This is the first book I read from this author and it kept me hooked from the first chapter. The suspense and the unexpected twists makes the reader wanting to keep reading to arrive at the end. I’d definitely recommend this book.

How much can one family go through? This thriller told in both past and present has many twists and turns as FBI Agent Sarah Keller sets out to discover the connection between the Pine family's suspicious deaths and her financial crime's case. Subtle clues are given throughout that the story will point readers in the direction of the true villain. It became easy to see who was truly evil and the motive. Loved the gang of misfits who supported Matt. The story's ending wrapped everything up quite well. Hope to read another book featuring Agent Keller. Recommended!

Every last fear took me by surprise. I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. There were quite a few characters and so many different timelines. I thought I would be overwhelmed by it. But I ended up loving it. There are chapters narrated by deceased characters from before their death. We get to see everyone's personal thoughts due to the multiple POVs.

The writing style was immaculate and the tone of the book was a bit creepy. The plot was filled with twists and turns. The book was fast paced but I think it could have been a bit shorter. It felt a bit dragged out towards the end. The cover of the book is really apt because it showcases the multiple parallel timelines.

The story was about the Pine famiy. Evan ( Father), Olivia ( Mother), Danny, Matt, Maggie and Tommy ( Kids). Danny was a wrongfully convicted for his girlfriend Charlotte's death. Evan can't get over it and he along with Maggie keep working on getting him out. Matt on the other hand believes that his brother was the killer due to something he saw on the night of the murder. Tommy was the youngest and has never even met Danny.

Matt was off in college when suddenly he gets contacted by the FBI. His whole family died in a gas leak in their trip to Mexico. Now, he only had Danny left. As Agent Keller starts investigating, she soon realises that everything is not as it appears on the outside. Someone was after the Pine famiy for a reason and it was connected to Danny's case. Have i caught your attention now? Read to find out more!

I'll recommend this book all thriller and mystery lovers.

Thanks NetGalley, Aria & Aries and Alex Finlay for an ARC to review.
A fast paced intense heart wrenching thriller.
A family that was hit by tragedy after their teenage son was wrongfully accused by murdering his girlfriend, meets another tragic fate when they all end up dead in what appeared like an unfortunate gas leak accident.
Their surviving son Matt finds himself in a whirlwind not believing what happened.
The book alternates between past and present, telling the story from different povs and that's where it is more heart wrenching. You got to know the deceased family members and how they spent their last days..how it was all so unfair.
The mystery was well built though for a well read thriller addict you could detect it halfway through, yet you might still have some doubts and the book keeps pulling you along.
Highly recommended to anyone who love a good thriller but keep a huge box of tissues handy!

I was attracted to Every Last Fear by the praise from Karin Slaughter - one of my favourite crime writers- and it did not disappoint. Excellent plotting, characterisation and plenty of twists made this a gripping and original read .
Recommended
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

Thank you #netgalley and Aria & Aries for an advanced copy of this book in exchange of an honest review!
Well, folks! There are Thrillers... and then there are.... THRILLERS.
Do you ever start a book and know after only a few pages that’s it’s going to be a 5-star read? That’s what happened when I started this book.
As soon as I’d finished the first chapter I was invested in Matt Pine’s life and couldn’t stop reading until I knew what had happened to the Pine family. I chewed my nails and gasped and cringed and ultimately felt a tug around my heart when I reached the end.
Around halfway through I started to suspect who the killer might be, but that’s because I read too many thrillers and my true-Crime-radar catches every little detail. But my hunch didn’t tell me WHY... and trying to put an answer to that question is what drove me to devour this book.
A Family of 4 is found dead during a vacation in Tulum, Mexico! The death seems to be caused by a gas leak, and Matt, their grown up son studying in NY is left to give the devastating news to his big brother Danny, serving time for having allegedly killed his girlfriend.
But has Matt’s family truly succumbed to a banal accident? And why had his little sister sent him a photo of their trip just before dying? His father was obsessed with trying to prove Danny’s innocence for years now, going so far as participating in a Netflix True Crime documentary that had done more harm than good.. Could his father have been onto a new lead?
FBI agent Keller is used to following her gut and right now it’s screaming ‘foul play’.
Loved it!!!!

