Alex Finlay is quickly becoming one of my go-to authors. All of his books have been great and his newest, If Something Happens to Me, is no exception. It seems like every book I read of his gets better than the last one. This book has different narrators with different stories! At first you wonder how they will come together, but you will soon find out! This was a thrill ride and a fast paced mystery. I could not put this book down. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I would be sure to recommend this twisty thriller. First few chapters were a bit slow, but then it was a fast paced wild ride. Enjoyed the quick chapters and multiple povs. This is a true page turner!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the earc of this book.
4stars

A slower beginning that quickly turned into a fast paced wild ride! This was a twisty thriller that had my heart pounding the entire time. It has all the elements of a great thriller - action, suspense and tension.

There are three main characters, Poppy, a war vet who is now the debut sheriff of her hometown, Ryan, once accused of murdering his girlfriend, and Shane, the lead of a major mobster gang who is out for revenge. There are also a few other very interesting characters and POVs sprinkled in.

Definitely recommend this bingable thriller!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a complimentary copy of this book.

Really enjoyed the story and the pacing. Kept my interest and never felt bogged down. Multiple POVs was done well with short chapters. Will be a great summer beach read.

3.5 / 4 ⭐️

This was quick, enjoyable, mysterious, and kept you on the edge of your seat the entire time. I felt like the back and forth places / timelines and POVs made it so that you were always invested to see how it all intertwined together.

I felt the ending was really predictable. I wanted the characters to have more depth - they were very service level and i just wanted more. there are A LOT of characters due to the different times, places and POVs.

It was fun, i liked it but i think it’ll be a book i don’t remember. It was missing something for me to get connected to the characters to push it over the edge.

If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay

Thank you to @minotaurbooks, @netgalley, and @alexfinlayauthor for the opportunity to read this #advancedreadercopy in exchange for my honest review! This thriller will be available May 28 so preorder now!

Alex Finlay has done it again - What Have We Done and The Night Shift both left me shook and wanting more (my reviews for each are available on my IG). In If Something Happens to Me Finlay strikes the perfect balance of action packed scenes that leave you on the edge of your seat and intricately woven plot twists that require concentration to sus out. His storytelling is such that my mind choreographed the scenes before my eyes like I was part of the action. I highly recommend this for action-packed thriller fans!

TWs: mob activity, bull*ing, double cross, fr*ming, more

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ - 4.5/5

I could NOT put this book down! I read it in hours and not days. From the get go I was sucked in and fully engrossed in the story. I’ loved the mystery and all of the characters in it. Even afterwards I feel like there are no plot holes or anything to nitpic. A rarity with mysteries! I did receive a free ARC copy of this book, but all opinions are my own.

If Something Happens to Me is an addictive story. Ryan Richardson's life was thrown off track the night he was assaulted and his girlfriend Ali disappeared. There was no evidence to charge him for wrong and he has worked hard to rebuild his life. Now five years later Ali's car has been found submerged in a lake. But this seems to bring more questions than answers. Where is Ali, who are the two dead men in her car, and what really happened that night? With chapters switching between locations and perspectives, we slowly begin to see the picture of events. The story is complex and ingeniously woven together. With satisfying twists and reveals, I enjoyed this one from start to finish.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was really good! I’m not typically a fan of mysteries/thrillers that deal with mob families, but Alex Finlay did a great job weaving multiple perspectives together to create a twisty mystery that speaks to how far we will go for the ones we love. The pacing was really good, and it’s definitely a mystery that you won’t want to stop until the last page!

Absolutely Amazing! A story so full of twists and turns, drama, action and of course betrayl. I absolutely loved it from the very beginning. The way everything comes together makes this fast paced thriller seem to just fly by. Great characters and amazing world building for just a phenominal book. I was completely captivated and wish I could read it again for the first time!

I received a free copy of, If Something Happens to Me, by Alex Finlay, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Ryan changed his last name after the attack, when he was pulled out the car and his girlfriend Ali is kidnapped. This book is a little to violent for me. This book was a little confusing having 3 points of view. It was an ok read confusing at times though.

Thanks to Netgalley & St Martins Press for the arc of this awesome upcoming thriller!
I'm LOVING how many 5 star reads l've had lately!
late this one up! The beginning had me hooked and I didn't want to put it down. I really liked how this book had multiple POVs but not too many to where it was hard to keep up. When the timelines came together at the end of part 1 for the first big twist, my jaw hit the floor. Like let me go back and read that again lol. More twists kept coming and the storyline kept getting more intense and interesting. I loved how everything came together in the end and how all the characters were connected.
But that epilogue man.... These authors are killing it lately with the epilogues. So many book epilogues I've read this year have left me flabbergasted when I've finished.
I've only read this book and The Night Shift by Alex Finlay but this one is def my favorite between the two.
Put this book on your Ibk for May because you don't want to miss out on the excitement!

