Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This novel follows the Pine family who all but 2 members, end up murdered. Matt is the lone free son while Danny his brother, is in prison for being sentenced for murdering his girlfriend and becoming the center of a documentary based on the case.

The Pine 4 go away on a trip to Mexico, where the housekeeper finds them dead. At first glance it looks to be carbon monoxide poisoning, but upon further investigation, it's ruled a murder.

When Matt returns home to his quiet town to bury his mom, dad, little sister and brother, he is bombarded by the community based on the documentary. Matt must figure out what actually happened to his family. Is there more than meets the eye?

Told from all family perspectives in the present and the past, this was a suspenseful read!

I had the opportunity to read the initial chapters of Alex Finlay’s EVERY LAST FEAR on Bookish First and was immediately intrigued. I wasn’t lucky enough to win their raffle, so I was thrilled to receive an ARC from the publishers!

EVERY LAST FEAR begins with the discovery of a family dead in Mexico. The parents, their teenage daughter and young son are found in their vacation rental, apparently victims of a gas leak. This isn’t just any family, though. Their oldest son Danny is in prison for murdering his girlfriend and they’ve been the subject of a Netflix documentary and a lot of news coverage, so their deaths are bound to make headlines. Their other son Matt is a student at NYU struggling to distance himself from the family drama in their past when he gets the news of his family’s latest tragedy.

Matt has always believed in his brother’s guilt but it is up to him to visit his brother and deliver the bad news about their family. When the officials in Mexico prove difficult in providing information on the case and releasing the bodies, it is Matt who must go to Mexico to intervene. For a supposed accident, things just aren’t adding up. Questions are raised in both the present case and in Danny’s.

This book had me hooked from the very beginning and it kept up the pace throughout. We get multiple POVs including Matt, the agent working with him, his family members in flashbacks to the time before their deaths and snippets of the Netflix documentary. It was a big heartbreaking hearing from the family, knowing what was coming for them, but it added a great deal of suspense and information to the story. I especially loved Matt’s sister Maggie and her passion for her brother’s defense.

I would highly recommend this one to the thriller fans. This was a fantastic read and I look forward to seeing what Alex Finlay comes up with next!

A fun race from NYC, to Mexico, to the mid West that kept me turning pages, finding unexpected heart felt memories, and a ton of AH HA moments that had me playing detective.

Talk about POV whiplash, this one may spin you round in circles keeping track of the intricacies revolving around the mysterious death of the Pine family. However, Finlay does it in a way that makes sense and ensures most everything, even the details that might have gotten lost, is circled back to and closed up.

At one point, due to twists and turns, I didn’t know if everyone was just going to blow away in a tornado, but that would have been an awful ending, and Finlay wouldn’t do that to us.

Even if you’re not a fan of multiple POVs, with the added dash of police procedural, thriller case, and righting the wrongfully accused; anyone is sure to enjoy.

This book starts off at a brisk pace and never lets up. The bodies of an American family are found dead in a holiday rental house in Mexico. The family is already well known to the public, as the oldest son was found guilty of murdering his high school girlfriend and is in prison. In a homage to The Making of a Murderer, there’s been a recent Netflix documentary proclaiming the son’s innocence. Matt, the other living son was in college and unable to join them. It falls to him to try and discover whether the family was murdered or died accidently. An FBI agent also has her suspicions and investigated their deaths.
Told both in the present day from a variety of characters and from the past from the dead father, mother and daughter’s POV. This lends the story a sense of poignancy, since we know their fate. All the characters are fully fleshed out. I loved Agent Keller - finally a dedicated, smart, but normal “detective”. And special kudos to Finlay for including all the secondary characters that remind us how important love and friendship are - the Misfit Toys, Keller’s husband.
This doesn’t read like a debut thriller. It’s very well thought out. The big twist was somewhat expected, but done well. Finlay employed a few red herrings, but each worked well in the context of the story.
My thanks to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley

When New York University film student Matt Pine receives the catastrophic news that almost everyone in his family . . . mom Olivia, dad Evan, sister Maggie, brother Tommy . . . died in their vacation rental in Mexico, he has trouble believing the local police with their claim of a gas leak as the cause of the tragedy. He soon learns that the FBI and the State Department also share his doubts about the deaths being accidental, but they refuse to discuss their reasons with him.