I will give this book a rating of three stars, which means it was an average read. This book is fast paced and moves in two timelines, the past n the present. The timeline of the past brings to life characters who are no longer alive in the present of the book and so they become people of flesh n blood for the reader, who can feel their loss. But apart from that, the book is entirely predictable. Who does the crime and why they do it can be spotted from when you are one third into the book. If you are a seasoned reader of this genre, you can easily guess the motive and the culprit, something not very redeeming for a thriller.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy in return of my unbiased review.

Well this turned out to be a real thriller and a half it kept me guessing right till the end and it was with a big sigh of satisfaction that I finished the book. Such a well thought out story line and excellent characters the pace never let up and I was amazing that this in fact was a debut novel.
Told I from different points of view and a before and after timeline I flew through reading the book desperately trying to figure out who did what and why and it really was the typical can’t put it down read !!
I read a lot of thrillers and so to pick up a book like this that really did keep me guessing proves this was a story with a difference and I was rooting hand down for the Pine family especially Matt to get to the bottom of the mystery.
So a five star read in my opinion and can’t wait to hear more from Alex Finlay in the the future as this was a most impressive and exciting read... I loved it!!
My thanks to NetGalley and Head of Zeus, Aria and Aries for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was such an unputdownable read - if I didn't have to do silly things like work & sleep, I would have finished this in one go. I thought it was full of action, drama & suspense. I thought the characters were well developed, and was pulled into their lives & their struggle to get the eldest son freed from prison. There were many jaw dropping moments - I loved it & can't wait to see what Alex Finlay writes next!

Thanks to Netgalley and Publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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

Matt Pine, a student in NYU, is trying to live a life where no one will relate him to a hit documentary which featured the story of his brother Danny who is in prison after confessing for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. But life has something else to offer when Keller, an FBI agent, comes with news of the death of his remaining family while they were in Mexico on vacations. Matt is devastated but it is only beginning.

I totally love the character development. The family dynamics are more than I could ask. There aren't many books where I've read such realistic characters. 

Evan and Liv- These two characters have so much to offer and so much to hide, they left me wondering about human nature. 

Matt- Just trying to live a normal life once.

Danny-Someone who is in prison but his family's everything is about him.

Maggie-Who doesn't have anything else to do except helping his father to prove that Danny is innocent.

Tommy-Just six years old who doesn't know anything about the politics.

Keller-an agent who is not scared to show her emotions.

“[T]he truth of the matter was that it was rarely a stranger who killed you; it was usually someone you held dear. As Keller knew too well, the sheep spends its life worried about the wolf, only to be eaten by the farmer.”

The way Alex Finlay created Matt's friend circle, it made me miss all of my friends. One of the rare thing I find in the books is language, the character's language wasn't one dimension. The way Finlay represented the teenagers' use of certain words it made me laugh so hard, like, literally 😄.

The story was perfect and there were so many secrets that I am still thinking about it. It is one of that mystery which connected everything without forcing anything. It was so satisfying to see all the puzzles getting solved and all the loose ends getting connected.

I want to find this man-Alex Finlay- and read everything he has ever write.

I must say it was his debut and he has set the bar so high, I just can't...

I was excited to read this book after seeing the positive reviews and it didn’t disappoint!

The first chapter opens up with
<blockquote> “They found the bodies on a Tuesday.
Two days after the family had missed their flight home.
Six days after all the texts and social media had gone dark.”</bloquote> and the story doesn’t slow down.

Matt Pines is surprised when an FBI agent, Sarah Keller, stops by and the last thing he imagines learning is that his family was found dead in Mexico. Although the Mexican authorities claim it was a gas leak, evidence suggests otherwise. What follows is Keller to find more about what happened and Matt trying to catch up with his new reality, until his discovers that his family might have been murdered.

The book is told from several perspectives. In the present, we have Matt and agent Keller. But we also read about the past (the days before the accident) from Evan, Olivia (the parents), and Maggie (the daughter) perspectives. But you might wonder, what’s different about them?

You see, the eldest son, Danny, has been charged with murder seven years ago. And if that wasn’t enough, a hit documentary was made claiming Danny is innocent and in fact, he didn’t kill Charlotte, his girlfriend who was killed horrifically. So the Pines’ case received more spotlight because of their fame.

