I was right after all.

Most of the characters aren’t portrayed with any kind of depth; I got a general feel for them, but nothing substantial. I think a bit more characterization would have been nice. And the ending wasn’t neatly wrapped up, there was an unanswered question about one of the characters survival but overall, it was a good book.


There is a cursing throughout—which I really don’t care for. Overall, four stars.

I like how this book felt like part YA and part thriller. It was, ultimately, a murder mystery but with some twists along the way.

The Pine family really has gone through some major life-changing situations (their son was convicted for killing his girlfriend many years before)- and then they are found dead on vacation in Mexico. It’s up to the one remaining (alive and free) family member, Matt Pine, to try and figure out what happened - and why. Luckily, he has some really good friends and a badass FBI agent on his side to help him through.

I figured this one out as soon as the killer was introduced - it was really that easy for me to figure it out. I am really good at guessing, but in my mind, there was no other suspect. I didn’t waver once from my suspicion.

That didn’t make it less enjoyable, but it wasn’t very suspenseful because of it. I still really liked the story and especially enjoyed the before and after perspectives of several characters as well as snippets from the documentary about the murder and the Pine family.