The story of the tragedy creates an unwelcome media sensation: Matt’s older brother, Danny, is in a maximum-security prison, convicted of murdering his high school girlfriend, Charlotte, some seven years earlier. A murder his parents and sister remain convinced he didn’t commit. And since the day of Danny’s arrest, they’ve tirelessly devoted their lives and finances to following every little clue and any slight lead, all in an effort to prove his innocence.

Now faced with suspicions about the deaths in Mexico, Matt sets out to find the answers . . . and, in the process, puts his own life in jeopardy.

Told from multiple perspectives, the intriguing narrative switches between past and present to provide the necessary backstory for the Pine family. Interspersed with the telling of the tale is a plot device in the form of snippets of scenes from a Netflix true-crime documentary film that proclaimed Danny’s innocence and didn’t show the town of Adair in the best light [painting them with heartless disrepute, so much so that ultimately the Pines had to move away]. The characters are realistic; the story one of familial loyalty, dogged determination, and crushing heartbreak. The plot twists and turns, revealing unexpected truths and casting a light on the high cost of lies.

Compulsive, riveting, compelling . . . this is a story that is intense, and, at the same time, inspiring in its strong friendships and its unyielding resolution to ferret out the truth. “They found the bodies on a Tuesday” and, from that moment on [to quote both the playwright and the detective], “The game is afoot.”

Suspenseful and tension-filled, readers will find this unputdownable tale of tragedy and redemption stays with them long after they’ve turned the final page. Don’t miss this one.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books and NetGalley
#EveryLastFear #NetGalley

Brief Synopsis : We follow different Matt Pine and his family and specifically his older brother who is incarcerated after murdering his girlfriend.

I really wanted to love this book. This book was hyped up as one of the top thrillers to read this year. Unfortunately, I did not love it. I felt like this book was trying to do so much and in the end didn't do anything... I felt no connection with any of the characters nor the plot. There was just so many elements the author threw in for example the book has :documentary excerpts, different POV's from too many family members, bouncing from the future to the past and to add in another layer a POV from the FBI agent investigating the murder. It all felt so disjointed. None of the characters were properly fleshed out. I came to a point in the book where i didn't care to find out what happened. Also.. there is a portion of this book that takes place in Mexico ( as a woman of Mexican descent, I didn't appreciate how the author described Mexico or the people, it was off putting) Also..the ending was very cliche . I'm finding little things to say that are positive about this book. Unfortunately, this was a miss for me, just too many plot points, it was just too over the place. There was potiential...it just was not executed well.
2.75 Stars

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur books for an advanced readers copy in exchange for my review.

This was a well written, fast paced book with more depth than your typical thriller. I'll be looking forward to reading more by this author!

I thought this was kind of over-hyped by other reviewers. It's a solid mystery, well-crafted and fast-paced, but I didn't find it particularly thrilling or twisty. Enjoyable, pretty fun, but not mind-blowing in the way many are describing it.

Danny Pine is spending life in prison for murdering his girlfriend seven years ago, but his family is desperate to prove that he’s innocent. And since a popular true crime documentary shed doubt on Danny’s case, most of the country believes Danny was wrongfully convicted. Expect for his brother, Matt, who thinks Danny may actually have committed the crime. Everything changes when the rest of the Pine family turns up dead on their vacation to Mexico. Matt, along with FBI agent Sarah Keller, are left to determine why the Pines really went to Mexico and if there’s a chance that Danny is, in fact, innocent. Every Last Fear is chock-full of twists and turns, almost every chapter ending on a cliffhanger. I was intrigued from the started and wanted to reach the conclusion more and more. However, I think Finlay’s writing overall is a bit weak. There’s little to no character development and at times the characters’ actions made no sense to me (why would the FBI send a 21-year-old to Mexico alone to deal with the Mexican police?). So the plot was engaging, but the other elements of the book were lacking for me.

I highly recommend this gripping book. It begins when a college student is notified that his family was found dead in Mexico. His brother is in prison for a murder his family didn't believe he committed. The unraveling of the various twists kept me reading. Every Last Fear is an action packed plot with engaging characters and a surprise ending.

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

A family hit with tragedy; a young son, Danny, imprisoned for many years for a murder he claims he didn't commit. A family devastated and the father devoting his life to finding out answers for he knows his son is innocent. Many parents might think their child incapable of an appalling crime as in this case, the young pregnant girl's face was smashed in and she was found in a horrific state.

The mother wounded by the hateful looks, telephone messages, and social media, that has torn not only her son apart but the family as well.

Maggie, a daughter, a high school senior on the road to much success, but harmed by the innuendo and hatred that has been directed to her family.

