I found this a different style from Finlay's other books, but not in a bad way! I love that we get the perspective of the parents of 5 college kids (6 if you count the dead girl). Finlay heads each chapter up with the family name, so even though there are multiple characters (couples, their kids, some secret service detail, an ambitious intern), you can still keep track of who is referenced.

Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella - the Five, are each unique, but have made fast friends with each other. One of them is pledging a fraternity and one of them is the son of a government official with security issues, and there might be a couple of affairs, which add to the confusion when the Five fail to show up for dinner at a Parents Weekend event. Is it a fraternity prank? A disgruntled client or spouse? Or just college students being college students?

Thanks to a persistent FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller (who we have seen in a couple of Finlay's earlier books), the crime is unraveled, but not before another person is unalived, something Finlay is not afraid to do.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance reader's copy.

This was such a fast, addictive read! The Parents Weekend starts off with a fun college tradition and quickly turns into a parent's worst nightmare when five freshmen suddenly go missing. I loved how the story was told from different parents' perspectives—it added so much drama and tension, and made it easy to get pulled into each family's secrets. The mystery unfolds in a really compelling way, with twists that kept me guessing (even if a couple felt a little over the top). It also brings back FBI Agent Sarah Keller, which was a nice surprise for fans of Finlay’s earlier books. Perfect if you’re in the mood for a smart, twisty thriller that’s hard to put down.

* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books in exchange for my honest review

3.5 stars!

A thriller with short chapters, multiple POVs, and an intriguing mystery? Sign me up!

This was a wild ride from start to finish. I started out with absolutely NO idea what happened to these kids and my theories were running wild. The parents were almost all horrible people with so many crazy secrets and the kids all had something fishy going on. There were a lot of characters to keep track of which did get slightly confusing but I just rolled with it and enjoyed the ride.

I of course loved the short chapter which kept me interested and I felt like the whole story wrapped up well, although a little too quickly. I was also so so sad for Felix and his mom. Overall though, a solid thriller!

Parents Weekend is an intriguing and refreshing take on suspense and family dynamics, offering a different kind of thrill. The premise alone grabbed my attention: five families, with children attending a small private school in Northern California, come together for a weekend celebration only to find that their kids never show up for dinner. What starts as a seemingly innocent college student oversight quickly spirals into something far more sinister as hours pass without a word from the students.
The family dysfunction was so compelling -The dynamics between the families and the friendships among the students create a captivating backdrop for the events that unfold, as the past catches up with them all.
This book was a fun and suspenseful read—something a little different than what I usually go for, but I really enjoyed it! A great pick for anyone who loves family drama mixed with a mysterious twist.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Net Galley for this ARC!

Unfortunately this book was quite disappointing.

After The Night Shift and the interesting premise of this book I excepted a lot, but the final reveals were not surprising and I saw both of them coming from a mile away.

Most of the characters in this book apart from Keller and her family were so unlikable. Especially the college kids, I couldn’t have cared less about what happened to most of them. They felt a bit like caricatures of the different types of kids you find on a college campus, none of them had any depth to their personality. There were also so many characters introduced too quickly, up until halfway through the book or so I barely knew who were talking about most of the time.

It was fast paced enough at least and it didn’t feel like a drag to read.

I will still try another book from the author in the future, hopefully the next one is better.

Absolutely loved this book!
Alex Finlay's books are fast paced with lots of plot twists and this one did not disappoint. I did not see the ending coming.
This is my second book I've read of his and I've enjoyed both books.
If you like crime thriller reads with good plot and lots of twists and turns, you will love this book!
It was so good!

Also, huge fan of Keller!

Parents weekend delves into the secrets held by each set of parents attending a parents weekend at a small coastal college in California. The disappearance of the students is handled well in the story development as is the participation in solving the crime by FBI agent Keller. I enjoyed Keller and will go back and read the other novel in which she is featured. Unfortunately I struggled with the writing style for the first half of the book. I found bouncing back and forth between the points of view of each family to read more like a screenplay and, for me, it took away from my enjoyment of the plot.

I thought Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay was a great read about how social media and online bullying can go horribly wrong. The narration was great.

I've long been a fan of Alex Finlay and could not wait to get my hands on this one. Fast-paced, lots of characters and story lines, ongoing action. The chapters are short and fast paced, a format that I appreciate. However, there was just TOO MUCH going on for me. And then they whole reason behind what was going on? It was a disappointment. Not my favorite Alex Finlay read, but definitely worth my time.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

A parent weekend event at a private college in California goes horribly wrong. Five kids go missing and the search for them sets off the fast pace of this mystery. I enjoyed the layout which definitely keeps you turning the pages as fast as you can. Each chapter is about one of the families which keeps you invested in wanting to read one more chapter.

Alex’s newest thriller, Parents Weekend, has an intriguing premise. A capstone group of students stand up their parents during a parent’s weekend group dinner. Are these students just being typical college freshmen and out partying? Or is there something more sinister going on?

First of all, I love this cover. The story is a fast paced thriller told from multiple POVs. While told mostly from the present tense, there are some flashbacks to give background. If you love Finlay’s other books, you’ll love this one too. If you have never read one of his books, then this one is a good one to read first.

I always eagerly anticipate the next Alex Finlay mystery/thriller. This one follows a group of parents and college students as they participate in parents’ weekend at Santa Clara University near San Francisco. A group of college students go missing after the death of another student purportedly from drowning in a local cave system during high tide.

