This book had me hooked from the get go. I am really enjoying a lot of new thrillers that take into account new technology and the way people access true crime now, through podcasts and documentaries. A truly heartbreaking thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Matt’s family has gone to Mexico to look for clues to prove his brother Danny is innocent of murder. Matt finds out his whole family has died of a supposed gas leak while in Mexico. The FBI isn’t so sure but the Mexican government isn’t co operating and the scene has been sanitized. With the cooperation of an FBI agent Matt tries to find out what really happened. The story is told from multiple viewpoints and alternates between past and present. I didn’t see the twist at the end coming. I believe this is the first novel for this author and I will definitely read more by him. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

I LOVED THIS I was hooked right from the start. It reminded me of Night Swim and The Good Girls Guide to Murder. I felt it was fast paced, kept it moving and most importantly kept me guessing. I really have had a hard time finding things to read lately so I was sooo happy this was as good as it was! If you like twisty trillers I highly recommend!

How could you not like a book that begins ... "They found the bodies on a Tuesday"? The bodies being those of a family killed in Mexico while on vacation. The story moves very quickly and is multi-layered. While the author does a great job of taking the reader through the story, the ending fell a bit short for me. At the end I literally said out loud "that's it?" It felt unfinished. That being said, it was still an enjoyable and quick read.

This review was also posted on Goodreads.

Even though I have read many mystery/thrillers over the past few years, I really enjoyed this one! Around the 55% mark of this book, I predicted the main plot twist, but I still found the overall evolution of the story/plot line very enjoyable. This is a very complex mystery/thriller, so much so that if I had a very "type A" personality, I probably would have created a fancy character chart to keep track of who is attached to who and so on. That being said, if you're not somebody who enjoys creating those while reading, you should still be able to keep track of the characters very well. I really enjoyed all of the characters in this story. The flashbacks with the Pine family were super interesting, and I found myself really caring about all of the main characters. Evan, the only surviving Pine son that is not in prison, is one of my new all-time favourite thriller characters. I really cared about his journey, and was rooting for him throughout the entirety of the novel. Sarah Keller, the FBI agent on this case, was my favourite character in this novel, as I found her character very compelling and layered. The writing and pacing of this novel was excellent. This novel was written in my favourite narrative style, which is when a book is divided into chapters that focus on a single character, but are written in third-person. I'm not always a huge fan of first-person writing, so I always seem to enjoy this writing style a lot more. Additionally, I thought that the pacing of this book was great. I never found myself bored, and appreciated that each scene was important to the overall flow of this story.

“ You have two choices when you’re confronted with your every last fear : give up or fight like hell. “

Rating : ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

A family made infamous by a true crime documentary is found dead on vacation in Mexico, leaving one of their surviving son to uncover the truth about their final days. Was it accidental or was foul-play involved. This is what NYU student Matt Pines is left to uncover.

Now, this family isn’t new in the media spotlight as the other surviving son, Danny (Matt’s older brother) is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his teenage girlfriend at the time, Charlotte. This was the subject of the viral true crime documentary suggesting that Danny was wrongfully convicted. But was he really, Matt knows a secret about that night he has not told anyone.

This novel was wayyyy better what I was expecting, mostly due in part because it is a debut novel by this author. And what a debut it was!! It was an intense, suspenseful, action packed read. The story is fast-paced and the characters pull you right in. What’s not to love about this thriller!

Every Last Fear comes out in March 2021. It is still available for request on Netgalley - I urge you to request this. You will not be disappointed! On that note, I want to thank Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! What a ride! I am extremely picky when it comes to thrillers as I feel I've read the same story over and over, book after book. This was quite a surprise and was fantastic! I will read more from this author.

This was an engrossing mystery that kept me swiping my kindle until the early hours of the morning. Told from the memories of various characters and moving from the past to the present, the story was easy to follow. This is not just a book about a possible miscarriage of justice that landed a teenager in jail for life, but a story of his loving family's unrelenting support to free him. Will not be surprised to see this on the big screen.

Thank you Netgalley for providing this book for an honest review. What a book!! This book was fast paced and pulled me in from the very beginning. The storyline was original and very addictive. It was hard to put the book down. There were so many twists that had me up late reading because it was so hard to put down. A must read!!

I was pleasantly surprised by this debut from Alex Finlay and would definitely recommend to people looking for fast-paced and twisty suspense.

Told from multiple points of view and a back-and-forth timeline, EVERY LAST FEAR primarily follows the story MATT PINE, a 21-year-old college student who finds out that his parents and younger siblings were found dead while on vacation in Mexico. From this tragedy, the reader learns that the true mystery of their deaths is linked with Matt’s older brother DANNY, who has been incarcerated the last 7 years for killing his high school girlfriend.

