Thank you to NetGalley, Alex Finlay, and Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for my review. I really enjoyed this book! This one was a quick paced page turner. The story line was easy to follow and entertaining. I wish there was more of backstory on the missing kids but it focused more on the parents. There was a LOT of characters to keep track of and they lacked appropriate development as a result. There was definitely some moments I did not anticipate. I would read more from this author in the future

I've always been a fan of Alex Finlay, so I was thrilled to get an ARC of Parents Weekend. Needless to say, I was hooked within the first few chapters. Told from alternating perspectives, timelines and locations, Finlay did an exceptional job of weaving together the narrative to make a cohesive story. Even though there were quite a few POVs, I was always able to follow the plot. There were a few - what I would call fantastical elements - to the plot but Finlay somehow even makes those elements plausible. And as always, there was plenty of family drama to go around. Once again Finlay delivers!

My students devour mysteries so I think they will like this one. It does focus more on the parents and their many issues, a lot of which they won't relate to. The missing students will be more relatable to them and the intern working for agent Keller. There is some discussion of bullying and stalking and self esteem issues and social media and pranking.

Parents weekend at a upper middle class college , starts with expectations and then turns into a nightmare for five families when their children disappear. Many of the couples were unlikeable and the book focused on their relationships as well as the mystery of the students. It was enjoyable to see Sarah Keller, who was in two earlier books and those books are my favorites of his. This one was medium for me , fast moving and on the shorter side, I missed the shaper punch of his earlier books.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

I am a big fan of Alex Finlay and his newest book is no exception. Parents Weekend is set in a small private college in California and follows the story of 5 college kids who go missing during a parents weekend visit. I love the college campus setting and the characters. This is a fast-paced thriller and a fun read! I couldn't put it down because I was so engrossed in the mystery and just wanted to know what was going on!

Thank you @minotaurbooks and @netgalley for the digital arc!

When a group of college students go missing on parents weekend, FBI agent Sarah Keller must race to find answers before it’s too late, exposing all the family secrets and drama.

I had high hopes for this one but unfortunately it fell flat for me. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and red herrings that didn’t lead to anything. The ending was predictable and felt rushed. I liked the return of agent Sarah Keller and the picturesque college setting and would still pick up the next one by Alex Finlay since I enjoyed his other books!

Rating 3

Parents Weekend is the perfect book to grab for your weekend thriller binge-read. It's fast paced, engrossing, high-stakes, and fascinating. This one had me in a grip, all the way through.

It's parents weekend at a university in Northern California, and some of the parents are very high-profile. When a group of kids never makes it to dinner on the first night, they start to worry. Yes, college kids are too cool to hang out with their parents, but not a one of them is answering their phone, and this is not the school's first incident. Just recently a girl turned up dead. We're thrown into a break-neck paced investigation to find out what happened to the kids and why, and if it's already too late to save them.

I knew early on that this book was going to be a good one. The kind of characters the author chose to include, and the type of details showcased made the entire reading experience so enjoyable! The tension remained high through the whole thing, and the conclusion made a lot of sense when we finally got there, while still being twisty and surprising. I cannot imagine being an investigator in a situation like this. So many things to handle, to look into, to question...

I've been absolutely loving thrillers recently, and ones like this just make me crave more more more.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of Parents Weekend!

This book had really strong character development. There were a lot of families to keep track of, but because they were all different and very flawed it was easy to keep track.

I did figure out who was responsible pretty early on, so there wasn't much of a twist.

I would recommend checking this one out!

I found this to be an engaging popcorn thriller told from multiple points of view . It was good overall but didn’t enjoy it quite as much as his other books
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review book

Finlay's upcoming novel (due out May 6, 2025) features the detective from The Night Shift, Sarah Keller. (This is still a standalone.) Her family recently moved to her husband Bob's childhood home in sunny California to take care of his father. For Sarah, that means putting in for a hardship transfer and being the new agent on the block. I enjoyed seeing more of their family dynamic.

However, before she even gets a chance to settle in, Sarah is called to duty when a group of 5 college students go missing on Parents Weekend.

This book alternates between each set of parents, who are quite interesting, especially the mom high up in the state department who has credible threats against her and operates with a full time security detail. Each chapter is short and the book moves at a fast pace.

There was some humor (there has to be when it's a book centered around college kids and pledges) and there was character growth despite being a mostly plot driven novel.

I was surprised that the police didn't spend any time investigating whether the kid's disappearance was linked to another major event that occurred early on, but yet explored all minor avenues of conflict, including events linked to only one set of parents. But I enjoyed the investigation and learning about these imperfect parents and the effects of their mistakes on other families and their own.

If Alex Finlay's writing it, I'm reading it.

Parent’s Weekend begins with a night of dinner and cocktails with students and parents. For five parents though, all Campisi Hall residents, their kids never show up for the dinner and no one is answering their phones. Are they all angry at their parents?

The five students: Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix and Stella come from different backgrounds. All of the families have something to hide but the kids seemed to be hiding something as well. What caused them to all miss dinner and where are they? Could they be sleeping off a night of partying or were they collateral damage from something their parents have done?

I love Alex Finley’s writing style. She keeps you on the edge of your seat with short gripping chapters, told from multiple points of view, that are hard to put down. Fan favorite FBI Agent Sarah Keller from the novel Every Last Fear is added to our list of characters. The chapters each highlighted a family, including Agent Keller, which helped keep the storylines straight. The end comes together nicely and was a complete surprise.