The chapters are short and fast paced, a format that I appreciate in this genre. They are also labeled with the family name for each perspective. I really appreciated that touch since there were many characters. Aside from the college students and their parents, there were also a bevy of campus and local police and FBI characters working on the case. If you’ve read previous Finlay novels, you may recognize Sarah Keller from previous investigations, but other than a brief mention you needn’t worry about that if you haven’t read them.

I initially started the audiobook which was narrated by Brittany Pressley. There were a lot of characters to keep track of in this story. Due to this aspect, I found the ebook worked better for me and switched to reading the novel. I found the mystery to be intriguing. All the families had secrets that might have an impact on what happened to the group of students. While I may have surmised part of the mystery, I did not see one of the resolutions coming and while I was not surprised, I found the ending lacking. It felt a little abrupt. I would have enjoyed more follow-up on the situation. Still, a solid thriller from this author, not my favorite but not my least favorite either.

Recommended to fast paced thriller lovers who might enjoy a bit of collegiate nostalgia.

Five college students go missing on Parents Weekend. An investigation ensues.

I found this book to have too many characters to keep straight. Each of the students have parents with issues that seem almost stereotypical of these types of thrillers. The book takes almost 20% of its time explaining each family one-by-one. Then the conclusion felt rushed. It also left a few of my questions unanswered.

Overall, Parents Weekend is not what I expected from one of my favorite authors. Not really bad, but not good either. 3 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with an advanced review copy.

I have a lot of Alex Finlay on my TBR, so this is actually the first book that I've actually sat down and read.

I liked Agent Keller and I suppose the parents too. I'm not a parent so it's hard to relate, but they care about their kids and that's what matters. I was intrigued by the story with what happened with the kids and it was a page turner for sure. I'm looking forward to knocking the other books off my TBR list now.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books & NetGalley!

I felt like this was an absolutely brilliant book! I've been a fan of Finlay's work for years. He knows how to write a mystery with heart, that actually does make me laugh sometimes and feel invested in the relationships of the characters. Typically I don't really care about that in this genre.

His inclusion of Keller again first made me roll my eyes. I'll admit I can be somewhat biased against law enforcement main characters, but she's a real one and I like her and I get her now. I love how he includes her but not as a series. I often lose interest in that. She's never the only main character.

I initially was worried because there are a lot of characters in this book and sometimes I just don't care enough to learn them all and that can make it confusing but everyone here is interesting and stuck in my memory. I love that for me!

I’ve been hooked on Alex Finlay’s books since his debut, Every Last Fear, released in 2021.

I was beyond excited to pick this one up—and while I definitely did enjoy the story, I also felt a bit lost at times.

I should note that I read this one via audiobook, and while the narrator did a great job—and I truly enjoy her voice—there were so many narrators and characters that having only one voice for everyone made it difficult to decipher between (for me). I wish this audiobook had been narrated by a full cast—I think it would have enhanced the experience and truly brought the story to life in a way that a single narrator struggled to.

Part of what I loved about this story was the various perspectives, though. We get to see what the parents are up to, what the kids are up to, what the FBI agents are doing, and more.

When five college students to all go missing at the same time during parents weekend, people become suspicious—especially since one student has already died that weekend. Add in some high-profile parents, some previous kidnapping, and you have a complicated case filled with multiple culprits! So who did it? Who kidnapped the five kids? And why?

I can practically guarantee that you won’t guess the outcome!

I think my favorite character was FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller. I love how she thinks, how she moves through a case, and it was great revisiting her character, since she was also in Every Last Fear and The Night Shift!

If you’re looking for a quick whodunnit mystery where you likely won’t be able to guess the ending and might just be suspicious of everyone...then you’ve found the perfect read!

Ughhhhh. I loved the idea of this book. I felt like it was a great idea... but it just wasn't put together well. There were too many POVs. I found my self getting confused about who was who. This is very short but man it felt so long. I found myself losing interest so fast. I pushed through and it is really meh.

I won't be reviewing as I really didn't like it.

When Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella suddenly go missing during Parents Weekend, the whole campus goes into a panic—especially since just two weeks earlier, another student was found dead. The five missing students were part of a Capstone group, and a few of them came from high-profile families, which only adds to the pressure.

Their disappearance sets off a media storm and brings in the FBI, led by Agent Sarah Keller. As the search unfolds, secrets from both the students and their families start to surface, blurring the line between victim and suspect.

The story moves fast, with short chapters and multiple points of view that keep you flipping pages. I especially liked the backstories on each family—it added a nice “whodunnit” layer that made it fun to guess along the way.

Toward the end, I had that “aha!” moment when I figured out who was behind everything. Still, I was happy with how it wrapped up—and there was one final twist I definitely didn’t see coming!

All in all, another solid thriller from Alex Finlay. Big thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur, and the author for the ARC—I really enjoyed the read.

The premise is great, but the execution was only okay. It was definitely a 4 star read until the end, but the end felt way too rushed. I enjoyed most of the characters, even if most were not very likeable, but there were so many that it was easy to mix them up at first.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for the copies to review.

The concept of Parents Weekend is fascinating to me as it did not exist when I was in college. (Could be the school I went to though.) So I was all in for this premise, five families plan a night of behaving badly at their kids’ college doing Parents Weekend, basically acting like college students again. And then, said kids do not show up for the dinner they have planned that first night and off we go.

True to form, this was a fast paced and quick read that was very entertaining. I love Finlay’s books, with each one I know I am in for a good time and this was exactly that. I loved the drama with each of the families, and listening via audio was great but with all of the families and the multiple POVs I was glad I had the ebook to follow along. I think this will be a great vacation read and definitely recommend it for your summer TBR.