Five years ago, Ryan Richardson's life fell apart. His girlfriend was taken while they were on a date, he sustained a head injury and couldn't remember anything, and everyone suspected Ryan of killing Ali. His college basketball career never happened as it was supposed to and how he's changed his name and is in law school.

While on a school trip to Italy with his classmates, Ryan gets a phone call from his father. Ali's car has been found with two dead men and a mysterious note inside. Then Ryan sees the man who took Ali, the one memory he has of that dreadful night.

Ryan goes on a worldwide adventure trying to figure out what exactly happened to Ali and never guesses that the answers may lie with a young Kansas deputy sheriff and a Philadelphia mobster.

My thoughts:
This was the best thriller I've read in a long time. The multiple perspectives kept me intrigued and when the seemingly separate plot lines started to entwine, my jaw hit the floor.

This was my second Alex Finlay book and the first one I read was on audio and I thought was just meh. I couldn't take my eyes off the page for this one and have since recommended it to multiple people. The fast-paced, twisty adventure was thrilling and there was great character development, despite the multiple plot lines.

I cannot recommend this one enough!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the digital copy. My review is honest and voluntary.

After reading and enjoying What Have We Done I was really excited to give another book by Alex Finlay a try. If Something Happens To Me did not disappoint! This book is a fast paced and action packed thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. I loved the truly unique characters and different storylines. The shorter chapters helped me fly through and devour this book. I definitely recommend this for fans of fast paced thrillers!

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this fast-paced thriller! While the final twist at the end did not completely surprise me, I did not predict the twist at the middle that connected all of the stories together. This was definitely one of my favorites of Finlay!

Ryan Richardson has been living a nightmare for the past five years. One terrible night the car door was ripped open and he was yanked out of the car with a crushing blow to his head. His girlfriend disappears without a trace. With suspicion hanging over his head, he has to change his name and move on. While on a summer trip abroad with his law school classmates, the guy who jerked him out of the car on that fateful night appears and wants to meet with him. Ali's car has been found at the bottom of the lake with two dead men inside. This story is so fun to read. It is told from several points of view but is told seamlessly and I never got confused. It is easy to follow and a quick read. I really liked it! Thanks to @NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

One of my new things is to not read the summary before I start reading a book. I'll read it before deciding whether to request a book, but otherwise I want to go into the book as blind as possible. That worked wonderfully for this book! It was a slow start as the various characters and storylines were being developed. It meant I could enjoy the different story lines, not knowing how or when they would merge. I almost felt this book could be the start of a series featuring Poppy McGee (what a name!) and Chantelle Luna. And as much as I generally do not like long epilogues that answer all the questions, I felt like this one did a good job of giving enough of an idea about where the characters move on to without the neat little pretty packaging many authors succumb to!

IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME is a just what you should pick up if you're in the market for a fast-paced thriller. It jumps right into the mystery in the first chapter, and is consistent all the way through. The characters are quite dynamic, and Finlay gives you a little bit of everything. At many points it feels like the storylines will never cross, and then the mystery unravels and I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty shook by it. Between the descriptive Italian setting, and the race to discover the truth, this is a thriller you won't want to put down.

*3.5 rounded up*

Alex Finlay is back with another novel of multi-POVs, interwoven fates, and people who can inexplicably kick the ass of anyone who tries to come after them, Finlay somehow continuously writes the same story over and over, while keeping it fresh and the twists exciting. This is probably my favorite Finlay novel in a while as I felt that What Have We Done was a bit convoluted and hard to follow.

The story in If Something Happens to Me is compelling, and I thought the twists were all earned and lit me up! Another interesting thing about this one is that I actually loved all of the characters. Even the designated bad guys had me on their side at certain points. I wanted everyone to win somehow!

The only thing that really knocks it down for me is the epilogue, which was either made me angry or made me wonder “why even include this”. Finlay cannot help himself sometimes when it comes to wrapping things up. He also loves letting his audience know how he feels about the current state of affairs in the world, which I could also totally do without. Especially because all of his characters seem to share the same sentiments. I would appreciate if his characters were a bit more, well rounded when it comes to their personal ideals.

All in all, it was a fun and easy read. Finlay will keep me coming back for now. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for this honest review.

A few years after Ali's disappearance, Ryan has put his life together. On a trip with fellow law students, Ryan entertains the idea of a new relationship. Only to be stalled by the discovery of Ali's car. And two murdered men. Ryan becomes obsessed with discovering the truth.
Great suspense. I loved all the shifting elements - plot lines converging, twists and shady people. Very well done.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of this book! If Something Happens to Me was a wonderful and thrilling read that was fast-paced and well-planned. We have Ryan, a young man still haunted by the disappearance of his high school girlfriend, Alison Lane; Michael, an accountant working for a terrifying crime syndicate leader; and Poppy, a small-town police officer who suspects that the truth to the Alison Lane disappearance is closer to home than she thinks.

