Parents Weekend
By Alex Finlay
3 stars

Alex’s books always keep me engaged with their short chapters, fast pace, and so many different character POV’s. This was no different and I really enjoyed trying to figure out this story. Unfortunately, this one had so many characters that were never fully developed.

The information gained from each different character at times felt random and didn’t add anything to the overall plot. For instance, one of the characters mother is a big wig in government and she sleeps with one of her security guards on her son’s college dorm beds? Okie dokie? I just felt like everyone of the parents in the books were bas people, from a surgeon who cheats on his wife, to a wife of a judge who has an affair, to the government mother being cold towards everyone, and then we get agent Keller who is thrust into all of this when she just moved to California to help her husbands declining father. Justice for BOB because that man is a SAINT!

The reasoning behind the premise of the book was heartbreaking and I figured it out before the reveal. I was most upset about Felix’s character and his poor mother! I wanted more closure at the end and didn’t get that at all. I also have no idea how Agent Keller could just come up with some of her ideas to help solve this case. It’s obviously fiction but there were times when she’d think of something or just so happen to be told something that no one else thought of ( she’s literally FBI, there’s campus police, regular police, and a college student intern working on the case) that would lead to a huge breakthrough.

While definitely a read that will be easy and quick to get through, it was just too much with 15+ characters to keep track of and a plot with so many holes.

The author manages so many moving oieces or leads so well. Kept me guessing til the end. I finished this in a day as I just couldn’t put it down.

I love reading anything written by Alex Finlay. I know my weekend is going to be great when I have a book from Alex Finlay. His books are always fast paced and unputdownable. Loved the short chapters and all the family secrets that these characters hold close to the chest. Like his other stories, this one doesn’t hold back and will keep you at the edge of your seat. Thank you Alex Finlay, NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this digital arc!

Parents Weekend is fast paced, action packed read that addresses every parents nightmare.

Their children did not show up for dinner at Parents Weeekend.

When the parents figure out that they are indeed missing panic sets in.

The campus police are called, the story has hit the media big time and chaos has arrived.

The teens are podcasters, bloggers and Tik Tok sleuths and call themselves The Five.

Twists and turns, secrets and lies , betrayal and the icing on the cake is Agent Keller is back.

Alex Finlay takes the reader down a twisted path to the conclusion that might be a bit predictable but it is a fun read.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the privilege of reading and reviewing Parents Weekend.

I normally love Finlay’s books, but this one was a really slow read for me. I just don’t feel like we needed even half the points of view because they slowed down the pace. And frankly, by the time we got to the reveal, I really just wanted to be done with the book, which was most definitely not a thriller.

I read someone say that they enjoyed Bob the most as a character and I sort of agree with them, but at the same time, they aren’t really much of a character at all. I just think this one was too big of a cast to successfully pull it off.

A great mystery thriller and one that I think would be perfect for the summer! To me it also gave subtle Freida McFadden vibes which I absolutely loved!

This was a quick, easy and entertaining read. Sometimes you just want potato chips, and this book is like that. Nothing earth shaking and a bit predictable, but I enjoyed it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my fourth book by this author and I have found them all to be what some consider a popcorn read. A story that can be easily consumed in a few sittings and isn't something to mind bending. A story perfect for weekend consumption. Parents Weekend falls directly in this category.

While this isn't my favorite of Finlays, it certainly fits into my expectations. Again he writes these stories to entertain. I actually read this on a weekend getaway and it made for easy plane reading.

The pacing is quick with alternating povs and short chapters. We do have a TON of characters but that keeps the reader on their toes.

I loved having Keller back from The Night Shift. She's a character I hope to see more of.

While this story didn't wow me, like The NIght Shift, I still found it an entertaining reading experience.

If you like campus thrillers then give this one a go. EVERYONE's got drama and secrets, even the parents.

Thank you to NetGalley and @SaintMartinsPress for this ARC. Five kids in their first year of college waiting to celebrate Parents Weekend. All the parents show up for dinner but all the kids are missing. Two being high profile, the investigation started immediately when one of their phones ping a vast hiking area near Santa Clara. The split narrative between the parents, the investigator Sarah Keller and the kids kept the story rolling. I did not figure this one out but I also felt that Finlay left some details out along the way. Still a good read! #ParentsWeekend #AlexFinlay #SaintMartinsPress #MinotaurBooks #May2025

My favorite Alex Finlay book yet! I have read almost all of his, and was not as big a fan of "If Something Happens to Me," but this was excellent. I loved the campus vibes, the mystery, the different characters and social statuses. It felt like more of a character story than a mystery thriller, but it kept my attention the whole time. The prologue captured me immediately and I genuinely felt sympathy for (most!) of the characters. A few of the infidelity plotlines seemed a tiny bit farfetched, but overall the characters were convincing, their actions made sense, and I had no idea how it would end. And my favorite part was the character of Sarah Keller returning from Every Last Fear and The Night Shift. Her parts were my favorite and I loved her interactions with the intern. Highly recommend this book, it would be the first I would recommend if you were looking for a book by this author.