A young son, Tommy, caught up in the devastation of a broken-hearted family that longs for all their children to be safe and happy.

Now, there is a crime documentary that has stirred up questions giving the family hope, but is it a false hope? Can it be that what the family wants so desperately might be within their grasp?

Another son, Matt, a college student at NYU, has a dark secret, one that he just can't share with his family as close as they try to be. Then devastating news hits, and the family that was in turmoil turn up dead of a supposed gas leak, Mother, Father, Sister, and Brother gone on vacation in Mexico have perished in what seems to be a tragic accident. Nonetheless, finding out the reason for their trip to Mexico looks to be one of tracking down another possible clue to the killing of Charlotte. Poor Matt sees a world where most of his family are gone, a world where fate has played an awful game. Of course, the media and the community are frenetic, making Matt's return to bury his family a circus, rabid groups looking for a story and gossip.

There is much afoot in this well-done suspense story that contains some twists that will surprise the reader as well, as the various forces of evil and duplicitousness that like a bike heading downhill picks up speed and debris along the way. The story is told in alternating points of view as well as flipping back between the present and the past. It's a sad tale about the destruction of a family and their belief that their oldest son is not guilty.

Will Matt survive the onslaught and will Danny be ultimately proven to be innocent is the focus in the page turning book by Alex Findlay due out March 2, 2021. Definitely a book recommended by this reader!

"In one of the year’s most anticipated debut psychological thrillers, a family made infamous by a true crime documentary is found dead, leaving their surviving son to uncover the truth about their final days."

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Pubishing for the advanced copy of this book!

For some reason I just couldn't get into this book. Writing was a bit sophomoric and it did not hook me at all. Maybe I'll come back to it at some point but if the writing, characters and story don't hook me into first chapter, it's not worth reading.

3 stars--I liked the book.

If you like suspense novels, give this one a shot--it's confidently plotted and quickly paced. I raced through it. I enjoyed the documentary filmmakers as a plot device, and found the main characters likeable (especially the FBI agent).

The only thing keeping this from a 4 star rating is I found it sad--the family is killed before the novel begins (this isn't a spoiler since it's on the back of the book), and going back to get to know them and what happened made this fate even sadder.

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

Although thrillers aren’t my go-to books, I crave a change of pace now and then, and Alex Finlay’s Every Last Fear grabbed my attention from the opening sentence. For the last third, I couldn’t set it down.

“They found the bodies on a Tuesday. Two days after the family had missed their flight home. Six days after all texts and social media had gone dark,” the opening lines of the brief Prologue announce. Evan and Olivia Pine, their high school daughter Maggie, and six-year-old son have died during a spring break trip to Tulum on Mexico’s Caribbean coast. Mexican officials have declared their deaths a freak accident attributed to a gas leak in their vacation rental property.

Seven years earlier, the Pines’ oldest son Danny, a star high-school athlete, had been convicted of bashing in his girlfriend Charlotte’s head and leaving her body in a Nebraska creek bed following a party. The case captured the attention of two film-makers, a married couple, who interviewed members of the Pine family and the Nebraska community, before launching the Internet documentary further turning the town against the Pines and causing them to flee the state. Now four of the Pines are dead, and the film-makers have a new theory and a new film to shoot.

Of the immediate Pine family, only Matt Pine, a New York University film student, remains both alive and free, and Matt must travel alone to claim his parents’ and sibling’s bodies that the local Tulum police have refused to release.

Evan, Liv, and daughter Maggie Pine may be dead, but they are far from silent. Author Alex Finlay writes chapters from their points of view before their deaths, some chapters telling their stories in Mexico, some dating back many years. He writes other chapters from Matt’s point of view and Sarah Keller’s, an FBI agent. Interspersed with these alternating chapters are excerpts from the investigative film script inspired by Charlotte’s brutal murder seven year’s earlier.

Add in an assortment of minor characters, Liv’s sister and senile father who have always remained in Nebraska, high school friends from the Nebraska years, Matt’s NYU friends, who come to his aid when he least expects it, and more. Moving through time and between New York, Mexico, and Nebraska, author Alex Finlay has written an engrossing, multi-layered story that captures attention and engages the mind, eventually coming together in a satisfying ending.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Alex Finley for the advance reader copy. If more thrillers were like Every Last Fear, I’d be a much bigger fan of thrillers.

Wow, I really loved this one. The plot was well developed and kept me guessing until the end. Overall I would highly recommend this book to anyone that loves thrillers! 4.5/5 stars for me!