I won’t discuss the plot much further and I’ll leave it to you to discover what happens and try to guess what happened. While I didn’t see the plot twists coming, I did guess a suspicious.. let’s call it “element”. I’m getting better at this :D

I love how Alex Finlay constructed the family. Evan the passionate. Maggie, the smart and mature kid (I loved her, she didn’t deserve this fate at all  not that anyone does.. but you get what I mean), and Olivia, the mother with her own inner demons. Danny was the promising child and Matt always lived in his shadow. Even after his incarceration, Evan was all too focused on proving his son’s innocence. It was Tommy’s birth that saved the family after Danny’s case.

I’m not a big fan of the “before” and “after” stories because they usually are a cheap way in my opinion to keep the reader on the edge of their seat. And the before part rarely interest me. Not here. It was necessary to give color to the dead family members. To understand what Matt was going through. How this news hit Danny. And simply, to feel the story. Also, the before part wasn’t a mere filler. You see, Maggie got a tip and her dad had an unbelievable call from Mexico, hence the “vacation”.

Overall, this was a good mystery/thriller and I couldn’t stop reading it. It was a page-turner that kept me anxious and worried. Although I knew the Pines will die in Mexico, I kept hoping they don’t. Somehow. Especially Maggie. I can also easily imagine this book having a sequel told from agent Keller perspectives, I would definitely read it.

Review published in: https://diagnosisbookaholic.blogspot....

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

Wow! That was impressive! That is how you write a suspense novel. It's hard to believe this a debut novel, as it was better done than most of the suspense/thrillers written by established authors. It had everything you could ask for in a suspense book and more.

"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"

Three sentences in and I was completely mesmerized with this story.

The plot was perfectly paced, knowing exactly when to step on the gas and when to hit the brakes. Misdirection, red herrings and several suspects both in Danny's case and the Pine murders, managed to deliver an increasing tension that led to an ending where every single clue was tied. Halfway through I had no idea where the story was going, but then my light bulb went on and I saw everything crystal clear. It's no usual I guess the endings, but in this case I nailed it!

The documentary extracts were fantastically done and I truly felt as if I was watching a true crime documentary.

But if I had to highlight a single thing about this book would be the characters. I loved every single one of them. When an author makes me care for the characters I implicate myself in the story 100%,and this was one of those cases. There were several POV, what made it not possible to know deeply any of them but, at the same time, they were well developed and I felt as if I knew them. That and the fact that we already know the fate of the Pine family made it completely heartbreaking reading their chapters. Hearing them talk about their hopes and dreams made my heart hurt. Once I reached the end I felt I needed to grieve them.

Fantastic novel of suspense with a very well done plot and some great characters that will have you turning pages into the wee hours. Mr. Finlay, you have a new fan!

Thanks to Netgalley and Aria & Aries for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved it! A great fast paced and page turner psychological mystery that jumps back and forth in time! This book had me from the very beginning to the end. It's well connected and exciting. The story is very intriguing, easy to follow and it's told by each one of the main characters: the family members (Matt (the son), Denny (the son that goes to prison), Evan (the father), Olivia (Liv - the mom), Maggie (the sister) and also told by the FBI Agent Sarah Keller. Even though it goes back and forth between characters, the story flows. I gave 4.5 stars because things from the beginning will be used to explain the ending but if you didn't catch it don't worry because the book will explain it again and it makes the reading a bit repetitious assuming that you didn't pay attention or you got lost. Otherwise this is definitely a great mystery and I loved the story so much! This book will stay with me.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Over the last few years I have become much more selective on the thrillers I pick up. There are just so many out there, yet they all seem to contain many of the same elements: husbands and wives who lie and cheat, murder for money, or any other nature of scandalous behavior you can cook up. In my opinion, they tend to be a little over the top and unrealistic for my liking.

So the fact that I decided to pick up Every Last Fear should already be an indication to you that it might be a cut above the rest. And boy did it deliver! I loved the combination of small town scandal, mixed with the NYU student trying to leave the past in the past. This novel woven an intricate web to develop a plot that left me guessing until the end.

Matt and his NYU friends added a nice heartwarming component to what would otherwise be a stone cold murder mystery. It was interesting to see Matt grapple with what had happened in the past and with the murder of his family in the present, and seeing how he was trying to grow from it. The support of his motley group of friends was endearing and a nice personal touch.

I also enjoyed the past and present timelines, as well as the multiple viewpoints. Sometimes in books that do that, I tend to crave one particular viewpoint over another but that wasn't the case with Every Last Fear. It actually felt necessary to hear from everyone to get the full scope of what was going on. The ending was a giant bombshell that pulled everything together! I really enjoyed this one and highly recommend it!