The plot was impressively developed with three different characters’ perspectives that eventually converge. I had a strong sense of intrigue throughout the book and the author did a great job keeping me insatiably curious. My one gripe is that the switching between POVs was very fast and abrupt. I could get whiplash from how quickly I was yanked from one perspective to the other, and some of the chapters in each character’s eyes were as short as just a couple pages. I felt like I would have enjoyed more time getting settled into each character’s role before being shifted to the next perspective, but the momentum was definitely fast to keep the story moving!

Another well written, fast paced book by this author. At the beginning of the book there were many characters introduced that I was uncertain how they fit into the storyline. I kept reading and after several plot twists,( I never saw coming), the story all came together.
Highly recommend. this book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ADR.

“If Something Happens to Me” is a gripping thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. For the past five years, Ryan Richardson has been haunted by the night his girlfriend, Ali, was taken. With no trace of Ali or her car, suspicion hangs over Ryan. But when Ali’s car is finally found submerged in a lake, Ryan’s search for the truth takes him from Tuscany to the UK and Paris. This was a fast read that I thoroughly enjoyed. The chapters were short, there were multiple points of view and multiple locations. It was an exciting read from beginning to end.
Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was pretty gripping! However, not his best. I am generally a big Alex Finlay fan, but I just had a bit of a harder time getting into this one. I felt that it was pretty predictable if you were paying attention and that took away from the fun a bit.

This was my first book by Alex Finlay and it definitely won’t be my last. I listened to the audiobook and I loved the narration and I felt that the storyline was written very well. I was happy with how the author connected everything in an actual smart way instead of a haphazard or flimsy connection.

Easy to listen to and binge in a day because you will want to know how everything ties together.

This is a mystery/thriller following the story of Allison. A girl who disappeared without a trace and no one knows what happened. After many years her car is recovered from the lake, but will it provide clues to what happened? Is she in the car? The story takes place from there. I enjoyed this audiobook, I thought the narrators did a great job. I think the narration played an important part in this book especially as here were a lot of characters and storylines going on in this book. If the narrators were drying and just monotone it would have made the story confusing and uninteresting.
Although I did enjoy this book and the previous books from Alex Finlay, for me, this book had too many characters and storylines. I wish it could have been condensed a little bit and we could have gone deeper into a few of the stories to learn more about those characters and more of their back story and where they came from. I felt myself getting lost and having to re-read some parts frequently. That being said, I did still enjoy unraveling Allison's story and the clues that lead us to find what happened to her.

TW/CW: Language, drinking, toxic family relationships, bullying, death by suicide, cheating, cancer, death of parent, anxiety, depression

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:
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.With no trace of Ali or the car, a cloud of suspicion hangs over Ryan. But with no proof and a good lawyer, he’s never charged, though that doesn’t matter to the podcasters and internet trolls. Now, Ryan has changed his last name, and entered law school. He's put his past behind him.Until, on a summer trip abroad to Italy with his law-school classmates, Ryan gets a call from his father: Ali's car has finally been found, submerged in a lake in his hometown. Inside are two dead men and a cryptic note with five words written on the envelope in Ali’s handwriting: If something happens to me…Then, halfway around the world, the unthinkable happens: Ryan sees the man who has haunted his dreams since that night.As Ryan races from the rolling hills of Tuscany, to a rural village in the UK, to the glittering streets of Paris in search of the truth, he has no idea that his salvation may lie with a young sheriff’s deputy in Kansas working her first case, and a mobster in Philadelphia who’s experienced tragedy of his own.
Release Date: May 28th, 2024
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 336
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. The book seemed short
2. Writing style was good

What I Didn't Like:
1. Hated all the pov's - just too many for me
2. All kids in book are like 30 year olds in children's bodies
3. Book felt too basic for a crime thriller
4. Didn't feel like there was a mystery here
5. Repetitive parts

Overall Thoughts:
{{Disclaimer: I write my review as I read}}

What is up with these huge synopsis' lately? It's like a whole page long.

How does the sheriff know there was foul play if the two bodies have been submerged for years?

Is it weird that I think that the sheriff was behind Alison's death.

Okay so the dudes don't have fingerprints but they have dental records so couldn't they identify them by that.

What is with this weird pov of Patrick? It's like it's 1940s and he's the Irish man in the Malfi and controlling the dealings and protection of the street on that side of town. Is this Fargo?

It's so weird to me that these Irish people are dining at an Italian place. Do the Italians not run any part of Philly? These parts sound like it's 1940s/50s mob.

I had to laugh because Poppy acting like she just knew that something was happening in her in her own family when so many people told her that her family was behind it all. Ridiculous.

Another kid introduced into a thriller where the kid is some genius. He starts a podcast at 8 years old and solves 3 cold cases in 4 years. Of course.

