I'm always impressed by Alex Finlay. Thriller and murder mysteries are a dime a dozen nowadays, but what I like about their books is how character driven they are. Some other thrillers you're in it for the whodunnit and the mystery, which is always dark and, often, improbable. I don't really need an unrealistic twist for the sake of a twist. I find that Finlay's books are implicitly dark without being gratuitous. He just kind of reveals human nature through his characters and thats what makes his books so compelling.

Admittedly, there were maybe too many characters in Parents Weekend, but they weren't too hard to keep up with. He does a good job of bread crumbing in POV chapters small details that remind you who Alice, or David, whoever are. Its finding out more about each couple, or family unit that keeps you going, even when the whodunnit is revealed, and perhaps predictable, it's ok because I wasn't in it for the shock, it was just seeing how everyone dealt with the hand they received. And it hits also when you get some tragedies along the way. Really enjoyed this one, will definitely read his next.

Although this took me a while to get into, I ultimately enjoyed it. I will be purchasing a copy for my personal library.

This book is about “The Five”, as they were known after they disappeared, and about their dissimilar families and life circumstances. It is also about the federal agent most involved in their case, with each chapter heading being either her name or the name of one of the families. I found the book a bit confusing and had a hard time keeping some of the families separate from others as I was reading. That being said, I did enjoy the story, which was a bit of an unusual mystery, and I also, as always, enjoyed this author’s style of writing. Perhaps it’s just me getting the different families confused or perhaps they could’ve been more individually distinguished, I’m not sure. However, I enjoyed the book, and I’m glad that I read it and will recommend it to others. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced read copy.

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but recently Alex Finlays books just aren’t hitting. I loved his debut novel, The Night Shift so of course I went into this one with high expectations. I felt this one was very slow, didn’t enjoy the plot or the characters… which were very hard to keep up with because there are SO MANY characters. Hoping I enjoy his next book more than this one.

This book was really hard to follow along with as there were so many characters, kept changing viewpoints and lacked in information.

Traditional format 📕 (digital). Release date May 6, 2025 (reviewed February 2025).

Alex Findlay’s latest thriller Parent’s Weekend brings back FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller from the author’s previous works in another page turner set on a college campus in Northern California.

One student is dead and the plot thickens when five college students fail to show up at their college’s Parent’s Weekend dinner.

There are a lot of characters and sub plots in this book. You learn not only about the six college students but also the backstories of their families AND the family of the FBI agent brought in to find the missing students. It got a little confusing at times keeping all the characters straight but I enjoyed the frantic pace and piles of backstory thrown at the reader.

The story of the missing students was a little underwhelming (as was the ending) but I still enjoyed this quick and easy read.

The plot itself is worthy of about a 3.5 but I will round this up to a 4 for overall entertainment value.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and Net Galley for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

The chapters are super snappy and all end on cliffhangers, which made the pacing quick and fun. However, I guessed the culprit pretty early into the book, and the red herrings weren't really red herrings as they'd be discredited right away. I did like that this book focused more on the parents and their different personalities, I preferred their drama over the kids'. This mystery plot wasn't blowing me back in my chair crazy twisty, but a pretty solid, dependable story, if a bit forgettable. It's serviceable as a beach read, maybe.

*Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

Alright, hold onto your butts y'all because this is such a rapid fire thriller. There were SO many PoVs! We're trying to solve the mystery of the kidnapped college kids, while also unearthing their parents' dirty secrets. That being said, I don't feel like the culprits were foreshadowed enough though. Also I feel like I missed something at the ending though?? Just a VERY large jump that I can't talk about because it's spoilers...

I feel like it could do with one or two less subplots, more foreshadowing, and less references to the previous books featuring Sarah Keller.

I was really hoping for some more rich person intrigue based on the description of this book. This is definitely more thriller-lite. Not my favorite, not my least, but okay.

Thank you to net galley for the ARC!

