An absolute page turner!!! I love when an author keeps the story moving along. No added fluff! This is exactly that book. I read this book in 2 days because I couldn't put it down and needed to know what was going to happen next!

Poppy returns home to a small town in Kansas, after being discharged from the army. Now she's starting a new job with the sheriff's office. On her first day, a car is removed from a local lake that reopens a cold case from 5 years ago. Such a great story that takes you all over the U.S and Europe!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's press for the ARC!

4.5 -- "If Something Happens to Me" by Alex Finlay is a gripping thriller that skillfully intertwines multiple storylines, spanning across various locales and characters. With short, pacey chapters and adrenaline-fueled twists, Finlay keeps readers guessing until the very end. While navigating the diverse cast and expansive setting requires patience, the payoff is a satisfying 'aha' moment that ties everything together. This fast-paced novel is a must-read for fans of suspenseful storytelling.

Finlay is back, and better than ever! This book hooked me immediately from the prologue, and never let me go! I loved seeing how these vastly different lives and stories came together in an explosive finale. While I did guess one part of the story, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book, and makes the top of my favorite Finlay story so far. I alternated between the audio and ebook, and both narration and physical reading were phenomenal and I blew through it in less than 24 hours.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan audio, and St. Martins Press for my ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Let me preface this by I am usually a romance reader but I throw in thrillers every so often. This one was hit and miss for me. I liked the premise of the story but it was hard to follow the multiple POVs sometimes. The ending was great though!

Solid 3.5/4 stars for me!

Five years ago in Leavenworth, Kansas, high school sweethearts Ryan Richardson and Alison Lane were on a date when he was yanked out of the car. He was left knocked out and she and her car disappeared. Suspicions ran high that Ryan was responsible, but there was no proof, but he was harassed enough that he changed his last name. Now Ryan is in law school at Georgetown and traveling with classmates in Italy, but he still thinks of Alison and the vague recollection he has of a man he saw that night, a man with missing fingers.

Now in Leavenworth on Poppy McGee's first day as the new Deputy Sheriff a car is found submerged in a lake. It is the car Alison was driving, but she's not in it. Two dead men are. Alison's purse is in the car and an envelope is found with the words "If something happens to me..." written on it.

Shane O'Leary, a mobster in Philadelphia has a son who is being bullied in school. His wife, Gina, is frantic. O'Leary turns to his accountant who has a daughter at the same school to fix the problem. And there are a few other characters along the way.

Once you start reading If Something Happens to Me it will be hard to put down. This is a smart, creative thriller full of tension, action, suspense, and unexpected twists. The pace is fast and relentless. Every different character, storyline and setting is interesting and compelling.

The beginning of each chapter helpfully informs you of the location and characters to help keep readers on track. While reading, you will question how all the storylines fit together, but it will soon become clear and along the way there will be a few surprises. The chapters are short and the pace is lightning fast.

The characters are all unique, interesting, fully-realized individuals and you will either care about what happens to them or be concerned how they fit into the plot. There may be some suspension of disbelief required, but it is easily done so you can find out what happens next. Most importantly, this was enjoyable and a pleasure to read.Thanks to Minotaur for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.







The review will be published on Edelweiss, X, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Alex Finlay is a must read for me as I have throughly enjoyed his previous books. This one I did not enjoy as much. The Story was an interesting pull for me. However, there were so many different view points I struggled to keep track and remember who was who.

I enjoyed this fast paced story. At a certain point I began wondering how all the characters would be connected and was impressed with the way the author pulled it all together. Once I knew what was going on, I couldn’t figure out how the story could conclude with both a realistic and satisfying ending, but he managed both. I’m looking forward to reading more of his books!

If Something Happens to Me is an exhilarating, fast-paced thriller told from several different POV. We travel all around the U.S. and Europe trying to solve a presumed (no body was initially found) murder, with new information that's become available. This new information provides more questions than answers, and comes with renewed danger.

All the traveling around the world was fun. (Well, some places more so than others. Obviously, virtual travel to Leavenworth, Kansas wasn't as exciting as to Montepulciano and Paris 😆.)