The driving force for this book is definitely the twisty and action-packed plot. While we don’t get a ton of emotional depth on all of the characters, there is enough there for readers to care about them and have a solid picture of their personalities. I could easily see this turning into an HBO miniseries. I would recommend for fans of Charlie Donlea and Riley Sager.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur for the opportunity to read and review.

One of the first books that I have read in 2021 and it was fantastic, full of all sorts of twists and unexpected turns. @alexfinlayauthor weaves a brilliant murder mystery that will keep you guessing. I could not put it down. This thriller graces bookstores on March 2... pick it up, you won’t regret it!

Be prepared to have your emotions trampled ... bouncing from despair to exhilaration. The Pine family is wiped out in one fell swoop. Four lifeless bodies are discovered in a somewhat seedy vacation rental, carved out of the jungles of Tulum, Mexico. Olivia , the mother, was found reclining on the couch with a paperback novel resting on her chest, while daughter, Maggie, seventeen years-old, was prone on bed , clutching her cell-phone. And, like a cherub, little six-year old Timmy was recumbent on a bed alongside a cute teddy bear. However, what was left of Evan, the father was deposited on the back porch ... supposedly a victim of the well known roving band of wild dogs. The Mexican government would like to wipe this unfortunate incident off their "proverbial shoes" and maintain this misfortune was the result of an accidental gas leak. The FBI and State Department have their doubts. All of the family's cellphones and computers have been "wiped clean"
This is not the first time the Pine Family have been thrust into the grip of media attention. A true crime documentary film has gone viral, portraying a sympathetic case that an all-American boy, Danny Pine, was wrongfully convicted of brutally murdering his high school girlfriend. Filmmakers Judy and Ira Adler have raised serious doubt, while providing alternate perpetrators, and pointing out that the small town police coerced a false confession and at the same time portraying the town in the worst possible light. Danny is incarcerated in Fishkill Prison in upstate New York, serving a life sentence. Evan and Maggie have relentlessly pursued every possible lead in the hopes of clearing Danny.
The only other surviving member of the Pine family is Matt, a student at N.Y.U. Returning home from a party, he is bludgeoned with the news of his entire familiy's demise. With the aid of Special FBI Agent Keller, Matt hopefully well make sense of this tragedy.
With Alex Finlay's debut novel he proves to be a masterful storyteller, weaving a fast paced page-turner with multiple unexpected reveals. Told through multiple points of view of the main players, in alternating chapters told "Before" and "After" the Pine family demise, motivation , incite and complex characterization are seamlessly woven into a complex and twisted narrative. The reader's anticipation of the final resolution continually changes as the last several chapters unfold at a breakneck pace. After the last page is turned all will be emotionally drained.
Finlay has weaved a wonderful tale that begs for more. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books / St Martin's Press for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review. Anticipated publication : March, 2, 2021. ( at readersremains.com )

The Pine family had suffered so much already. Years ago, the oldest son, Danny, was convicted of murdering his high school girlfriend although a true crime documentary has made a compelling case that the boy's confession was coerced and that a serial killer could be responsible for the death. Due to the crime and then the documentary, the family is both pitied and despised and Danny's younger brother, Matt, does his best to stay completely under the radar of anyone who wants to discuss the case. Now, Matt is in college when he is notified that his parents, sister, and youngest brother are dead. As Matt returns to his hometown to find out what happened to his family, he gets pulled back into the mystery of what happened at that high school party with his brother years ago. Matt soon finds that finding the answers he seeks may cost him his life.

Told from many perspectives including members of Matt's family up to their deaths, and an FBI agent trying to solve the Pine family murders made this book a suspenseful and compelling read. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC

Super fun and action packed. I didn't read this book - I forgot I was reading and saw the movie in my head!

This is one of those "just one more chapter" books that leave you reading until the middle of the night..

I want to thank the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the advance copy of this book, which did not impact my review. Read it for yourself and find out.

This was an amazing book. There were a couple plot points that nagged at me because it didn't make sense within the knowledge from the story or it was just confusing. That's what stopped me making it a 5 star book. But it was still fast paced and well written. I would definitely read other books by this author. Normally the before and afters would be confusing in a story, but it was well done. I knew exactly who I was reading (sometimes authors have all the same voices for the characters, but in this book they were distinct), and I knew exactly what "time" I was in.