It was so stupid for two missing penkie dude showing up to tell Ryan him to figure out what's going on and then disappear. So Ryan just so easily can trace him down and jump a plan to find him. Plus this dude knows he's being followed but still uses his name and location in the guest book that's left open.

The Irish go all Final Destination on the kids that bullied Anthony, killing them off one by one.

This Jones dude was not that far ahead of him in travel, but by the time Ryan gets to his house finds Jones he got home, tortured, murdered, and the police are already at his house. {{it's been 2 days}}

Alison was actually Taylor and Taylor was apart of a group of people that bullied Anthony. Michael and Taylor restart somewhere else after Patrick sees that Alison was apart of it.

God, this book makes it seem sooooo easy to find people that were so hard for people with money to not be able to do. Ryan's just able to find allison. He manages to find the eight finger dude. It all just seems so simple when he tries to find them. I'm also completely confused why finger guy found Ryan when there was no point. No one was looking for Ryan. The only one who saw Ryan was the evening guy and he took off.

Why would Michael even tell the dude how much money he has in the bank account? I just think a normal person would like lie since he doesn't know how much he has.

Obviously Jane is the agent that is been turning over evidence to the crime family. There's a reason why the sheriff told poppy not to talk to her.

What is this book with Chipotle? Did the author have a deal with them to mention them so much.

Ended the way I thought it would.

Final Thoughts:
Yeah, there's a pretty small & basic mystery here, but honestly who cares. I found this story pretty boring. Everything was so dull and stale. It never felt like it was such a difficult book to understand. It definitely teetered on basic thriller book. I wish there was more to the story but it feels very generic Fargo to me.

This is my third book from this author and honestly I think it's going to be my last. Previously I have rated his books between one and two stars. I like the way he writes and I think he's very talented in how he forms sentences at structurally, but I have just been bored with the books I've read from him and felt like I wanted more.

I just found everything to be very exhausting. You get the perspective of Michael telling about Anthony dying. Then we also get Patrick talking about Anthony dying then we also get Allison's version of Anthony dying then we have to wait for poppy to catch up on Anthony dying. It's so repetitive that you're going to hear the same things over and over again while each character catches up on the story. Poppy is the densest character of them all. It takes her so long to catch up on what's happening. I don't mind being reminded what happened in the past in a story it's when it continuously happens that it wears my patience down.

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Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced ebook & Macmillan Audio for the audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4.5 Probably my favorite Alex Finlay novel yet. This reminds me most of his debut, and I loved every second of it. This book, and many by this author, expertly walk the line between action and character. There is backstory, interesting characters, action, and some twists to keep you from ever wanting to put the book down. I know I really would have loved to have had the time to devour this in one sitting.

Told in multiple POVs, this definitely shocked me with a reveal towards the middle. Now that I’m looking back, I should have figured this out, but being surprised was way more fun!

This was a perfect weekend read for me and I can’t wait for this authors next release!

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Another amazing thriller/mystery from Alex Finlay! This five-star read joins the ranks of his other phenomenal books. I have been a fan since “Every Last Fear” - and each book since has proven that he is one of the best in the genre.

This story is told from three perspectives: Ryan Smith, a college student, Poppy McGee, a new Deputy Sheriff, and Shane O’Leary, a Philadelphia businessman. These three people appear to have nothing in common, but soon enough, the reader is drawn into a story of cat and mouse that moves at a pace so fast your head will spin.

There are so many great twists and turns in this story, but there is one that made me yell “Wow!” out loud. It is so hard for me to get into the details here without giving anything away. I will say that what I really liked with this one was the short, fast chapters, and the small details this author leaves along the way. I would come across one, and know that I needed to file it away for later. If you are a reader of this author’s books, you know he ties everything up in the end. This one was no different. The epilogue left me a very satisfied reader.

I would also like to highly recommend the audiobook version of this one. It has three incredible narrators that do a terrific job.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to read/listen to this fantastic book! I am truly grateful. This author is an auto buy for me, and I will be recommending this one to everyone! It releases on May 28th. It is the perfect thriller to kick off your summer reading.

I'm an Alex Finlay fan so was thrilled to get a copy of If Something Happens to Me. As you'd expect from Finlay, this thriller had twists and turns galore, relatable characters, and a quick pace pulling you to the last pages. Highly recommend this one!

"But in this moment, he decides he’s not going to run from himself anymore, not going to be afraid anymore. Tomorrow morning, he will confront The Monster."

This is a complex thriller spanning multiple countries with a large cast of characters. At first none of their stories seem connected.

I do struggle to enjoy books like this that have so many moving parts. It never felt cohesive enough for me to fully enjoy.

Thank you St Martin's press for giving me an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book! I was constantly wondering how all of the story lines were going to connect. I’ve never read a book with a mob story line but this didn’t feel overly corny or dramatic. I thought the twist in the middle was great, but the ending was a little anticlimactic. Overall, I enjoyed reading this and will recommend it.

Review posted on Instagram @readwithkendall