Wow. So many twists and turns. Finlay delivers an action packed thriller with If Something Happens to Me. The chapters are short, which I like. I think it helps to keep the story moving along and not get bogged down. But the story itself...I wanted to keep reading to see how everything tied together and then when it hit, it really hit. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting an easy to read thriller that is still a sharp story. 5 stars

Wow! What a book. Takes you on a ride that kept me engaged the whole time. Read it in one day!

Synopsis:
The book follows a new Kansas cop, a law student on a trip to Italy, a Philly mob, and people in hiding. It weaves together, across multiple counties, a crime, with wreckage in its wake, quite a tale. High School graduate, Alison Lane goes missing, and we think the story starts here but really Alison's story starts much earlier; her mistake as a 14 year old followers her well into her 20s. Her high school boyfriend, accused of murdering her, never knew what happened to her until working with the Kansas cop, while he's abroad in Italy, realizes she is still alive. Alison's dad is an Iraq vet, an accountant, and also a man on the run desperately trying to protect his daughter from the mob.

Positives:
- fun and easy read even though the story could get confusing.
- Would absolutely recommend this book!

Negatives:
- It was just a lot of different interweaving story lines that it was a little exhausting to keep up. Some of the jumping from place to place seemed like over kill.

A suspenseful binge-worthy read! Ryan is having a romantic tryst with this high school girlfriend after graduation when she is abruptly pulled from the car and he is knocked unconscious. After that night, Ryan's life is derailed as he is suspected in her disappearance, even though DNA evidence points to a local serial killer. Meanwhile, a mob boss is struggling with an adolescent son who is not adapting to his new private school. The two storylines intersect and provide plenty of moments to keep readers on the edge of their seat.

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books in return for an honest review.

This book was super twisty and kept me guessing! Alex Finlay is an auto-read author for me and this one did not disappoint!

Holy. What. A. Ride.

A quick 4 hour binge reading session because I went into this ARC thinking I’d give it 10% a day and ended up not being able to put it down.

It was the perfect length, read fast-paced and contained an insane plot with gripping twists. I almost felt like I was playing a game of Clue putting the pieces together. There were so many characters that you’d think weren’t relevant, until they were.

The book contains multiple POVs narrated in third person:
1. Ryan—A current law student in Italy that changed his name and fled after being suspected of his high school girlfriend Alison’s murder.
2. Poppy—The deputy sheriff that recently moved back to town after being discharged from the army. Alison’s cold case is the first on her list of assignments and she’s hoping to prove herself.
3. Shane—A mobster seeking revenge for the loss of his teenage son and all of those involved in his death who will stop at nothing until the job is done.
I would detail some of the side characters but it’s more fun to lay the pieces together while you’re reading. They’re all important pieces to a thrilling puzzle and it’s anybody’s guess who is affiliated with who. Although the book has multiple POVS, it was pretty easy to figure out whose it was.

During Poppy’s first shift as deputy sheriff, the last car Alison Lane was seen in before her abduction, was discovered. In it were two deceased men, but no trace of Alison. Sealed in Alison’s waterproof makeup bag was a letter, <i>If Something Happens To Me</> and Poppy must work with people of Alison’s past to decode this letter and piece together Alison’s disappearance. But who can she trust?

This was my first Alex Finlay book and now I must go obtain the others. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me an ARC copy to read and review.

Unputdownable and his best one yet! This is my fourth book by Mr. Finlay and he has never disappointed. He delivers an intricately plotted thriller with head spinning twists and characters you can root for. I will read anything this author writes! Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on May 28, 2024

I still can’t over the fact that I get to read advance readers copy of books! I feel so honoured every single time!

Thankyou @netgalley and @minotaur books for providing me with this one!

After a few really bad reads I was desperate for something exciting and man this book delivered!
From the first page to the last I was invested fully. I went in having some ideas about where the story would go after reading the blurb but nope, the twists and turns kept me guessing throughout.
I loved the characters, and watching their evolution. There’s a particular plot point that made me heave a sigh of relief when it unfolded but I won’t disclose it here as that would be a spoiler.
My recommendation is to go into this book as blindly as you possibly can and just buckle your seatbelt. It’s going to be an epic ride!

I’ve really enjoyed reading a couple of books by this author so I was excited to read his latest book and it does not disappoint. As always he weaves together a story you cannot put down. Even though I saw the plot twists coming the story is so engaging it did not in anyway diminish the fun in reading it. There are so many believable things, like obviously the boyfriend would be tarnished and found guilty in the court of public opinion and there is that YouTube channel that famously found the submerged victim before the cops did that the story starts out with a solid foundation. That helps as things start to build and go in different directions.

I very much enjoyed the pacing and story but I really hope next time the author does strain credibility. There are ridiculous choices that leave killers alive and talk about not hurting anyone or using guns which are ridiculous in this type of violent story. That are obvious plot choices that could have been more believable but again despite these criticisms it is a very enjoyable book and I look forward to the next one.

I was hooked from the first page. Tension flows through the pages. The intertwining of the characters keeps the reader anticipating how they’re connected. The short chapters make easy reading and suspense building! Highly recommend this book!

This book had some good parts like the three different views but it didn’t have a lot of thrill. The ending also was just ehh.