Nope. I couldn't do it. Twisted parents is just a no for me. I tried reading it twice but it's a no for me.

Parent’s Weekend by Alex Finlay is a quick, engaging read with plenty of suspense, but it doesn’t quite live up to its potential. The premise (an elite college’s parents’ weekend turning into a nightmare) sets the stage for a gripping mystery, and Finlay does a great job keeping the pace brisk. The multiple POVs add intrigue, and there are some solid twists along the way.

However, the characters feel somewhat flat, and the motivations behind the big reveals don’t always hold up under scrutiny. It’s entertaining in the moment but lacks the depth or emotional weight to make it truly memorable. If you’re looking for a fast, easy thriller, this will do the job—but don’t expect it to stick with you after the last page.

3.5 rounded up to 4 for GR! prob my second fave of his (have read them all). if you are looking for a QUICK, popcorn thriller book with 2-3 page chapters, this is the one.

i wanted a quick binge and this delivered. his books are truly the definition of popcorn thrillers—they pull you in right away, are SO quick to fly through thanks to the short chapters and have tons of action. they’re not super unique or “WOW” as i don’t always remember his books 2-3+ months after finishing them, but i sure have a blast while reading!

it’s also a campus thriller trope! one of my faves. also follows a missing person case (or 5 missing people…).

my gripe with this one was there were SOOOO many characters. seriously, there are 20+ 🥲🤣 take notes. it follows a story of 5 missing kids but you also have the drama of all their parents/families (and boy is there TONS of family drama…🫣). it was a bit hard for me to truly feel connected/care about the missing kids (that sounds awful but bare with me) as we didn’t really get to know them before they were missing. the plot focused their parents and family drama much more closely which wasn’t a bad thing, just happened to be the focus.

there’s also character crossover in this one featuring the detective from some of his other books! it was giving the Will Trent series lol 🫶🏼

there wasn’t really a big twist in this either…the author kind of ruled everything out one by one so by the time you got to the twist you were like “oh yeah okay makes sense.” one part of the ending felt VERY quick to me (something with one of the 5…) and the final chapters left me wanting a bittttt more.

i always like my thrillers to have a jaw dropping / savage ending so this was a bit wrapped up for my taste.

all in all—a perfect binge, a quick read, interesting and action packed, lots of characters, overall a fun time!

thanks to Minotaur for the gifted early copy. this is out in May!

Finlay is one of my favorite authors and I always look forward to new books but this one was very disappointing. College students missing, parents in for the weekend who have their own secrets. The concept was good but there were too many characters and just a confusing story all together. I was so disinterested I had to force myself to finish it.

PLOT TWIST TOWARDS THE END --> I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!!!
five students mysteriously disappeared and this whole journey of trying to uncover the truth has me gripping my toesssss.

I don't think it's Alex, at this point I think it's me - I just think his writing style just doesn't mesh well with me for whatever reason.

The author is a favorite of mine, so I was eager to get this one started. Now that I'm done, I'm a pretty happy camper. The only thing that gave me a little trouble is that the cast of characters is pretty large, so it was hard to keep track of who's who. But by the mid-point I'd pretty much gotten with the program, so from that point on, it was just sit back and try to figure out how it would end.

It begins with what I'd guess is a bugger for most of us who went to college right after high school - the annual Parents' Weekend (or whatever the event was called at your school). It was punctuated by a dinner at which parents and their "kids" could eat and drink well and chat - or at least that's what was expected to happen. This time, it didn't; five of the kids, in fact, were no-shows. That, of course, had parents' emotions running from anger to worry; did they skip out just to be ornery, did they all forget (not likely) or did something more sinister happen to them?

