A youthful crew works at the Blockbuster Video and the unbelievable happens. They are all slain except one, in a brutal manner. Ella Monroe is the sole survivor and has suffered from trauma amnesia for many years. She has selected a career in law enforcement and still searches her memory to recall all of the details of that night.

Fifteen years later a similar crime occurs, so very reminiscent of that tragic night. Ella works with her fellow law enforcement team including FBI and local law enforcement. The similarities are bewildering. The difference is that the current loss is at a Subway sandwich shop and not a video rental store.

Both crimes occurred in the late evening on the three to eleven shift. All of the victims are young females!

The author combines tense situations with the disbelief that comes from people in a small town doubting that any of their neighbors could do such a thing. A number of people are suspected, but the prime suspect is let out of jail on a technicality and has totally disappeared. Frantic searches lead nowhere and the family of the prime suspect is shunned by the community. The suspect’s father disappears at approximately the same time. What is going on?

I applaud the author and his manipulation of the plot. A very entertaining and engaging read and a page turner. The conclusion was a twisting surprise and I expect anyone who reads this narrative will agree with me. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Listened to this on audio! It was okay for me, was not really thrilling which is why it took me a while to read. I did like the different POV's and different years throughout the story.

Not a usual choice for me, but proved to be unputdownable. Alex Finlay creates a mood and follows through with satisfactory plotting, almost cinematic action without unnecessary gore or sadism, characterizations that I hope will turn up in future series. Badass indeed.

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay

Thank you to @Netgally and the Publisher for the eARC.

I needed this!
I usually don't like detective thrillers but this one was so much fun.

The story has two timeliness in which two different murders happen that are quite similar.

The author takes us from past to present every other chapter with different POVs which allows use to piece together whodunit.

I'm trying to be vague about what this book is about because as much as the author tried to throw us for a loop he didn't succeed. I was able to guess who the killer/s was/were as soon as he/they was/were introduced.

This was such an entertaining story I highly recommend it. The author did through curve balls here and there and it was confusing at times but that's what made this book so much fun to read.

I was drawn to this book for the Blockbuster nostalgia; I stayed for the twisty story and strong characters.

My favorite character was Agent Keller. She’s such an intelligent character that you can’t help but root for. Not to mention, she’s 8 months pregnant with twins and still chasing down bad guys!

While I guessed the killer early on, the author did a great job at making me second-guess myself throughout the book. I could not put this one down. With chapters being so short, it's easy to keep reading.

I loved the epilogue. In some books, it can really make or break a story. I felt the author did a great job wrapping things up.

Pick this one up if you love twisty mystery/thrillers with a nod to 90’s nostalgia!

You know what i was doing in 1999? Working at Blockbuster. Not kidding at all. I wore the unflattering blue and yellow polo shirt, and had the joy of stocking the New Release shelves. I worked at Blockbuster for about a year, scheduled for the night shift. So, this book brought back a lot of memories for me.. Minus the murder.
The Night Shift is a throw back thriller that is sure to bring back memories for so many of us. The taste of nostalgia is going to attract a lot of readers, the murders will keep their attention.
I enjoyed the book, and the mystery of who really killed those girls. I quickly figured out who the real killer was, but there were smaller twists that were unexpected. I found myself really loving FBI Agent Keller, aka Officer Badass. If the author really wanted to, he could create a whole series based on her. I know I would read it.
I recommend The Night Shift if you’re looking for a quick, fast moving thriller with a lot of characters that will keep you guessing.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I tried. I REALY tried. I kept hearing about this book and I WANTED to like it. But I didn't. So much so that I couldn't finish it.

Fifteen years ago, someone brutally murdered the workers at a Blockbuster as they were closing up. But he left one girl alive. Now a similar crime has been committed in an ice cream store. Everyone but one lone girl is killed.

The story is told alternatively by three people trying to find out who did this, and if it is linked to the earlier murders.

Ella is the lone survivor from all those years ago. She is now a therapist who is brought in to help the newest survivor. But Ella is a mess. Engaged to a successful man, she finds it necessary to do a little prostitution on the side, when he is out of town, which is what she is doing when the newest crime is committed. Don't therapists have to have therapy themselves before treating others? If so, then why is she so messed up, and a danger to everyone around?

Sarah Keller is an FBI agent who is eight months pregnant and is assigned to investigate the possibility of a connection between the two events. Would an eight-month-pregnant FBI agent really still be working in the field? I would expect that she would have been restricted to desk duty for at least a couple of months, if for no other reason than the constant need for a toilet!

And then there is Chris, the brother of the man who was charged in the Blockbuster murders, but was released and disappeared, not being seen for all these years. He is desperate to find his brother and reconnect. He also seems to have an alibi for him all those years ago, but no one has ever asked him about it?

I am sure all this will finally get somewhere, but a third of the way through i realized that I didn't really CARE about any of these characters. And there are so many things that just simply don't make sense!! So I gave up.

Sorry. Those of you who actually make it through, I HOPE it is worth it.

