“You’re a big guy, why didn’t you put up a fight? How could someone just take her?”

If Something Happens to Me is dying to be made into a film and it needs to be directed by Martin Scorsese! This was an intense international ride from Philadelphia and Kansas all the way to Italy, England and France.

Ryan and Ali are high school sweethearts spending the evening together at the local “lover’s lane” when suddenly a man with missing pinky fingers bashes Ryan over the head and yanks him from the car. Ryan hears Ali’s screams as the car speeds away and she’s taken. With no car and no Ali, Ryan is suspected of killing her.

Years later, Ryan has changed his last name and is vacationing in Italy with his law school friends when he gets the news that Ali’s car has been found…with two dead men in it, but no Ali. Then a note is slipped under Ryan’s hotel room door, “I know who you are”, with an address to meet the mysterious sender.

This story is jam packed with compelling characters aside from Ryan including Poppy McGee (my favorite), a newly appointed deputy sheriff, who spent the last three years in the army and Shane O’Leary, the head of an organized crime family who is worried about his teenage son. All of these characters feel fully fleshed out and complex, along with the people in each of their lives who are also integral pieces of the puzzle.

Alex Finlay knows how to write an explosive edge-of-your seat action packed thriller! At one point I was surprised, which is hard to do and I have to give kudos where it’s due. That little “aha”! moment and the break neck speed of the pacing made this a five star read for me. I’ll be digging into Finley’s backlist for sure.

Thank you Alex Finlay, Minotaur Books, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

If something happens to me is about two high school sweethearts who have their whole lives together ahead of them. They are planning their future and their long distance relationship as they embark on separate college journeys, when their future gets ripped away from them in what appears to be a violent kidnapping.

This book gripped me from the first chapter, I was immediately invested into their relationship and even though I had an idea of what was going to happen, I found myself holding my breath as events unfolded.

To then find that Ryan was not only suspected and outcasted by his small home town, but also holding on to his deep feelings for his missing girlfriend many years later, I knew that no matter what happened I would be backing our MC.

Ryan is on a school vacation 5 years later. He has reinvented himself. Nobody knows who he is or what happened to him. Out of nowhere he gets a call that will change his life, and from then on events get crazier and crazier.

I absolutely loved the twists and turns in this book. I was a big fan of the MC and really wanted the best possible outcome for him.

It was a lot of fun watching things all come together and seeing all the secrets come to light.

Thank you to Alex Finlay, NetGalley, st martins press and Minotaur books for an advanced copy!

This was an enjoyable thriller, with a sympathetic main character, plenty of action, and twists and turns. While I don’t feel this was Alex Finlay’s best (“Every Last Fear” and “The Night Shift” are excellent and not to be missed), it was still a good read and a atmospheric engrossing thriller.

What a ride!
This was my first Alex Finlay book and I loved it!

This book is fast paced, intense and has so many twists!

I really enjoyed the multiple characters and how the story came together at the end. It was so smart!

It was very entertaining, and hard to put it down.

A quick read and gripping!
I highly recommend.

Thank you so much NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Coming out on 05/28/2024

Loved this compulsive read. Great characters, fast paced, and multiple timelines. I will be highly recommending this book to others.

When a local basketball star, Ryan meets Ali in 9th grade, he was smitten. They dated for 4 years, and as they were about to head to separate colleges, Ali goes missing with Ryan present. Ryan is placed under extreme suspicion, because its always the boyfriend, right? Although not arrested, Ryan has to live with the trauma for the rest of his days. Fast forward to 5 years later and the cops still have no idea what happened to Ali. When local law enforcement locate her car at the bottom of a river, her case it brought back to the forefront of everyone's mind. It is up to a new young detective to sink her teeth in and prove herself with this case.

There are mobsters, murder, torture, and a lot of other exciting aspects to this story. I was left guessing until the last page and I was NOT disappointed!

Alex Finlay turned into an "Auto-purchase" author for me after reading "Night Shift" and HE DID IT AGAIN! "If Something Happens to Me" is captivating from the first chapter. I read it in one sitting - Highly recommend!

lex Finlay is a master of mystery/thriller writing and I am totally on board with any and every future book. This one threw me for a loop that actually made my jaw drop. Many thanks to NetGalleY for an ARC.

Alex Finley has been on my radar for a while now, but this was my first read from him. I enjoyed this novel, very much so! It felt like a modern Robert Ludlum book with many moving parts and non-stop action. The characters weren't extremely fleshed out though, with the exception of maybe Shane, and I couldn't tell how he fit in with the other stories but wasn't disappointed when that was revealed. Overall this was an engaging book and I would like to read more from Alex Finlay.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for granting me this ARC for an honest review. I loved this one, lots of characters and trying to figure how they were all connected made the story so good. If you love suspense, this is the book for you. As always great work by Alex Finlay!

Alex Finlay knows how to write a thriller. I couldn't put this one down! Just when I thought I had all the answers and understood the characters he threw a new twist at me. I highly recommend reading this book when it is released in May of this year.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Alex Finlay and Netgalley for a chance to read this ARC!