My review post is live on my Instagram, @acourtofbooks_. The link has been added along with my Goodreads review.

formal review to come. I enjoyed the multiple perspectives and storylines that all eventually came crashing into one another.

I enjoyed this one! It was a quick thriller that kept me turning the pages. I enjoyed Poppy McGee and would like another book featuring her. Although fairly predictable, it had everything I like in a thriller. Characters to root for, good pace and plotting, and a nice tidy ending.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc copy in exchange for an honest review.*

This was a book I devoured in one day. It was put together so well. The flow and pacing of the book worked so well I never really ever lost interest. I was so enthralled. Twists and twists and twists.

This is my first book by the author so I wasn't completely sure what to expect, but now I know this won't be my last by them.

I love the cryptic message plot line. I'm so intrigued when it comes to deciphering things and I love the feeling when it's finally revealed. The plot as a whole may have been a bit over-the-top and not totally realistic, but I was still eating it right up.

🔍 So fast-paced
🔍 Twisty!
🔍 Multiple POV
🔍 Cryptic message
🔍 Who can you trust?

I never really guessed what was happening, but I also wasn't shocked when it was revealed. The story built up well to the end and the ending/twists all seemed to fit well in the story.

I didn't particularly care about the characters. It's a thriller book, so that's not really the goal, but the characters just seemed a bit dull and under-developed.

Overall, this was a fun and fast read and I can't wait to dig into some other works by the author!

Real page-turner

This caught my attention right form the start. I read until I couldn't keep my eyes open, then woke up in the middle of the night and finished it. The plot is doled out slowly. You know a girl, Ali, was captured while she and her boyfriend, Ryan, were at a lover's lane type of location. Her body was never found, but the boyfriend was considered to be a suspect. Five years later a true crime podcast finds a car with two dead bodies in a nearby lake. Brand-new sheriff deputy Poppy is assigned to look into the case of the missing girl. There is also a mob boss whose bullied son committed suicide many years before the book takes place. You know who most of the good guys and bad guys are, but the suspense lies in knowing what will happen to everyone.

I wasn't crazy about who Ryan ended up with, but enjoyed Poppy's relationship.

Thanks to Minotaur Books and St Martin’s Press for the early review copy via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I read this last week at the beach and thought it was GREAT. This book will publish at the end of next month, and I recommend checking it out for a fun twist-filled thriller!
If Something Happens to Me is all over the place location-wise - from Leavenworth, Kansas, to Philadelphia and also Tuscany, England and Paris! The author mentions in his note at the end of the book that he has spent time in all of these locations. I love when authors explain their reasoning for details like that!
As the locations vary, the book tells the tightly-woven story of the disappearance (and aftermath) of Ryan’s high school girlfriend. Ryan was knocked out by the kidnapper, and when he woke up his girlfriend was gone. Many people assume that he was involved in the kidnapping in some way, Years later, when Ryan, now with a different last name, is in law school, training to defend others going through situations similar to his past, his girlfriend’s car is located, along with new clues to her possible location.
I really enjoyed the different characters involved in the search, and I truly was clinging to my kindle, trying to figure out the mystery myself. I did foresee two plot twists (and felt so proud of myself for predicting them), but there were plenty more that I missed. I enjoyed how succinct this book was - it’s 336 pages which felt full of action.

This is my second Alex Finlay book, and knowing that I gave 5 stars to Every Last Fear gave me high hopes for this one. Unfortunately. I thought this one was just okay. It felt like there were way too many characters, and many didn’t need to be introduced (most of the Italy crew). I wish there was a little more depth to the characters so I could feel for them rather be told how they’re feeling. There were so many parts about the mob and it would have been better (in my opinion) if they didn’t show up so often and so easily.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Overall Grade: B
Story: B
Ending: B
Characters: Many of them and some were great and some dull.
Best Aspect: Part one was awesome.
Worst Aspect: Everything after part one was dull.
Recommend: Yes. (release 5/28/24)

Wow, this would make a great movie! This was my first time reading anything by Alex Finlay and he did not disappoint. If Something Happens to Me is the story of two high school seniors one night at the local make-out spot. They rush back into the car when a rain storm rolls in and all of a sudden the doors fly open. Ryan is hit on the head and dragged out the car, Alison was taken and there are no traces left when he comes to the next morning. Next we flash 5 years later where Ryan is off in Italy on a trip with his law students friends when he gets word the car finally has turned up. Inside the makeup bag that was discovered has a note that says, "If Something Happens to Me," which really re-opens the case.  A new deputy takes on the case locally, while Ryan hunts for the answers too while abroad as he believes Alison is still alive. This story has great POV's from all the major players. There's a lot to digest in the first part, but  hang with it, part two and three it all comes together and was quite the ride. If you are into small town thrillers or books featuring different mob type groups I think you'd really enjoy it! Knocked this one out in just over 2 days. Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.  3.5 stars rounded up!