To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect going into this book as I haven’t had much luck with Alex Finley, but this one had me at the edge of my seat! The suspense level was great and I enjoyed the story writing and although I felt like there were too many POVs, I enjoyed the perspective of the students. Wanting to find out the mystery behind “The Five” kept the story rolling a pace I enjoyed. I would recommend this one! Thank you NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

3.5 Stars

Parents Weekend is the first book by Alex Finlay I haven't rated five stars. It pains me to rate this book 3.5 stars. I rounded the rating up to 4 stars, since Finlay's books are usually fabulous reads, and the writing is always stellar. In this thriller, readers must sort through a myriad of characters and their relationship to one another, separate the adults from the college students, keep them all straight, and also follow the plot and subplots. Whew! I do look forward to the next book by this author. His books are usually recommended reads.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press/Minotaur Books for providing an advance copy of the book to read and review. This review will post to Bayside Book Reviews.com at https://baysidebookreviews.com and its Instagram page on release day. Follow us! *NetGalley Top Reviewer*

It’s Parents Weekend and five college students don’t show up for their dinner. Their parents figure they’re just being kids, but another day passes and no word from any of them.
The story is told from the points of view of all the families as well as the kids, and the FBI agent trying to find them. All the families have drama or trauma and yet they can’t get any real leads as to where the kids are. I thought this was a really quick and fun read, and didn’t expect what was really going on. Loved the short chapters! I would recommend this book!

This was an interesting but exciting book to read. I have read one other by this author and enjoyed it so I was excited to read this and it did not disappoint.

I actually love when books have many POVs. I love getting into the heads of multiple people and trying to figure things out and I love it even more when I’m wrong!

This was a good book and this author continues to be a joy to read. Thank you Netgalley for the arc!

I liked, but didn’t love, this one. Overall, this was a quick, entertaining read with a great female lead. I really enjoyed the character of Sarah Keller, and may go back and read other books that include her character. The story started out at a fast pace but then began to drag a little for me, I think due to the multiple side plots. I didn’t get confused with all of the characters like some other reviewers mentioned, I just got a bit bored with them. I also felt like the plot was somewhat predictable and I was just rushing to get to the end to see if I was right. However, I still think this was worth the read!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel!

A fairly uninspired popcorn thriller, that seems to be what Alex Finlay writes. This is my third Alex Finlay read and I found them all very "meh."

Read the dialogue, skim the rest and you'll be done in a couple of hours and have the gist of the story. Agent Keller is a fine character and I like her family, but not really interested in a third book, if one is in the works.

Nothing particularly substantive and none of the characters make any sort of impact or leave any lasting impression on the reader.

I could go 2 stars, but I'll give it 3, since at least it didn't take up much of my time.

A compelling read that will keep you guessing until the end. The plot moves smoothly and the different voices never become confusing. The mystery is exciting and comes together nicely at the end. Keller is an excellent character. She is smart and clever while also being easy to relate to. Definitely a book for lovers of thrillers.

I'm gonna be honest, Alex Finlay is normally a very hit or miss author for me, and this was another miss. This is falling in the category of books that I keep reading in thrillers that feels like "ok why should I care?" This story follows a group of college kids who all go missing and their parents trying to find them. This is a popcorn reading jumping from family to family and their experiences, but the huge problem is, okay and I care why?? I didn't get any information about the college kids at all before they went missing, and the parents all had their own insane problems and backstories but it lacked any emotion at all. By the time the kids were found, I had forgotten who any of them were, and was over the story. Overall, I wish we spent more time jumping from the kids to the parents, and not letting just the parents tell the story. Overall, sadly this is a skip for me.

I first got sucked into Finlay's world with "If something happens to me" and I loved it. With his latest, Parents Weekend, the story unfortunately fell flat for me. From the start you're thrown into chaos trying to keep up with all the various parent POVs plus the POVs of their children and that didn't set the right mood for me to get engage with the story. It got easier as we went on, but because of that I didn't have the time to really bond with any of the characters that by the time we got to the end I wasn't invested in what happened to them. The story itself also felt like it dragged on, usually I find Finlay's books to be fast reads that I can't put down but this was the opposite for me.

Wow! I really liked this one. Super face paced and quick to read and keep me engaged. I loved the variety of the different families and students. Not a super crazy twisty book but super engaging and kept me really interested. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance reading copy in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book so much that it made me sad to see that there were actually some bad reviews. When I started reading this book, I had been in a reading slump - all of the books were starting to sound the same. Same plots, same tropes. Then I started this book and fairly quickly realized YES - something different! Finally!

This story was unique and very entertaining, told from the varied points of view of the different families whose young adult children were part of a group of students that disappeared. I enjoyed the interweaving of so many different characters, and impressively never felt confused about who was who.

The places in this book were not only all completely real, but familiar to me as a frequent visitor to Northern California. The area between Santa Clara University and the Pacific Ocean houses so many beautiful sites, parks, hiking trails, and beaches. I’m a sucker for books that take place in beautiful places.

I have no complaints. You should absolutely read this book.