A fresh take on a thriller that involves a popular true-crime documentary, likable young male protagonist trying to solve the crime that put his older brother in jail for decades and that resulted in the deaths of his four remaining family members. But honestly, this one felt a little scattered. It takes place in New York, Nebraska, Illinois, DC, and Mexico. We’ve got two mysteries to solve, FBI agents, the governor of Nebraska, an elderly grandfather in a nursing home, about seven viewpoints, at least three timelines, a weird gang of college kids, and a documentary film team working on a sequel to their hit show about the Pine family. The story kept my interest and I liked that it wasn’t a typical domestic thriller, but overall, I felt like there was too much going on. Thank you to NetGalley for an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Every Last Fear is the first "big hype" thriller of 2021 and it is absolutely not worth all the buzz. It's so predictable and the writing is clunky.

How clunky? Well, the teenage daughter, Maggie, thinks and acts like she's 40 aka a teen written by an author who hasn't spoken to a teenager in at least a decade. And Matt, the main character? He's a college student at NYU and wow, does Alex Finlay not understand even remotely what 20-somethings are like now.

In fact, the book is so out of touch with humanity in general that-- and sadly, this is an actual and very cringey moment--that we're given a scene, early on, where Matt is playing chess with a homeless guy (who calls Matt "Affleck"* and is not a regular homeless guy because he's brilliant and clean and yes, Matt thinks all of this. UGH.)

If you enjoy stereotypically drawn characters that are more than vaguely racist if they're not white, with a side of no one under 25 acts younger than middle aged with a plot so generic it seems to have come from every forgettable "book you got at the airport and read because it's all that was available in 1990." --well, who does? Who could? This book definitely does not live up to the hype.

* So, the Affleck thing. It definitely makes no sense to call a college kid by the last name of an almost 50 year old unless you're thinking of Good Will Hunting, where Affleck didn't play a college kid-- and the movie came out in 1997. Almost 25 years ago. So yeah, Finlay definitely needs a pop culture class. Or ten.

Definitely intriguing and suspenseful! Every time you're ready to stop reading, the exciting end of one chapter draws you into the next chapter! After reading Every Last Fear, I am eager to read Alex Finlay's next book!

Oh my goodness I loved this book!

When college student Matt learns that his parents, sister and little brother are dead while vacationing on Mexico, he is pulled into a multi--layered investigation that keeps the reader guessing up until the end. I enjoyed the characters in this book, and was rooting for Matt and the detective Sarah Keller to solve the crime.

This book was heartbreaking, thrilling and a page-turner!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Apparently my New Year’s tradition every year should be to read an amazing psychological thriller, because 2020 began with The Silent Patient, and 2021 has begun with this brilliant gem. Alex Finlay delivered an outstanding debut with this story of a family torn apart by past and present tragedy. You know it’s going to be intense when the book starts with the deaths of most of the members of the family that the book is about.

The Pine family: dad Evan, mom Olivia (Liv), daughter Maggie, and sons Matt and Tommy, are living in the shadow of eldest brother Danny’s conviction and imprisonment for the murder of his girlfriend Charlotte years before. While the rest of the family participated in a documentary called A Violent Nature (clearly inspired by Netflix’ true-crime doc Making a Murderer) to examine weak points in Danny’s case in hopes of exoneration, NYU student Matt wants nothing to do with it. When the rest of his family is killed on a vacation to Tulum, Mexico that he wasn’t a part of, Matt is left to put together the pieces of their suspicious deaths, as well as Danny’s past, with the help of FBI agent Sarah Keller.

The story of Evan, Liv, Maggie and Tommy is told retroactively, spotlighting the family dynamic and some of the complicated individual histories of Evan, Olivia and Maggie in the past and in the days immediately preceding their doomed trip. Interspersed is Matt’s story, both past and present, as well as agent Keller’s story. When Matt finds himself in potential danger from mysterious sources, he and agent Keller have to put together the puzzle pieces of Danny’s past and his family’s deaths to figure out their connections.

What makes this story great? It’s smart, well-told, with taut suspense, mystery and a nice variety of flawed, but likable characters. Did I want to throttle the dad, Evan, more than a few times and tell him to stop obsessing about his eldest son and pay quality attention to the rest of his family? Absolutely. He’s a man on a mission for his son, and it’s not until the end where I started to feel more sympathetic towards him. Speaking of the end, if I had to pick a flaw, I would say that during the final “baddie” reveal, it was as I predicted and I thought the story veered a bit into standard movie territory, where the person spills the whole story of why they did what they did, which made it feel just a teensy bit over-the-top. I still loved it and highly recommend it. I can’t wait to see what Alex Finlay gives us next!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. This is due for publication on March 2, 2021.

★★★★ ½ (rounded to 5) ❤️