✨Book Review✨

First of all, thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress - @minotaur_books for my eARC of @alexfinlayauthor ‘s newest book The Night Shift.

I read Finlay’s book Every Last Fear last year and really enjoyed it. I was so excited when I saw this one was coming out soon too, especially when I saw some of my favorite fellow bookstagrammers getting copies and raving about it!

The Night Shift encompasses two mass murders that take place fifteen years apart. The first takes place the last night of 1999 at a Blockbuster Video. Oh my goodness, this took me back! I’m showing my age here, but I remember this being a weekend ritual!!

Then, there’s even talk about the murders being on Unsolved Mysteries. Can we just take a minute to remember what it was like to listen to Robert Stack narrate the most terrifying unsolved crimes that have happened in our country?!

Ok, enough nostalgia from me…I really, really enjoyed this one! I will say that I figured out who the murderer was early on, but I didn’t have all the other details straight. Guessing the murderer didn’t ruin this for me because I was second guessing myself up until the very end. This is a perfect thriller mystery and managed to have the perfect amount of non-super-gore-y details.

Pick this one up on Tuesday, March 1st! You won’t regret it!!

There were things I really liked about this fast paced book. The chapters are very short and told through multiple POVs but I liked most of those characters and I could keep them straight. I did enjoy the fact that the first set of murders happened on New Year's Eve in 1999 at a Blockbusters, because all of that really takes you back to a very specific time and place in history that's kind of fun to replay (Be Kind Please Rewind!).

This is one of those books with lots of coincidences and improbably events. You just have to go with that. Also, Finlay doesn't understand what being 8 1/2 months pregnant with twins is like. It was cool to have a badass female character who was overly pregnant with twins, but she says things like she can't go into labor because she still has two weeks before her due date. This guy is a dad of three. Surely he's aware that a due date is not some kind of magic line you cross where babies can't come early? And with twins, it's more common to have them early. This woman would surely know that. As other reviewers have mentioned, she puts herself in dangerous situations several times despite her very pregnant state and this seems reckless and improbable.

I guessed whodunnit nearly from the start, and also guessed the other big twist. Oh yeah, and another I just remembered. It all felt pretty obvious but like I was there for the ride with the characters who had yet to discover it all. There were a couple of other elements I didn't see coming, though, and I enjoyed it even though I figured out the main things.

This might have been five stars for me (and I'm a hard sell) but for a few minor things and a lot of elements about the ending. No spoilers, but that dropped it for me. Still, I'd definitely read more by this author.

I read a digital ARC of this book via Net Galley.

I was so happy to see it only a new thriller from Alex Finlay, but a thriller featuring Agent Keller and her charming husband Bob from his previous book!

There's something so nice about reading about a detective trying to solve a murder and then coming home to an actual caring and loving relationship. I love Karin Slaughter's books and Night Shift definitely has a similar feel, but I like the way Alex Finlay writes his characters more. They feel well rounded and thought out.

I read a lot of thrillers and guessed one of the twists ahead of time here, but that didn't make the story any less enjoyable or entertaining!

The Night Shift had me going from the first page. There are quite a few characters to keep track of but they are developed very well. I loved the short chapters and the constant action. I also loved seeing the investigation from so many perspectives. Alex Findlay has written a practically perfect murder mystery police procedural.

One thing that Alex Finlay really does well is tell a story through different viewpoints, and time periods. The Night Shift is a thrilling read, that gets you playing detective right along with the characters. I especially like that a few of the characters were in his last book, but it wasn't necessary to have read that one to get the gist of them. Learning more about how all the separate character connect throughout the story really makes you invested in them, and the story itself is a twisty tale that will keep you enthralled. Anyone who is fascinated by unsolved mysteries will enjoy this read. It also has the great nostalgia factor for those who lived through the Y2K panic.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, for this free review copy.