Psychological thriller? More like psychological snoozer. I was thrilled to receive an ARC on this as I’ve been anticipating it but it took me almost a month to read it because it was just so slow and boring. It had such promise but it was so slow to unfold and had way too much insignificant backstory. Glad I didn’t spend money on it.

Seven years ago, Matt Pine's family was torn apart by a single act of violence. The night his older brother, high school football star Danny, killed his girlfriend. A night Matt refers to as Year Zero – life before the murder and after forever altered. He and his family are a shadow of their former selves.

Now college student Matt has a new Year Zero. His parents, younger sister and brother have been killed while holidaying in Mexico – a gas leak in their rental property. Just 21, and Matt has lost his entire family, all except for Danny who sits in prison claiming his innocence. Unlike the rest of the family who have fought for his release for years, Matt has never believed in Danny, not after what he saw that night.

But there are things that just don't add up. Why did the Pine's suddenly decide to travel to Mexico? And were their deaths really a tragic accident or something more sinister?

For a thriller, Every Last Fear certainly was gut-wrenching, overwhelming, and emotionally draining. Upon finishing I was left feeling utterly shattered. And the weird thing was I don't think the mystery was... well that much of a mystery but I have no qualms rating this book 5-stars.

From the Prologue we were told that four members of the Pine family were dead. And let’s face it, things like this happen all the time in these genres, so even though I was disturbed by it I didn't feel much beyond that. It's crime, mystery, suspense – people die – I accept that, as horrible as it is. What I didn't expect was how attached I would become to the Pine family the further I read – first via Matt's recollections and memories then through flashbacks to the days leading up to that fateful day in Mexico. Honestly, the characterizations were amazing, and evoked all the feels, sympathy, and profound sadness within me. The Pine's were an every day, small town American family until one night when it all came crashing down.

I envision Every Last Fear having wide appeal and success and deservedly so. Mark your calendars for 2nd March because you are not going to want to miss this one.

I'd like to thank Netgalley, Head of Zeus, and Alex Finlay for the e-ARC.

A complex and intriguing novel written across multiple timelines and from 5 different perspectives.

Alex Finlay definitely set himself a challenge for his debut novel! Well written and edited, this is a fast moving story that requires you to pay attention because, as they say, the devil’s in the detail.

Each chapter is told from a different character’s perspective and is set across two timelines of ‘before’ and ‘now’. In amongst the chapters are excerpts from a Netflix programme. Not only is the handling of several narratives very cleverly done it does so in such a way that your attention is never lost.

I don’t think this book is necessarily groundbreaking in its style or story. I’ve read books like this by other authors that felt just that bit more finished or an ownable style. For me, Finlay’s writing felt like he was trying out this style rather than it belonging to him. Whilst it helped the narrative I never understood the main character Matt or his relationships his family. He could’ve just been an acquaintance in comparison to the other characters and their closeness.

All things considered, it’s a good read and one I enjoyed. I’d certainly read more from this author as he’s shown that he has the ability to handle complicated stories.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I received this ebook from netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion and review. This book was INCREDIBLE! It was so well written, and it kept me guessing at every turn. I never would have suspected the ending, and that made it even more exciting. If you love thrillers, this definitely should be your next read!

I really enjoyed this book. There was a line spoken by one of the characters that made me go "oh I know how this book ends" and it turned out to be exactly what I thought. I purposefully try to shut off my brain when I read so I don't try and guess how a book ends, so it was a little unnerving that a seemingly throwaway line was what made me guess.

I flew through the story, and knowing that it was based on real- less violent but more tragic- events, made it seem even more spooky. I would definitely recommend this to anyone.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for an advance copy. It was a great ending to a very subpar 2020.

Thank you netgalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows a family who has been through a "Making a Murderer'-esque story. Danny, the eldest son, has been imprisoned for murder, but the family is convinced he's innocent, and there are a dozen conspiracies about who else may have done it . In this story we follow Danny's brother Matt, as he becomes involved with the FBI after his parents and siblings die in Mexico. The deaths are declared an accident, but the FBI is not so sure that there wasn't foul play involved. We also go back in time, to before the family died, as they investigate a lead that may exonerate Danny.

Overall, I really liked this story. Sometimes the pacing is off - I kept waiting for something to happen for there to be more exposition. But the last few pages are all action. This book is tough to put down.