Oh wow. These characters are pretty riveting, as is the story behind the 1999 Blockbuster murders and present day murders at the Dairy Creamery. Who perpetrated these crimes? Were they both done by the same person? What happened to Vince Whitaker? Alex Finlay really knows how to weave a tale that keeps you guessing and turning the pages. I really enjoyed the three points of view from Agent Keller, lawyer Chris Ford and survivor number one, Ella. I wish there was a little more to the ending, which is why I give this four stars instead of five. (Though perhaps there may be another book with some of these characters?!) I could absolutely see this being made into a movie!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

If you like well-told stories of detectives, mysteries, and FBI agents, with great characters this is your next read! Sarah Keller is an FBI agent that is still on the job even though she is eight and one half months pregnant with twins. And her nickname is badass! Ella is a counselor of trauma victims, who as a teenager was the lone survivor of a triple homicides attack at a video store. She carries the emotional scars. Chris is a public defender who is unknown to those around, him including his girlfriend, co-workers, and the boss is the brother to the boy they think did the triple murders. When a similar tragic event happens at the ice cream shop people can't help but be reminded of the previous horrific event years ago. All three are brought together on this current case each in their capacity. The story is told through the eyes of Sarah, Ella, and Chris all have their unique personalities. I recommend this book and I will look forward to more from this author. Thank you, NetGalley, publishers St. Martin’s Press, and author Alex Finlay For this eARC this is my honest opinion - yes get it!

Two mass murders set 15 years apart couldn't really be related, or could they? We follow the stories and investigations of each timeline through the stories of a survivor, an agent, and a public defender, each putting the puzzle together for us just a little bit more. It's not difficult to figure out the ending, but it's getting there that makes this book enjoyable.

4/5 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Two women, separated by years both in age and maturity, are the only ones left standing after a pair of brutal assaults that leave friends and coworkers dead.

The cops think that a degenerate teenager that disappeared after the first set of killings, surely an attestation of guilt, has returned to perpetrate the latest slayings.

The survivor of the first crime is now a therapist called on to talk to the survivor of the second, and she, along with some savvy detectives, start to unravel secrets that are more complex than anyone would have thought possible.

This authors second book, after a standout debut thriller, does not disappoint. He builds plot and character in a complex pattern of dominoes and then tips over the first, leaving the rest to fall at a breakneck speed. I tried to draw out this read as long as possible in order to savor it, but my fingers would not listen to my brain as I furiously flipped the pages!

P.S. The first murder takes place in 1999 as employees at Blockbuster close up for the night. As I worked for over ten years at Blockbuster, I enjoyed reliving the store descriptions. Not so much, as that might be unseemly, given the blood letting and all. Gives a whole new meaning to “make it a Blockbuster night”.

I loved this book! The settings, the plot, the characters, the twists. There was nothing I didn't like about The Night Shift, except Atticus's death. This was my first book by Alex Finlay, but it won't be my last.

Favorite Quotes:

A man sits behind a cluttered desk. He wears thick glasses and keeps blinking, giving his eyes an insect quality. They hang back as the department head speaks with Walter, explaining why they’re here. Under his breath Atticus asks Keller, “You ever see the movie Office Space?”

“There’s only one thing sneakier than criminals.” “What’s that?” “Teenage girls.”

Who came up with all these acronyms? They sound like jobs on a porn set.


My Review:

This chilling tale kept me guessing and on edge with multi-layered storylines that were maddeningly paced, cunningly textured, taut with tension, and laced with clever snark. I was enthralled and in awe of this wordsmith’s devilishly wily word voodoo and engaging writing style. Alex Finley has a new fangirl.

The characters were an odd bunch of complex personalities who were more than a bit fractured yet compelling and enticing. I was sucked into an oddly disconcerting, active, and prickly vortex of tension, tragedy, humor, and intrigue while the little pea in my brain was feverishly devising and tossing out wilder and wilder theories as the complications and twists mounted to higher and higher levels of crisscrossing deception. I've never enjoyed being so wrong.

This was one okay, but I didn't love it. I didn't like how everything didn't come together until the absolute very end, and I wanted more intel into the motives of the killer. I liked his previous work better - for whatever reason this one fell a little flat, and I honestly felt like there was way too much going on. A popcorn thriller for sure, but I seem to be in the minority here.

I was hooked by the premise of Alex Finlay's new suspense novel - The Night Shift.
New Years Eve 1999. Four teenaged employees of a video game store are attacked. Three die and one miraculously survives. The suspected killer disappears. Fifteen years later four teenaged employees of an ice cream parlor in the same town are attacked and again, one survives. Has the killer returned? Is it a copy cat?

The Night Shift is told from multiple points of view. That device really, really works for The Night Shift.

We've got Ella, the survivor from 1999. Now a therapist, the FBI and local police bring her into the case. After all, she knows what its like to be the only one survived. The FBI agents are a seemingly mismatched pair, but I really enjoyed them both. Keller is nine months pregnant and Singh is a newbie. Also involved is Chris Ford, a public defense attorney with his own secrets. And that brings us to the latest survivor. She's hard to read, initially vulnerable, then aggressive and she knows more about the old case than expected. Why?

