I was very engaged in this book! However the ending a bit of a let down. I wasn’t super shocked how it ended, but short chapters and all the characters kept me guessing! So 3.5 rounded to 4

I was really excited for Alex Finlay's latest novel about parents getting together to celebrate their children starting at a private school. When the kids don't turn up to the planned dinner, the search begins to locate them.

With multiple POVs, this book started out with a bang. I was fully into it and while there were a lot of characters, I found myself able to keep up (just!) with who was who and doing what. Sadly though, the storyline didn't hold my attention from the middle onwards. I don't know what happened from the fab start to the drag midway. The ending was decent though so I'm glad I stuck with it throughout. Though this one wasn't my favorite, I still look forward to reading this author's work.

Parents Weekend is one of those thrillers that you just can’t help but read very quickly as each chapter leaves you hanging and you have to read just one more….at least until real life gets in the way. With short, explosive chapters and an interesting and varied cast of characters, this novel moves quickly.

The bulk of the story takes place over one weekend, at a private college in California. Five students go missing on parents weekend. FBI agent Keller, who recently transferred from New York is drawn into the case. She was my favorite character and has appeared in two past novels by the author- I hope he continues to include her in his future work. There are a lot of characters and we get a good amount of information on each. Each chapter is also labeled by character so it’s easy to keep track of who’s who. The novel definitely lives up to the label of thriller! I also enjoyed the prologue and the author’s note. Mr. Finlay has become a must-read author for me.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

.

Parent’s weekend is a thriller which has multiple characters with complex backgrounds. We follow the parents as they try to figure out the disappearance of 5 students.

Alex Finley gets to the point fast and quickly shows different twists that surround the Parent’s Weekend.

Although I enjoyed the story, sometimes it felt like it was a little crowded and the characters were not all fully developed.

I really enjoyed the acting around the narration, Brittant Pressley did a fantastic job portraying the characters’ stories. I felt engaged and caring as I listened to the audiobook.

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read and listen to the ARC and ALC.

I was thrilled to reconnect with Special Agent Keller, a character I’ve grown fond of since first meeting her in Alex Finlay’s debut, Every Last Fear. Following her journey through his subsequent stories has been a rewarding experience.

In this captivating installment, Finlay immerses readers in an academic thriller set at a prestigious university during Parents Weekend. The plot intricately weaves together the lives of five diverse students and their families, revealing a rich tapestry of expectations and realities.

What begins as a joyful celebration of parental pride quickly spirals into a gripping exploration of secrets and betrayals. When the five students mysteriously go missing, their families must grapple with the daunting question of what has led to their disappearance, exposing hidden tensions and unresolved issues that have long simmered beneath the surface.

Each richly developed character struggles with their own ambitions and dilemmas, raising questions about potential hidden motives behind the abduction.

The narrative skillfully shifts between the procedural elements of Keller’s investigation and the emotional turmoil faced by the students’ families, offering a multi-layered perspective that keeps readers engaged.

For fans of dark academia, this novel may strike a chord with its chilling themes and intricate plot lines. While I personally found the pacing a bit slow at times, with tension building gradually, the unexpected twist at the end took me by surprise and elevated my overall experience.

I love Alex Finlay and the way he manages multiple characters with their messy backgrounds and somehow brings them all together in the end. This book was no different. While the focus was mostly around the parents and their complicated histories, I also felt connected to the missing college kids at the center of the book. As always, Finlay wrapped up the stories in pretty little bows that came full circle.

I love the complexity of characters in Finlay’s novels! It’s a lot to juggle and takes a little bit to get into to differentiate the storylines, but always worth it. I feel like the inside cover should be a family tree to quicken the acclimation to juggling different names and backgrounds. Unlike other books in the past, it seemed the pacing was chugging along and then wrapped up really fast in the end. I wasn’t a huge turn off, but the apex of the story came and the book ended quickly after. I would’ve loved a little more detail in the end to maintain the pace from the start. I also feel like the character that makes the most noise in the end (not listed to prevent spoiler) could’ve had more detail surrounding the height of the story. Maybe more detail into how it was executed.