Alex Finlay has written another fast paced thriller. Five years ago, Ryan and his girlfriend Ali were parked at the local “lover’s lane”. He’s attacked and when he comes to, Ali and the car are gone. The only thing he remembers about his attacker was that he was missing both his pinkies. Now, Ali’s car has been found with two men executed inside. And in her purse, an envelope in Ali’s handwriting “if something happens to me” with a cryptic message inside.
The story bounces between multiple characters. Ryan has changed his name and is now in law school. On a trip to Italy, he sees the 8 fingered man. Meanwhile, Poppy is a new sheriff’s deputy and is working the cold case. And then there’s Shane O’Leary, a crime boss in Philadelphia. How does he figure into the story? I found all three of these characters to be well developed.
This is great entertainment. It’s a quick, easy read and moves at a high rate of speed. There are plenty of twists and I appreciated that I didn’t see them coming.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for an advance copy of this book.

Alex Finlay has done it again!!

Every Last Fear is one of my all time favorite thrillers, and The Night Shift was also fantastic. I definitely still enjoyed What Have We Done, but it felt like it had a different vibe than the first two books that made me fall in love with Finlay’s work. Therefore, I was SO excited when I realized that If Something Happens To Me is more in line with Finlay’s first two novels- a page turner that hits the ground running and just keeps plowing ahead. I have been just crazy busy these past few days and didn’t have as much time to devote to reading as usual, and taking so long to find out what happens in this book was killing me!


You can tell that Finlay only writes stories that take place in locations he’s actually lived and spent time in, and I love that this book can span so many cities, towns- countries really, and feel so authentic. Also, sometimes I feel that novels with so many characters and story lines can get jumbled and confusing, but I think the short chapters helped me keep everything straight, while also helping me feel some of the disorientation and struggle to keep up that the main characters, Ryan and Poppy, were feeling.

Overall I give this 4 stars and would recommend to any thriller fan, but especially to anyone who loved TNS or ELF but didn’t feel strongly about WHWD.


Thank you Minotaur books and NetGalley for a chance to read this book early in exchange for an honest review.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I read The Night Shift last year and that made Alex Finley an auto-read psychological thriller writer for me. His new book did not disappoint. Jumping perspectives and divided into 3 parts, the book kept me guessing. Bombshells that turned the story on it's head happened multiple times and throughout the book. This is great if you love a story that will get your adrenaline pumping.

One of my favorite things about reading is when a book makes it feel like you’re on a roller coaster ride, with all the dips and twists and turns. This book did just that, in spectacular fashion. There were a lot of characters, and for a while, I didn’t understand how they were connected. But it was one of those spiral upside-down turns that I felt when it was revealed.

There was also a moment where it felt like the bottom of the coaster’s car dropped out from under me and took my jaw right with it. Holy Heck! I didn’t see that drop coming and I LMAO long enough to make my kid side-eye me and ask if I was okay.

This book was fantastic. I loved all the characters, even the bad guys (ok, maybe not that one bad guy, but I don’t think I was supposed to anyway). I loved the introduction to Shane O’Leary, how sweet he was to his wife, and the corkscrew turn the end of his first chapter brought. I loved Michael and wished there was one more surprise chapter at the end, because he was amazing.

Poppy and Alison were wonderful. Though there wasn’t much from Alison’s POV, I grew to love her character. Poppy had a tenacity that matched her fiery red hair and the smile I had on my face when she gave the bad guy their comeuppance at the end had was that after-ride smile of riding one of the best roller coasters in the world.

Being done with the book, I now feel that “let’s do it again!” feeling, and I wish I could unread this so I could read it all over again. I’ll definitely be looking into this author’s other books, because I wanna do this again.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

♡ eArc - eBook Review ♡
♤ Release May.28 ♤
4 🌟
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•multiple pov's
•Murder Mystery
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This is my first book by this author, Alex Finley, and I will be coming back for more.
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Alison and Ryan were parked in a car at loverlane when suddenly a guy with 8 fingers hit Ryan in the head and took Alison and the car. Since Ryan was hidmt in the head and can't remember what happened that night, he is naturally blamed for Alison disappearances. But he's not convinced of anything and tries to return to his normal life and basketball, but it doesn't happen that way. Ryan has to change his name and move and enter 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…
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This story has a lot of components that the author makes work. The twist and turns toward the end will blow your mind.
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♡ Thank you, Netgalley, and St. Martin Press for the eArc for my honest review.

If you want a wild ride, this is your book! It starts quickly with the intense kidnapping of Ali in the prologue. Flash forward five years to Ryan in Italy haunted by being left behind and suspected of having something to do with Ali's disappearance. Two plot lines develop that seem to have nothing to do with one another, but the further you read they begin to come together and in the end are intensely intertwined. The characters in this book were strong with each trying to solve their part of the mystery. If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay is definitely a five star book for me that led to two sleep deprived nights. I was impressed with how well this book was crafted and I found myself unable to stop reading!

Alex Finlay has hit it out of the park once again!

He has moved his way into my top five auto-buy authors.

I struggled to book this book down at night for the three nights it took me to read it. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!

I loved the short chapters, the multiple POVs and the rising tension throughout the book.

If you love secrets, cyphers and revenge stories. This is for you!!

Poppy must solve the mystery that is Allison’s disappearance. Her boyfriend, Ryan claims he didn’t do it, but there is still suspicion. His past continues to haunt him, even in the present. What really happened that night?

The idea of the story is good!! It was intriguing. I did have to keep going back to remember who each character was as I felt there were a bit toooo many. It is well written. Overall, it was enjoyable.

This was a good story that kept me guessing. There are three different "stories" from different perspectives that we get. I tried to find a connection between them and slowly you get some clues to how they are connected.

There is one element of this story that I didn't love. I can't say what it is because I feel like it will give away too much of the twist. However, once you find out who is behind everything there are still some good twists and suspenseful moments.

Overall, another good one by Alex Finlay!