I enjoy multiple points of view in a book. The reader becomes privy to information that the other characters don't have. And that is multiplied with past and present chapters as well. And I was pretty sure I would solve the crime before the final pages. Finlay expertly leads the reader down the garden path and provides lots of red herrings along the way. He also ends many chapters on a suspenseful note, ensuring I needed to just read 'one more chapter' before turning out the lights. Now, about figuring out the whodunit - Finlay is a master of the 'twist'. He caught me off guard many times and with each twist the narrative changed. I love being kept on my toes. And no, I didn't solve it before the last pages.

A page-turner! This was a first read of Finlay for me and it won't be the last. I'd like to see Agent Keller again as well. Fans of Harlan Coben and Linwood Barclay would enjoy Alex Finlay.

What a well paced and fun, page-turning thriller. This is another hit from Alex Finlay. The Night Shift is a dual timeline story, told through multiple POVs from 1999 to the present. The same small town in New Jersey has been the scene of two brutal mass murders. The first was New Year’s Eve 1999 at the local Blockbuster store, where the young high school aged employees and their manager are all brutally killed at closing time. One of the girls is left for dead but survives to become a therapist who is then called to help the lone survivor of the second murder scene, this time at the local ice cream place.
The interaction between the characters and their motivations was a fascinating story. The unraveling of the cases was well written and felt realistic.
For thriller fans, especially if you want some nostalgic recent history references, this book is for you. As I have been reading it, I’ve been listening to music from that decade. Quite the experience. You could easily make a playlist to accompany the reading experience.
Highly recommend!
#TheNightShift #NetGalley #StMartinsPress #Minotaur

I loved everything about this book. I went into this blind, and the first chapter captured my attention right away. That first chapter was very nostalgic, and I miss the good ole days of Blockbuster!

Things I loved:
Multiple viewpoints
Lots of twists and turns
I didn’t guess the ending
Fast paced
All questions answered and tied up nicely
A year later epilogue

Thank you so much Minotaur and Netgalley for my early copy!! I really hope this becomes a movie!

Super fun thriller with memorable characters and plot. I enjoyed trying to guess the ending throughout all the twists and turns.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57693427

It’s New Year’s Eve and the last evening of the 20th century. Four teenage girls are still working at the local Blockbuster (throwback!). All but one of the girls, including their supervisor at the time are brutally murdered and the only suspect disappears shortly after the murders. Fast forward 15 years, Ella, the lone survivor of the Blockbuster murders, is brought in to help the lone survivor of a murder that is eerily similar to the one Ella’s survived. Are the two murders related? Could the original killer be back after all these years?

Told from multiple perspectives: Ella, the lone survivor of the Blockbuster murders; Agent Keller, a 8 1/2 pregnant FBI agent working to determine a link between the two cases; and Chris, a public defender working on the Ice Cream shop case who might just have a secret that ties him to both cases. I generally enjoy multiple narrators and The Night Shift is no exception. I always feel that they add an extra bit of suspense to the story.

Overall, this is a solid thriller. There are one or two things that are a bit unrealistic but nothing to extreme. I haven’t read Alex Finlay’s debut Every Last Fear, but it’s been on my shelf and now I think I need to push it up on my TBR.


The Night Shift is out now! Huge thank you to Minotaur Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books.

New Year's Eve, 1999. At the Blockbuster in Linden, New Jersey, four teenage girls and their manager are brutally attacked. Only one girl survives, Ella. The police rapidly hone in on a suspect, who escapes and is never seen again. Fifteen years later in Linden, it seems to happen again. Four teenage girls at a Linden ice cream store are attacked. Again, there is only survivor. As Linden struggles to recover from this new tragedy, Ella--now a therapist--is requested at the scene to counsel the new survivor, Jessica ("Jesse"). But as Ella gets to knows Jesse, she's drawn into a dark web of lies and deceit.

I've never read an Alex Finlay book before, and this one was a really pleasant surprise! I read each half over two days thanks to the short, quick chapters. It spans two time periods: 1999, when the first killings happened and then nearly present-day, when the ice cream store murders happen. These killings are linked by Ella, the earliest lone survivor, who now becomes a counselor to Jesse, the girl who survives the ice cream store killings. We also hear from FBI Agent Sarah Keller, called in to investigate the 1999 Blockbuster case, and from Chris, a young man who has ties to both time periods.

Honestly, this book captivated me. The multiple points of view helped it fly by and while I had some suspicions about who might be responsible, the book kept me guessing. There are lots of twists. Both the then and now storylines are interesting, especially since you have some teen drama thrown in, and Ella looking back on what was happening in 1999. Having multiple characters tie between the two time periods (Linden is a small town) really helped make everything work. Honestly, this would have been a 5-star read for, except the ending was a little abrupt and made me sad. Still, I really loved this fast-paced and intriguing thriller.