Overall, I rated this a 3.5 rounded up. Great for a quick read popcorn thriller. Thank you NetGalley and

Parents weekend: A group of five college students turn up missing during parents weekend. One is son of an important government official. One has a father who is a well known judge. Is this a prank? Have they been kidnapped or where the heck are they? It will take the fb I, campus police , and local police to figure out what is going on

Based on the synopsis of this book, I was truly excited to read it. The concept of the story sounded very interesting (five students who never show up to a dinner taking place at their university during Parents Weekend) and I love thrillers/mysteries in general. This was also the first book I read by Alex Finlay, and I have been hearing good things about his books for years prior to reading this one. However, I have to say that this book seemed to be all over the place. The beginning was interesting and the story kept me captivated but I quickly lost interest in reading further as the story just became more and more disjointed and confusing. I found myself having to go back to different parts of the story in order to remember which characters the author was writing about, and none of the characters were really that memorable to me, especially the students. I would say that I did enjoy reading the parts of the story that featured FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller as well as Police Chief Jay McCray. The mystery felt a little lackluster as I got closer to the end of the story and I honestly thought that I would like this book much more than I really did. I expected more of a plot twist than what was in the book as well. I will be trying out more of Alex Finlay's novels in the future, so hopefully I enjoy those more than this one.

This book had me hooked & I could not put it down.
The story follows five families whose kids go missing, along with an officer trying to piece everything together. And every... single... one... of these families has messed-up pasts and storylines (I mean, don’t we all to some extent? No? Just me?).

Following the backstories and chasing all the possible leads (that kept ending in dead ends) had me sitting here with a full-on conspiracy board mapped out in my head (red string and all) constantly rewiring it.

There were moments when I would be sitting in my kitchen reciting each character and theory I had out loud, just to track where I thought the story was heading.

This story definitely kept me glued to my Kindle for the majority of the novel (or at least as much as a child and full-time work allow).

I really enjoyed all the characters because of their flaws. I loved that there were so many main characters to keep me on my toes.. but where other stories sometimes create confusion with a large cast, Alex Finlay kept everyone organized.
I never once found myself thinking, “Wait, which character was that again?”

Well done, Alex Finlay!!! This was a highly enjoyable, fast-paced read for me!

4 Stars!!

I liked Parents’ Weekend, but I didn’t love it. The story had a lot going on, with multiple POVs and a huge cast of characters, sometimes it was hard to keep track of everyone, and I found myself a little lost and confused at times. It leans more into the police procedural side than I expected, which slowed the pacing for me. However, I did not see that twist coming and I love when an author is able to keep me from figuring out the twists.

Overall, an entertaining listen, just not one that completely hooked me.

Huge thanks to @netgalley, Minotaur Books, and Alex Finlay for the ARC of Parents Weekend in exchange for an honest review!

Alex Finlay is an auto-read author for me—I’ve loved every single one of his books—so I was very excited to get my hands on this one. And let me tell you, Parents Weekend did not disappoint.

The story centers around five college friends who vanish right before a planned dinner with their parents at—yep, you guessed it—Parents Weekend. From there, the mystery unravels through alternating viewpoints: the students, their parents, and the detective working the case. Each perspective adds a new layer, and Finlay does a great job of weaving them all together without it ever feeling overwhelming.

There are plenty of red herrings and just the right amount of “wait, WHAT?” moments to keep you flipping the pages. Like any good thriller, it keeps you guessing—but everything ties together so well in the end.

Fast-paced, twisty, and full of heart, this one’s another solid win from Alex Finlay.

I love Alex Finlay's books. This newest book was a quick read. It's Parents Weekend at SCU and 5 friends are expecting to see their parents. But when the parents show u, the kids are missing.

There were multiple characters in this story. Each chapter was told from a different characters POV. It was confusing at first, but I caught on quickly. It was great to see a familiar character return from previous stories.

This book kept my interest and in typical Finlay fashion, unraveled slowly. There were many suplots and red herrings thrown in to keep me guessing. My only complaint would be that I wanted more from the ending. After all the build up, it wrapped up fairly quickly.