This was my first book by Alex Finlay and it was so, so good. I could have easily read this in a single day, if I would have had the free time. I loved the multiple POV’s and the comparison between the two murders. Some thrillers are boring and so slow, but this was the total opposite. I stayed up many nights way too late, just trying to get a few more chapters in. The characters are enjoyable and you absolutely feel for them. This was one of those books that I could not figure out who was the murder, and it was a complete surprise, that ended up making all the sense in the world. I highly recommend you get your hand on this when it comes out March 15th, 2022! Hopefully it will also be a BOTM pick, so people can get their hands on it even quicker 🙌

This was an enjoyable thriller, it keeps the reader engaged the whole time.
Two time lines. First is a nostalgic one, Y2K Blockbuster night shift workers Video Store murder/massacre and a current time murder in an ice cream store, are they connected?
You get to know several characters very well and become invested in their lives and the investigation of both events.
Lots of twists and turns. 4.5 stars ⭐️ if you enjoy thrillers I think you will like this one.
I was given an arc copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

New Year's Eve 1999 - a horrific murder of several night shift employees takes place at a Blockbuster (remember those?). There is a sole survivor. Fast forward fifteen years and history repeats itself. Another murder takes place, this time at an ice cream shop in the same town. Again, there is one survivor. The original suspect from the Blockbuster murders has been missing since being released from prison all those years ago. Is he back with a vengeance? Were the ice cream shop murders perpetrated by a new killer? Or did the police have it all wrong from the beginning?

I loved Every Last Fear, so when I saw The Night Shift was being released by the same author, I knew I needed to read it ASAP. The Night Shift is told through alternating points of view, with some taking place in present day and some from the past. I had my suspicions early on, but additional details were revealed that kept me guessing. I loved how the story all came together, and the ending definitely had me feeling those feels. I also admire the author for having such a "badass" female character, as well as other strong female leads. I look forward to seeing more from this author!

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

From a multiple homicide in a Blockbuster store on New Year’s Eve in 1999, to another multiple homicide in an ice cream shop present day, this book is a complex thrill ride!

Each murder scene left one teenage girl alive, a lone survivor.

FBI Agent Sarah Keller, reminiscent of Robert Dugoni’s strong female lead, Traci Crosswhite, is tasked with determining whether the 1999 alleged murderer who disappeared after getting off on a technicality is back or if this is a copycat.

Our cast of main characters also includes:- Ella: the now-grown survivor from 1999 turned therapist who is still fighting her demons (and would not be a therapist I’d send my daughter to…); she still holds an important piece of the puzzle from 1999- Jesse: the survivor from the ice cream shop crime scene who becomes a suspect; her research abilities are impeccable and her past is a little murky- Chris: his brother was the alleged murderer who disappeared; Chris believes him to be innocent and suspects he’s been traveling the world and lawyer Chris is determined to find him

With two similar crime scenes years apart there are a lot of leads and people to chase down. The plot is complex and the suspense is high. I read this book pretty quickly.

The plot is really intriguing and brings some nostalgia from the 90s- Be Kind Rewind! And the title is perfect!

I have four beefs with this book.

First, there is quite a bit of swearing, lots of f- and s-words and some promiscuous behavior on the part of our struggling therapist.

Second, Agent Keller is 8 and 1/2 months pregnant with twins. I was pregnant with twins for 30 weeks (they were born premature) but I can tell you from personal experience that even at 30 weeks I would not have been doing most of the things Keller was doing. Also, I was told they wouldn’t let me go past 38 weeks with twins so Keller would have been mere days from delivering. In one scene she ducks under a closing garage door. Nope. Not without a major grunting noise at the very least. No running. No fast movements of any kind. Standing, sitting, and walking would all be highly uncomfortable. And definitely wouldn’t have been putting herself in such dangerous situations.

Third, Y2K is mentioned in the book summary on Goodreads but is completely irrelevant to the entire book. Seems odd that the author intentionally set the scene on that particular and significant night without incorporating it at all. Unless I missed something?

Fourth, they keep calling them mass murders, but mass murders are 4 or more deaths. I looked it up.

But the first is more significant to my opinion than the other three. The Y2K and mass murder things are nitpicky. And I can usually suspend some reality for the sake of a story. Plus seeing her strength in the workplace but also her motherly side and her relationship with her husband made her a really likable character.

I didn’t like Ella. Chris and Jesse were alright.

At 12% into the book I predicted the main part of the plot but that didn’t take away from the story. I didn’t have any real proof til the end. I just had my suspicions and have read a lot of these kinds of books.

Would I recommend you read this book? If you like suspense novels and don’t mind swearing then yeah I think you’ll definitely like this! If swearing bothers you like it did me, I’m not sure if this is worth reading.

It was a really compelling plot and well-written story, but I’m not sure I’ll read more of Finlay’s books primarily for the swearing.