Thank you @minotaurbooks and @netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.
Mind blown! I want everyone to stop what they’re doing and pre-order this book!
Matt Pine’s parents and younger siblings have been found dead in their vacation rental in Mexico. All he has left is his older brother, Danny, who is currently serving a life sentence for murder. With the exception of Matt, the Pine family were convinced of Danny’s innocence - in particular, his father and younger sister who were always looking for a way to exonerate him. What initially seems to be a tragic accident, very quickly begins to appear more sinister, and it is up to Matt and Special agent Sarah Keller to discover the truth.
Wow, what a trip! From the very first sentence ‘They found the bodies on a Tuesday’ I was absolutely invested. I was kept guessing all the way through and did not even begin to figure it out until almost the end. This was also an emotional rollercoaster, even though I knew his family died, reading events from their perspective in the days leading up to their deaths was heart breaking. If you like thrillers that keep you on the edge of your seat, guessing all the way through, then this is for you!

4.83 stars

Thank you, St. Martin's Press, Alex Finlay and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of “Every Last Fear” in exchange for an honest review.

Every Fear grips you from the first page and never loses your interest.

This story is told in multiple points of view from both the present and the past. My new favourite thing to find in books is mixed media, so I was happily surprised to see that excerpts from a Netflix documentary (made up for this book) was included. Foreshadowing? Hope so! But the transcript was easy to follow and dynamic - I could hear the cuts and envision the episode.

The Pines have had quite the ride! For a seemingly normal suburban family, their lives were tainted by quite a few tragedies - The first of which was the arrest and conviction of their eldest son, Danny, who even though he claims his innocence, is in jail for the murder of his girlfriend.

Danny’s story was turned into a Netflix documentary that argued his innocence, but consequently brought infamous notoriety to the rest of the family who couldn’t escape the past and had their lives negatively affected by their association with the case.

Fast forward to the present. Matt, the second oldest of the Pine children, is now a NYU student and luck was on his side as due to conflict in March Break schedules, was unable to go to a Mexican family vacation with his parents and two younger siblings. Wait a second - why is he lucky when he didn’t get to go to paradise and live on coconut water, sand, sun and waves for a week? Well, tragedy never strikes once - his whole family was found dead at their rented villa. It looked like an accident, but was it? Why is the FBI involved and why does Matt have to go in person to sign a release form for the bodies at the request of Mexican authorities? Well, that’s where the book basically starts, and we go around this fast-paced crazy ride. Grab your snacks, take the day off, avoid responsibilities as I’m warning you, this book will beg you to be read in one setting.

I do not want to spoil this book, but I can tell you that Finlay takes us to wonderful places, remains consistent in his plot and executes everything superbly. All his twists and reveals are pertinent and exciting. I also have to say that I honestly grew so attached to the Pines, I mourned their deaths. Maggie is such an amazing character I wouldn’t mind it if Finlay recreated a character with her traits in his future books!

This book release date is March, and if you like well written unputdownable thrillers, with great characters, perfect execution and consistent plot, this one is for you.

#EveryLastFear #NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

You don't read this book for its investigation into the human soul. You read it because the plot is tight and the mystery swells. It's hard, I would imagine, to think of an original thriller plot in 2021. So much has already been written, so many trope wells nearly run dry.

Finlay does a good job mixing the familiar and the unfamiliar. A true crime documentary that is being revisited? Most of the family dead in Mexico several years later, the connection unclear? The last remaining survivor still convinced of his brother's guilt in the original crime? These are excellent ingredients, which means it is hard to mess up the recipe too much.

While there is a large cast of characters, they are flat, a few attributes sprinkled upon each to let us know how they will act throughout. The jokes are corny and the cliches predictable. We have little concern about logistics or how the FBI might actually operate. This is fine, since we didn't come here to read the FBI field guide, but a little more detailed research would have been appreciated.

There are moments of emotional vulnerability throughout, but nothing that will make you reach for a Kleenex. Some of the more sentimental lines are so maudlin that Hallmark would blush.

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this book was so well paced. there was never a moment i was bored. i loved that it was exactly like reading a true crime case and i really wish there were more books like this. it reminded me what it was like watching the ID channel with my grandma. this book has multiple perspectives and i really don’t mind it but i liked it in this book. everyone’s pov was important and i also liked that we got to see what actually happened to the family from their pov. i didn’t think i cared about the plot twist but the more things were exposed the more my mind was blown. i hope to read more books by this author in the future.