I highly recommend this book to fans of thrillers who enjoy multiple POV and locations, which for me, added to the excitement. The cipher element also added an intriguing layer to the mystery.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing an Advance Reader Copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for this audio edition of If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay.

I did not see this full circle coming! It starts simply enough, a teen girl is ripped from the car of her boyfriend, never seen again, presumed dead. But the rabbit hole goes deep with this one, and you got to stay on the ride to figure out whodunnit.

Sometimes a little slow, but always captivating, this was a fun thriller with all sorts of twists and turns.

My thanks to St Martin's Press, Alex Finlay and Netgalley.
Huge Finlay fan, but this book was a bit meh?
I have this reading problem. Problem is, that I truly hate books that have mobsters I'm it.
Mobsters are my most hated trope. I tend to spend damn near the whole entire book just angry and pissed off!
So, unfortunately this book had that!
Thankfully, not an overload!
I really did enjoy this book, and boy howdy, did I get it finished in about a day and a half. I loved the characters and the story was good, but I felt that something was missing.
It's all good though. Finlay on a bad day is still better than Patterson on a good one!

As always, Finlay kept me on the edge of my seat. The multiple POV’s kept me turning the pages until way too late at night. Each time a new character appeared, I had to know what was going to happen to them. Also, I tried so hard to figure out the cryptic message and I just couldn’t. I appreciate how well thought out this whole book was.

Let's start with what I DID like:
- Very short chapters
- Very quick read

What I DIDN'T like:
- This was so wildly unbelievable
- Plot holes for days
- You knew the whole situation by the halfway point
- Last half became tedious

However - I will say that if you like some quick, easy, mob-type books, you'll probably like this. Let's be honest, I hate read often. Lol so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Another solid thriller from Finlay with multiple points of view and two timelines. High school sweethearts Ryan and Ali are making out in their car in the woods when Ryan is hit over the head and Ali disappears. Five years later, Ryan has tried to put the incident and the suspicion hanging over him behind when Ali's car is found submerged in a lake with two dead men inside, along with a cryptic note from Ali that only Ryan can decipher. I really enjoyed this novel and tore through it, but the plot was both over the top and easy to forget even now, 4 days after I finished it. This will be a great summer beach read. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press / Minotaur Books for a digital review copy.

While I typically love Alex Finlays style and have read the entire backlist (except one - oops) - this didn’t do it for me. The amount of ‘suspend your disbelief’ I needed for this one was too much. Many things happened far far too conveniently and I found myself overall not immersed in the story. The cast of characters was large and to a certain extent I didn’t see the value of many of them. There was one twist I didn’t see coming and that really did add a lot to the book.

My thanks to Net Galley and St Martin s Press for allowing me to review this arc

I wont reiterate the plot because the summary is quite accurate, but will share thoughts.

This book is a page turner, quick read, has twists, interesting well developed characters, and many POVs that come together to reveal what really happened to Allison Lane. Highly recommend.

If Something Happens to Me is a fast-paced thriller about a abducted girl, presumed dead, a notorious crime boss and a new deputy in town. Many years later, clues lead the deputy down a path of new clues and intrigue, taking places on multiple continents.

The story has three main narrators:

Ryan - boyfriend of missing girl, law student who claims a man with a missing finger abducted her.
Poppy - War vet returned home to work as the local deputy in the small town of Leavenworth, Kansas.
Shane - leader of the crime syndicate in Philadelphia.

A GIANT puzzle unfolds, where all players connect for a jaw-dropping conclusion.

Thank you, Macmillan Audio

This was a gripping, fast-paced thriller about a young woman that was kidnapped and presumed dead and her boyfriend looked at as a potential suspect. As one gets further into the story, more clues come about that leads to more mysteries and some developments into the identities of those involved in the kidnapping. I was engrossed from start to finish, invested in several of the well-developed characters, and impressed with the twists and unfolding solving of the crimes. Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher for the ARC.