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

Loved this thriller! Fast pace right from the start, and could have easily finished it in one sitting. Officially a fan of Alex Finlay. I enjoy multiple point of views, different timelines and short chapters and this book had all three. Most thrillers have me making guesses throughout the book as to what happened, but in both this book and his first book I had no clue/idea where it was going. Patiently waiting for his next book!

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

Yikes, let’s NOT party like it’s 1999!

⏰ 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫: A mass murder takes place in a local ice cream shop: three teens are dead, one left alive. Flashback fifteen years ago, New Year’s Eve 1999 and the same crime occurred at a Blockbuster video. The survivor, Ella Monroe, is now an adolescent therapist called in to help with the event, forcing her to relive her trauma while helping the newest survivor. The police, the FBI, and a defense attorney all converge to find the killer (or killers), weaving through the past and the present, intersecting their stories into a riveting conclusion.

💡𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: Love Agent Keller! Who doesn’t love a pregnant-with-twins totally bad-ass detective? And what I loved was that her pregnancy wasn’t a burden or problem to her job - she’s rocking the the whole agent extraordinaire role (hair flip it girl! 💁🏼‍♀️).

Ella Monroe, another great character, flawed but facing her fears, and Chris Ford - the dedicated defense lawyer with altruistic motives. All written adeptly, and just that perfect amount of reader attachment.

Many interesting characters and a few hmmms and ooooohs, questions and drama - all the elements that mixed together made a well-seasoned, perfectly-paced, minute-by-suspenseful-minute enjoyable mystery.

Admittedly, the killer(s) was/were kind of a “duh” in this one, but enough red herrings were thrown at me to make me second guess myself for a hot minute (just a minute, but it happened).

A few head-scratcher issues with some plausibility that held back my 5th star, though I’ll start by saying I was crazy busy reading this so not my normal “attention to detail” self. (Not a spoiler) - never understood why no one was that interested in Vince Whitaker as a suspect; he was the original suspect in the Blockbuster killings. He disappeared and yet, the police, FBI, all were like 🤷🏼‍♀️ “Meh, maybe it’s him but who knows? Oh well! Let’s look all these other places!” Say whaaaa? I’ve watched enough ID Channel to know that’s NOT right, 😆. But I clearly got over it 🤷🏼‍♀️ .

𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆𝗠𝗮𝗴𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

📚𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Mystery/Police Procedural

😍𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨: Those ready for a quick well-paced character-driven read, able to suspend a little disbelief.

🙅‍♀️ 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨: If you can’t get past some of the ??? moments I was able to overlook.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my always-honest review and for Agent Keller and my hope that she returns to my life in the future!

Another excellent mystery thriller by Alex Finlay that kept me on my toes the whole way through! I enjoyed the author’s previous book, Every Last Fear, but this one sucked me in even more! The storyline and characters were well thought out, and the short chapters made it even easier to fly through. Highly recommend this one!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Publishing for allowing me to read an electronic ARC for my honest review.

The hook of this being set around Y2K is misleading at best - I respect the hustle of appealing to nostalgia, but if you're looking for something that has 90s vibes, you're not going to get any of that here. The bulk of the action takes place in modern day, with some brief flashbacks to establish the background of the OG crime.

In 1999, a murder took place at a Blockbuster and there was a single survivor. Flash forward to modern day - a very similar crime leaves just one survivor at a local ice cream shop. Are these connected? If so, how? What ever happened to the original suspect who managed to skip town? Was he even guilty?

We primarily follow:
-The original suspect's younger brother, who is now a public defender
-The original survivor, who is now a social worker
-A very pregnant FBI agent

This book kept me engaged and questioning from beginning to end. I suspected just about everyone and even the red herrings/false leads were interesting and well-written. When Every Last Fear by this author, my biggest issue was that the young characters were poorly/unrealistically written, so it works better that even though there are teen characters here, we're not seeing the story from their perspective, so I never had that complaint this time. Would def recommend this one. There wasn't any je ne sais quoi or *mind blown* that pushes it over the top to a 5 star read, but everything came together well and I didn't remotely guess the ending. I'll be thinking about it for a bit and looking out for future reads by this author.

This book is written from multiple perspectives but doesn't get confusing. Three lives intersect: the survivor of the Blockbuster massacre who’s forced to relive her tragedy; the brother of the original suspect, who’s convinced the police have it wrong; and the FBI agent, who’s determined to solve both cases.