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martins Press and Alex Finlay for the advance reading ebook.

An incredible twisty disappearance / mystery / suspenseful thriller.
This is un-put-down-able! Your mind will go back and forth with who and what happened only to be on the edge of your seat with wonder and for me amazement!

It’s my first by this author and I’m a fan after reading this fast-paced story.

3.5 out of 5 ⭐️

This story focuses on a missing girl, presumed dead; her boyfriend at the time was long thought to have been responsible. He tries to move on, starts a new life when a mysterious stranger shows up. The missing girl's car is discovered but what it contains sparks more questions than it answers.

There were lots of good twists and turns and some good mystery tropes handled outside the normal ways. This was a quick read, with good pacing.

It had a little bit too many elements that have been done and done again: A person of power done wrong, a revenge story, a code that only one person can solve, a double cross, a sacrifice, a faulty memory, a rogue. Although they were all handled well, it felt a bit too much. I would have liked the characters to be fleshed out a bit more.

Overall, a good read.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I don’t think this author is capable of writing a bad book. This was a fast-paced, completely captivating thriller/crime fiction novel that grips onto you from the beginning and keeps you hanging on until the last page. Told from multiple POVs, you’ll definitely have an “ohhhh” moment when everything clicks together.

Fantastic thriller with a hefty crime novel focus which wasn’t quite my expectation but it worked very well. Thanks for the arc

First off thank you so much to the publisher!! I’m truly thankful for the opportunity to have read this novel!!

This novel starts out with Alison and Ryan at lovers lane and.they are talking about next steps and futures. When Ryan’s world is shattered. He wakes up no Allison and a bump over the head.

Over the next 5 years Ryan is trying to move on from all the bad publicity and all the negative things surrounding when Allison disappeared. Then Ryan gets a call that Allison’s car has been found in the lake and Ryan’s world is turned upside down! With the help of a new cop, Poppy, Ryan sets out to find the truth and to figure out what really happened that night!!

I really loved this book!! Alex Finlay never disappoints!! The characters were likable and just a good plot!! I loved the action. I loved the short chapters!
There is only one thing that kind of disappointed me and that was the ending. It was so abrupt. With all the action throughout the book I thought the ending would be epic. The epilogue was just so quick to the point and it was rushed. But besides that incredible storyline!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

The first thing I did when I finished If Something Happens To Me was hop over to Amazon and download every book written by the author. Alex Finlay - where have you been all my life? This thriller was a rollercoaster ride that kept me guessing with every page. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, Finlay cleverly threw in a twist that gave me whiplash. I predict that If Something Happens To Me will be THE hit of the Summer.

Oh my goodness!!! This book is told through multiple point of views and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how they connected. Then it was revealed and I was shocked! I’ve been struggling this month to get through books….but not this one!!!

This is Alex Finlay's best work yet.

He manages multiple characters, timelines, and settings with clarity and keeps the plot moving very quickly without leaving the reader behind. Short chapters help with that, but it's more than that. He is a master at understanding how all the pieces work and how to use them to build toward a satisfying conclusion without weighing down the story with unnecessary details.

The characters feel real, and you truly root for them (or against them!), and he keeps the stakes high. Finlay is a brilliant thriller writer, and I highly recommend this one!

Absolutely devoured this book! I’m a huge fan of Alex Finlay and as a Kansan, I loved that part was set in Kansas. The super short chapters and many twists had me struggling to put this down! If you’re a fan of Harlan Coben or Charlie Donlea you will love the works of Alex Finlay. Pick this one up when it comes out in May. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Ryan Richardson will never forget the night that his girlfriend, Ali was taken. He will never forget her loud screams. It happened five years ago.

Someone opened the car door, hit him hard in the head and pulled Ryan from the car. Ali disappeared without a trace of her along with the car.

Ryan had a good lawyer and was never charged. Later in his first basketball game at Kent State the opposing team shouted from the bleachers: Killer..
..Killer..Killer. The harassment was awful and not just from the rival teams but from podcasts, true crime shows and from internet trolls too.
So Ryan skipped playing basketball, and changed his name from Ryan Richardson to Ryan Smith and transferred to a new college to go to law school.

Then Ali's vehicle is found submerged in Suncatcher Lake five years later and two guys were found dead in the car. The big question is Who are the two dead men? Also a cryptic note was found and written on the envelope in Ali's handwriting is a note that says, If Something Happens To Me. Trying to figure out what this note says is another big mystery.

I am a big fan of this author. He cracked this one out of the ball park! I was loving this one straight from the beginning and to the very end. I could not put it down. So much was going on.I couldn't put this one down. This is a very intense read. When you open up the book make sure you don't have any plans because all you will want to do is read this book. Lock your doors and turn off your phone. This book was Amazing! Also it's full of twists and turns with characters that are so well developed.
I am jumping up and down with excitement on how much I am crazy in love this book. I can talk about this one all day long. This is an addicting fast paced read.
I want to thank Minotaur Books and Netgalley for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.