I'm a loyal follower of Alex Finlay's books and eagerly await his new releases every year. As much as I enjoyed his other novels, IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME far surpassed the others and is his best so far.

Told from multiple perspectives, IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME follows Ryan Richardson, whose girlfriend Alison went missing and was never found; Poppy McGee, the new deputy sheriff in town; and Shane O'Leary, head of a prominent mob family. Readers will never guess the way these three main characters, who are spread across the world, could possible be connected.

Alison Lane's disappearance has followed her high school boyfriend, Ryan, his whole life. He's been suspected and accused for years as having something to do with her disappearance. Now he's trying to move on and about to graduate with a law degree when he hears that Alison's car has been found in a lake in his hometown. Nothing else was found in the car, except a note left in a waterproof bag that says, "If something happens to me..." The rest of the note appears to be written in code, one that Ryan knows how to decipher. Will he clear his name once and for all and finally get the closer he's been seeking? Or is Alison's fate more complicated than anyone ever thought?

Finlay weaves an incredible story and intertwines the storylines and characters in ways I never saw coming. I love thrillers, but often find most of them to be formulaic and predictable. This book, however, left my jaw hanging. It's a remarkable, edge-of-your-seat puzzle that readers will delight in trying to put together. A fantastic five-star read that I absolutely recommend.

My apologies to those who enjoyed this book, however, I did not. It was simply...a mess. It wasn't the worst book I've ever read, but it's certainly in the top five. Where to begin...

I've heard so much buzz on this author and had several of his books on my TBR list. I was pretty excited when I saw that "If Something Happens to Me" was being offered on NetGalley. The bit that pulled me in was the first paragraph in the description: For the past five years, Ryan Richardson has relived that terrible night. The car door ripping open. The crushing blow to the head. The hands yanking him from the vehicle. His girlfriend Ali’s piercing scream as she is taken.

I was sold! It went on to describe clues coming to light many years later...multiple POVs...multiple settings both in the US and abroad...fast paced...thriller...and one small portion of a sentence near the end which read: ...and a mobster in Philadelphia who’s experienced tragedy of his own.

I couldn't wait to get started! Unfortunately, my excitement was short-lived.

First off, there are far too many characters, all with zero development and quite honestly, so many of them are interchangeable. The plot is ridiculously convoluted, so much so that I felt like I needed to make a spreadsheet to figure out who was who and what was going on where...and when. I mean...a decent number of said characters each had two to *four* different names and there didn't seem to be any clarity as to when and where they were used. Just whichever one you felt like using at the time? Yeah, let's use that one! I didn't care about a single character in this book nor did I care what happened to them. Not one. At any time. Too many points of view...too many settings...still not sure why we needed to be dragged all over Europe...and those multiple points of view never quite came together for me.

That one small sentence fragment about the mobster who's experienced tragedy? Pretty sure that sentence should've led the description and then went on to tell us that this book is entirely about some faction of organized crime.

There was soooo much extraneous information...like the author was trying to hit a word count. It didn't matter...it wasn't important...it didn't move the story forward...and yet, the reader has to wade through it wondering, "Why?" I think the thing that may have bothered me the most was when the reader has the exact same situation/development/history explained over and over and over...as different characters explain the same thing to other characters...repeatedly. I promise, I was paying attention the first time it happened. I didn't need a second, third, or fourth time. This book was not thrilling, nor was it suspenseful. It will not keep you guessing until the very end. You will know exactly what is going on from the beginning.

Major kudos to the reviewers who didn't force themselves to finish this book in hopes that it would, somehow, get better. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of them. I believe this will be my first and only Alex Finlay book.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books, Alex Finlay, and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Thank you @minotaur_books for my complimentary copy. My thoughts are my own.

A missing girl, a submerged car, a father out for vengeance, and a father who will do anything to save his child - this one kept me fully engaged and turning the pages. I found it to be fast-paced with some surprising twists! I really enjoyed this one. Alex Finlay is definitely an auto-buy author for me!

Read this if you enjoy:
*multiple perspectives
*alternating timeline
*intense drama
*unexpected twists