Oh Boy – Oh Boy – Oh BOY!! That was un-put-downable!! The story line was from various characters, most with backstories which were “before” with the main story being dubbed “after.” This was extremely well done. In spite of the back stories interspersed throughout, the main plot flowed seamlessly.

I really enjoyed this book and will look forward to more from this author, Alex Finlay. From the noted advancement of our FBI agent at the end, I would assume that she’s being set up for a sequel.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Aria and Aries, in exchange for an honest review. It’s terrific! It should be on sale March 2021!

A riveting story with an excellent plot with distractions and red herrings that keeps the reader guessing. The characters are well developed and the children likeable, the grits of the sister admirable. The angst of the parents are contrasted sharply with the indifference of the brother. The final twist gives a perfect finale. Fantastic.

WOW this is exciting!
You're a college kid with a brother in prison for a crime you know he didn't commit
The police come to tell you that your family who were on holiday in Mexico have been found murdered
Are the two crime linked?

This book is like a rollercoaster - yes that may be a cliche but I felt the twists and turns, the thrills and spills of every plot point, change of pace and every whiplash moment.

I needed a rest when I;d finished but kept playing the story over and over in my head. Netflix calling?

Every Last Fear is an entertaining domestic thriller that follows the death of a family during their vacation in Mexico and the surviving sons (one is a film student and the other one is the prison for the killing of his girlfriend!) are left with the devastating after effects of the family's sudden demise.

There are SO MANY layers to this storyline adding history to each character via multiple narratives and timelines, it is really a treat to those who love suspense thrillers with adventures, gangs, rural politics, small town gossips, and a dysfunctional family in the middle of it all.

What I did not find very comforting was the pace of the book and the characters that kept on changing just when I thought I'd gotten to know them a tad bit. As much as it creates the intrigue needed to keep the reader guessing for the next twist, it is also dangerously close to putting off the reader's interest.

I'd gladly recommend the book to anyone who wants a good thriller to binge read and enjoy the suspense. I'm sure the ending is something that will equally shake you and make you feel for the characters.

Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for honest opinion.

“They found the bodies on a Tuesday” was the first sentence of this book so I figured I was in for a wild ride. This twisty, action-packed debut novel would make a great movie on the big screen. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Aria for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Wow that was super impressive for a debut book. How can one family have so much bad luck? But is it really bad luck, or are there more sinister forces at work?

Matt Pine is a student at NYU when he is told that his family - father Evan, mother Olivia (Liv), sister Maggie and little brother Tommy have died of a suspected gas leak in Mexico. Mexico! Wait, what were they doing there? And Matt’s older brother, Danny, is serving a life sentence for murdering his girlfriend 8 years ago. But did he kill her? Evan and Maggie (about 17 years old) have worked tirelessly chasing down every lead and rallying the troops in an effort to have Danny’s sentence overturned. And as this story is told you learn that there are huge concerns over the conviction, the coerced confession and the non disclosure of exculpatory evidence. Matt alone is certain of Danny’s guilt for reasons that I won’t go into.

The story is told in the present time and ‘before’ so you learn what leads up to the tragic deaths of the family. They had gone to Mexico to follow up on another clue in the quest to free Danny. But in the present it seems that Matt is also a target. He is contacted by Special Agent Sarah Keller of the FBI who is investigating the accounting firm that Evan Pine used to work for - that’s how she gets onto this perplexing case. Now that she’s on it she really wants to solve it. So, Matt needs to go to Tulum, Mexico, to sign some paperwork before the bodies of his family can be returned to the US. Tulum is where the others met their deaths. Matt nearly meets his own death twice - once back in New York and again in Mexico.

You keep wondering why. Why would someone target this family? Sure there were some people not happy with them after a documentary was made of Danny’s case but that was two years ago. The clues are there, albeit buried quite deeply. The hard thing was learning about this otherwise happy and close knit family knowing they would soon be dead (it’s right at the start of the book). And I did care about the characters. They were so well written. Agent Keller was spectacular and I loved the way she was not intimidated by anyone.

I will certainly be looking out for Alex Finlay’s next book. While it was an outstanding mystery with moments of true suspense this book is not a thriller per se. There was no nail biting or edge of seat sitting. But there a lot of deep satisfaction with how this story was told. Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and Alex Finlay for providing a copy of this book for me to review. My opinions are my own. 4.5 stars for this rounded down.

Matt Pine's just found out that almost his entire family is dead. The bodies of his mother, father, sister, and little brother were found in Mexico. Initially, it appears that his family succumbed to a gas leak while on vacation. Upon further investigation, details emerge that lead US investigators to believe the deaths of the Pines may not have been an accident after all.

This is now the second time that the Pine family has made the news. Matt's remaining sibling, his brother Danny, was convicted of killing his own girlfriend when they were teenagers and is serving out a lifelong jail sentence. There has been debate over whether or not Danny actually murdered his girlfriend all those years ago.

Will Matt find out the truth behind the death of his family? And what about Danny - was he convicted of a crime he didn't commit?

I was excited to receive a copy of Every Last Fear because of the great reviews I've seen. It was told from Matt's perspective now and his family's perspective leading up to their deaths. Many of the characters were so likable and as a reader, it stung when bad things happened to certain people. This one definitely kept me guessing. I thought I had some things figured out a little more than halfway through, but then I kept changing my mind. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Suspenseful, thrilling, and deeply satisfying. For all the crime and mystery novels I’ve read this one kept staying up at night to keep turning pages, to find out who dunnit. Alex Finlay does a great job of setting up characters and providing tons of context for who they are, what they’re doing, and why. I found this to be a riveting novel that truly kept me guessing. Just when I thought I was figuring things out they’d take turn after turn and leave me shocked. Fantastic read.

After not requesting in a while, I decided to go peruse the options that were on @netgalley the other day. I found Every Last Fear by Alex Findlay and knew I had to try to request it because I’ve been seeing it everywhere! ⁣
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Every Last Fear follows Matt when he finds out his mom, dad, younger sister, and younger brother are found dead in Mexico. The country says it was an accident, but the FBI seems to think there’s more to the story. Matt’s older brother is currently in jail for killing a girl a few years prior. Can they solve the mystery of his family’s deaths without relooking at his brother’s case?⁣
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❤️Review❤️⁣
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I really liked the plot of this book. It was intriguing right from the first page. We get both perspectives of Matt and the FBI agent in the current and his family’s perspective from the past. It did get a little muddled trying to keep track of whose perspective w were in and when it was taking place at times since there were so many. It could have also been just because I was reading on my Kindle and it wasn’t formatted to separate the chapters yet. I also guessed the “who did it” at 66% in. I didn’t guess how the person would be involved, but I did know it would be them. It was just one sentence that made me turn my head to that particular character, so I’m sure for most readers they won’t pick up on it. Overall I thought it was a really solid thriller because had I not picked up on that sentence I’m not sure I would have predicted accurately. I look forward to seeing what Alex Finlay writes next. If you like thrillers, I’d say give this one a chance! ⁣
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3 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
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This one comes out March 2, 2021! Do you plan on checking it out?⁣
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The opening paragraph is the tease for a reader of thrillers/mysteries. Read that gruesome opening scene that comes right out of the gate and you won’t be able to put it down. The theme, which encompasses all the characters throughout the story, shows to what extremes a family will go to for each other.  Unrelenting familial loyalty, however, does not always play out to the good of their relationships with each other. Call the circumstances an obsession, a devotion, a cause... it doesn’t matter; it affected every aspect of their lives. While some events in the book were foreseeable, it was still a gripping storyline that held my interest to the final page.