Chapters shift among the students: Blaine, who was abducted as a child and whose mother is a hot-shot in the State Department; Stella, whose father is a doctor and her mother not a happy person; Libby, whose father is a Superior Court judge in Arkansas who made controversial headlines for a recent trial decision; Mark, who has a checkered past and is Blaine's good friend; Felix, a single mother who works at the college; Overshadowing the whole affair is the supposedly accidental death of Natasha Belov, another student and a friend of Stella. Also in the mix is Sarah Keller, an FBI agent readers may be familiar with by way of other of the author's books including "The Night Shift."

Of course, suspicion lingers that Natasha's death in a sea cave wasn't an accident, but there's no proof. And efforts to find out where the missing kids went use up many pages, highlighted by Agent Keller's stellar investigative skills. I wish I could say I guessed the ending, but that didn't happen. All in all, though, reading it was an enjoyable experience as expected. Many thanks once again to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review an advance copy.

This thriller delivers twists, family drama, and secrets galore.

Five students from Campisi Hall mysteriously disappear during Parents Weekend, leaving their families in turmoil. As the search intensifies dark secrets emerge, revealing that both parents and students have more to hide than anyone suspected.
I loved FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller and her family. The setting, short chapters and multiple POV kept the pages turning. There was a LARGE cast of characters. It was difficult at times to keep track of them all but I got the hang of it.
Overall, Parents Weekend is a gripping thriller that delves into the complexities of family and the secrets we keep. It’s definitely one to add to your shelf.

I enjoyed this book and was a solid 3 star read for me. There were multiple POVs, which were a bit tough to keep up with a first. But each set of parents were so unique that it became easier to navigate. This did contribute to my rating. The book held my interest and I thought it was an easy, quick read. I didn't think it was overly twisty or suspenseful and the ending seemed a bit rushed.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Main Characters:
-- The Kellers – Sarah is a special agent with the FBI who recently requested a temporary transfer to California so she and her husband Bob can help her father-in-law, the two have nine-year-old twins
-- The Roosevelts – son Blane is one of The Five, Cynthia works for the State Department based out of DC, Hank is a novelist and shows up unannounced at Parents Weekend even though he shouldn’t be there, Cynthia and Hank divorced after Blane was abducted for four days when he was 10 years old
-- The Maldonados – daughter Stella is one of The Five, David has been a plastic surgeon for 20 years, Nina practices yoga and healthy living and disapproves of her husband’s chosen profession, David recently broke off an affair with an anesthesiologist
-- The Goffmans – son Felix is one of The Five and a scholarship student at SCU, Alice is a single mom who works in the Dean’s office at SCU
-- The Akanas – daughter Libby is one of The Five, son Timmy died from childhood cancer, Amy met Ken in law school but stopped working when Timmy fell ill, Ken is an LA Superior Court judge with the nickname No Drama Akana, recently gained notoriety when he presided over a case in which an A-list movie star was charged with beating up his startlet girlfriend
-- The Wongs – son Mark is one of The Five, Mark’s father served 10 years in prison for multiple sexual assaults, Mark and his father are estranged
-- The Belovs – 21-year-old daughter Natasha went missing the week before Parents Weekend and was found drowned in a cave

When I finished Parents Weekend, I immediately purchased Every Last Fear and Night Shift. This is absolutely a solid stand-alone, and the story references a high-profile case that Special Agent Sarah Keller worked. The author used her character in those novels as well, so I really want to read them. Keller makes for a great main character—dedicated and hard-working Federal agent, devoted wife and mother, smart, sympathetic. So now I want to know her entire backstory.

This story alternates perspectives between all of the families, providing each of their individual histories as all of them converge onto the Santa Cruz University campus for Parents Weekend. As the parents arrive at a dinner, some of them shortly after seeing their sons and daughters, the students vanish. None of them show up at the dinner.

We are led through the rest of the weekend, which ends up being an investigation rather than parents visiting a college campus. Multiple suspects pop up, each with a different possible motive, none of whom have a motive to kidnap all five students. Woven into the timeline is the history on the students and their parents…what happened to them before the students started attending SCU.

This author does an amazing job pacing his stories. He shifts between multiple points of view with chapters long enough to tell the story and short enough to make me want to keep reading to get back to a previous POV. When I read my first book by Alex Finlay, What Have We Done (You Really Do Get Only One First Impression), I wished I could have read the book again without knowing how everything played out. I felt the same here. While I figured out who did it a bit before the reveal, I certainly didn’t know the why until close to the end.

And when a thriller can make me smile at the epilogue and realize I would love to read a book based on a quirky secondary character I couldn’t help but like…well that’s a bonus. Another great read by Finlay. You won’t want to miss this one.