Wow. This book is so twisty, so good. It had the perfect amount of suspense. It was definitely not predictable to me. This is my first read from Alex Finlay. It won't be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and St. Martin's Press for the ARC! Get this book March 1st!

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 by Alex Finlay - 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨ 4.5/5
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𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. That is how I will describe this thriller. On New Years Eve 1999, four teens were murdered at their job - and one survivor remained. Fifteen years later, an identical murder occurs. Is the killer back? Is there a new killer?
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This one has multiple POVs adding to the suspense. My theories continued to change throughout this ride. There was more than one twist, one I definitely didn’t see coming - one I did. 🔎 This book is incredibly fast-paced and will pull you in at the very beginning. Definitely recommend!
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Favorite Line ~ “The sheep spends its life worried about the wolf, only to be eaten by the farmer.”

Wow okay, I REALLY enjoyed this one.

I’m not usually a huge fan of multiple POV’s because I think they tend to get confusing, but this one worked! We had three POV’s and two timelines and both of those things really helped keep my interest in this book.

I called the killer very early on, but this book still had enough shocking twists that the rest of the story stayed interesting and surprising.

THE NIGHT SHIFT (4⭐️)

my first thought while reading: this would make such a good movie! My second thought: holy crap there are so many characters in this book idk how I’m going to keep them all straight 😂

this was a fun one! That first chapter!! Oh man, it sucks you right in. It’s 1999 and three teens are murdered at a blockbuster. Fifteen years later, another three teens are killed at an ice cream shop. So obviously we’re trying to figure out if these two events are connected right?! This was a perfect fast paced thriller with multiple POV’s (my fave) and just the right amount of suspense.

every chapter ends on sort of a cliffhanger, but then it would switch to another POV the next chapter just to toy with my emotions!! This will be the reason you stay up til 1am reading this because you literally can’t put it down. The ending wasn’t a HUGE surprise, but there were a few other surprises along the way which made up for that.

also, unrelated to the plot, but the mention of blockbuster had me feeling a little nostalgic. I’d literally sell my soul to go back to those times 😭

I loved this one. The eerily similar murders 15 years apart were so intriguing and I loved the different perspectives the story was told from. I enjoyed the complexity of the characters and the different layers to the story; it was done in a way that moved the plot along quickly and didn’t get too jumbled. The series of bombshells throughout the latter half made me keep turning the pages. While I kinda had an idea of what direction the ending was going toward, I didn’t have the whole picture and was shocked at the end!

I am at a solid 4 ⭐ for this one. Although I did find most of it predictable it was still quite enjoyable.

I love, love, love when my books are told from multiple points of view and this time we get 3.
It takes place over 3 days with some flashbacks to 1999.
Ella is a therapist who was the sole survivor of a mass murder in 1999.
Chris is a public defender and the brother of the accused murderer.
Sarah is a FBI agent working a case 15 years later with similarities.

Like I said I did figure out most of the twists, however I did get blindsided with a couple of things. It was definitely an action packed, fast paced, suspenseful thriller that I would recommend.
I feel like Agent Keller could have been a little less pregnant for all the 'Badassness' she did though.

*Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Alex Finlay for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

Two horrendous murders take place in Linden, NJ years apart. The first occurs on New Year’s Eve, 1999 at the local Blockbuster Video store. The manager and three teenage girls working the late shift are stabbed to death. One teenager, Ella Monroe, survives. Vince Whitaker, another high school student is the prime suspect, yet he soon disappears. Fifteen years later, another brutal stabbing takes place during the night shift at a local ice cream shop. There are four young victims and one, high school student Jesse Duvall, survives. Ella, now a therapist, is asked to help Jesse get through this trauma. Ella is still trying to cope with her own trauma from the Blockbuster murders, masking her pain with pills and risky behavior.

A very pregnant FBI agent, Sarah Keller, is called in to help with the investigation. When Chris, a local public defender, gets involved in the case he needs to hide his connection to the still-missing Whitaker. There are a lot of moving pieces in this exciting thriller. Author Alex Finlay has created a large cast of characters whose lives slowly and effectively intertwine. The Night Shift is a highly suspenseful thriller that kept me glued. It’s fast-paced and fully engaging, similar to Finlay’s 2021 debut, Every Last Fear, which was a favorite. The author (who writes under a pseudonym) is now an auto-read for me. Don’t miss this one.