Another great read by Alex Finley! Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing the digital copy for an honest review.

Another structured buddy read, gone feral! We all flew through this one and I think a lot of that was due to short chapters!! 🙌🏼 When I first started, it was hard to follow with all the changing characters. It felt like too many POVs, with the students and their parents and all of their baggage! There were so many scandal and secrets! I felt overwhelmed by the number of characters and had a hard time connecting to any of them. This was definitely more of a popcorn thriller for me, which I didn’t expect! It was very predictable and had too many red herrings for me. I did like that there were characters and little Easter eggs from some of Finlay’s previous novels! Overall, I enjoyed it and am excited to see what is next for Alex!

Thank you Minotaur Books for the gifted ARC!

3.5 stars rounded up.

This is an extremely bingeable, twisty popcorn thriller. I figured almost everything out less than halfway through the book, but there were so many characters and so many secrets I couldn't help but keep turning pages. Weirdly enough, even though I was pretty sure how everything was going to come together, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book.

I think this would be a great read for someone who is just starting to dip their toe into the thriller pool, but avid thriller readers may be a little disappointed with it.

I will continue to read everything Alex Finlay writes! Parents Weekend pub date is May 6.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alex Finlay and St Martin’s Press for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Another binge read from Finley - this is so easy to slide right into and instantly want to know what’s going on. This one is mysterious, twisty and full of action. Definitely recommend.

First I would like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this novel.

This is the third book by Alex Finely that has Agent Keller and I have loved all of them. I think she is a fantastic character and I hope he continues to write books with her in them.

I enjoyed Parents Weekend. I loved Agent Kellers but I found a lot of the book about rich people behaving badly. I like how we had some many different points of view and it included both the kids and the parents but I think the story would have been better if we had narrowed the focus on a few less characters so we could have got to know them more.

I loved that everyone was a suspect but in the end I didn’t feel that jaw dropping twist. I fell a little flat for me.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and hope we continue to see more of Agent Keller.

4/5 stars.

📚 Parents Weekend
✍ Alex Finlay
📖 Mystery/Thriller
⭐3.5/5

➡ When five first-year students from Santa Clara University go missing during Parents Weekend, it will take the exposure of secrets from their families, classmates and the group themselves to figure out what's happened to them.

🙏Thank you to St. Martin's Press (Minotaur Books), NetGalley and the author for an advanced copy of Parents Weekend. All opinions are my own.
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🎯 What I loved: This book was so fast paced. The alternating perspectives that transitioned between the problematic parents and later, the students themselves kept the book moving and I read this so quickly. The first three quarters were spellbinding and I loved trying to figure out what each family and student was trying to hide. The setting and timing were piqued my interest (I love a good college mystery) and the unwinding thread of secrets was done well.

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: I was holding out for a twist but basically, all the clues led you straight to the answer in this one and I predicted the ending early on. Up until about 75% of the way through, this book had be completely riveted but as soon as I realized there was no big plot twist, my enthusiasm waned. I also felt like there were a lot of plot holes that weren't resolved. Though there was an epilogue, it didn't detail several of the characters whose fates I really wanted to learn and spent too much time detailing others that I thought weren't central to the plot.
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Read if you love:
*multi-perspective, family drama
*missing persons cases
*one perspective is FBI agent on the case
*LOTS of secrets
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See also: Only If You're Lucky, The Return of Ellie Black, I Have Some Questions for You

I really enjoyed the multiple viewpoints / story lines / family drama explored in this thriller. This book kept me entranced and guessing! Alex Finley created an engrossing story and intricate, well-developed characters.

The most BINGEABLE thriller - I DARE you to put this one down once you start!

Five college students disappear before opening festivities of Parents Weekend. The parents are all hiding secrets but so are the students...

This story HOOKED me from the start. Fast-paced and entertaining with short chapters (praise be 🙌🏽) this book can easily be read in one sitting (perfect for a beach day or flight.) Part thriller and part police procedural, there's plenty of action to keep the plot moving. A large cast of characters make up the POVs (the parents, the students, the Special Agent) and although it starts off confusing, I promise they will be easy to track as the story progresses. I enjoyed the Easter eggs of Special Agent Keller's past cases (as seen in EVERY LAST FEAR and NIGHT SHIFT.)

This isn't a story with a shocking, complex plot or an unpredictable perpetrator. In fact, I wish my 'pretty-clever-if-you-ask-me' theory was actually correct...it would've been a twistier ending. It wraps up a little too neat for me; I live for the chaos of a multilayered thriller. BUT, if you're looking for a quick, unputdownable and suspenseful read, PARENTS' WEEKEND is where it's at!

Parents Weekend kicks off with an intriguing premise: five college students go missing over a holiday weekend. Are they just off partying, or is something far more sinister at play? As the story unfolds, secrets come to light, and I found myself questioning the true nature and intentions of seemingly perfect families.

This book is a fast paced, easy to read popcorn thriller. It’s entertaining, engaging, and kept my attention from start to finish. While it didn’t blow me away, it was the perfect binge worthy read—I finished it in just four hours! If you’re looking for a quick, suspenseful book to take on a plane, to the beach, or for a lazy afternoon, this one is a solid pick.

This was an interesting novel, once I got past the huge amount of characters and their relavant backstories. The story has several interesting twists, and the conclusion was well executed.