If you enjoy quick popcorn reads, this is the perfect book. 3.5 stars rounded up

Unfortunately, Finlay's latest thriller was a miss for me. This disjointed story of five college students who go missing on parents' weekend was stuffed full of forgettable characters and plot holes. It was too hard to keep the many different characters apart, and the short, punchy chapters - which I usually prefer in a thriller - made it even harder to keep up with who was who. I think Finlay is trying to push out too many books too fast, and even the presence of Agent Keller from The Night Shift (my favorite Finlay novel to date) wasn't enough to save this book. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for a digital review copy.

SYNOPSIS
-It’s Parents Weekend at a small private college in California. Five freshmen mysteriously go missing.
-At first, everyone assumes they’re just being typical college kids — partying, blowing off dinner with their parents.
But as the hours stretch into days with no word, panic sets in.
-Search parties form, reporters swarm, and the missing students (dubbed “The Five”) become a media obsession.
-Told through multiple POVs and split timelines (past and present), the story unravels messy family secrets and raises the big question: are the parents’ past mistakes catching up with their kids?
⸻
MY THOUGHTS
-The idea was fun — messy families, missing students, media circus — but the execution didn’t totally land for me.
-There are way too many points of view. Between the kids, their parents, and Agent Keller, it felt like a lot of voices competing for space.
-Similarly, the cast of characters is huge. Five missing kids, plus all their families — it gets a little crowded. I definitely felt like the same story could have been told with fewer people.
-I liked the short chapters.
-The writing style wasn’t my favorite. The dialogue felt really unnatural in a lot of places — very “tell-y” instead of “show-y.” Characters explained things instead of just talking like normal humans.
-Definitely a popcorn thriller — quick & dramatic.
-Apparently, Agent Sarah Keller is from earlier books, but I hadn’t read them, and it didn’t matter. This reads fine as a standalone.
-If you love stories about dysfunctional families and bad life choices coming to light, this book leans heavily into that vibe. Basically everyone is cheating on everyone.
-The mystery itself felt a little flat — not super twisty or complex.
-The ending didn’t really wow me either. It wrapped up quickly and felt kind of anticlimactic.
-Overall, the characters didn’t have a ton of depth, which made it hard to care about them once everything hit the fan.
⸻
TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️A fast, easy read with messy families, missing kids, and a ton of drama, but the huge cast of characters, too many POVs, flat mystery, and not-so-great dialogue made it fall a little flat for me.
⸻
THANKS: Thanks to St. Martin’s Press | Minotaur Books and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on May 6, 2025.

Parents Weekend, by Alex Finlay, is a bingeable, additive mystery and a fast-read. This story takes place at a private college in Northern California where five students are supposed to meet their parents for an official Parents Weekend dinner event. When none of the students show up without explanation, and no one can reach them, there is cause for concern, particularly in light of the recent death of a student.

Even though Special Agent Sarah Keller has a stellar reputation in the FBI, she is also new in town from the east coast, here on a bereavement transfer. Since college kids missing a dinner seems to be a minor concern, new to the group, she is called in to investigate. But as time passes, videos appear, and disconcerting clues are discovered, the situation becomes more dire. Add in powerful and influential parents with threats of their own and you have an unnerving, time-sensitive situation.

Parents Weekend is filled with a sense of mounting tension and plenty of red-herrings that keep the reader captivated. All of the characters are compelling, and though the conclusion isn’t all that surprising, the story is suspenseful and intriguing.

I have enjoyed all of Alex Finlay’s stories. He knows how to pen a gripping story that will keep you entertained. This story is no different. Parents Weekend is an immersive, immediately engaging thriller that you won’t want to miss.

I've only read two Alex Finlay books so far but definitely need to read more. This was a quick read (short chapters), had multiple points of view (while some might say too many, I actually enjoyed seeing what was going on through many different eyes and thought processes), and had a relatively satisfying ending. With so many views points, it was easy to fall into the trap that so and so did it, it was not as it seems, and other thriller type thoughts and that's what I loved. The inability to pinpoint who was responsible for the disappearance of the students helped me power through the story quickly

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. This “thriller” was so predictable and tired. I cannot recommend it at all and I think I have finally learned that Finlay’s books are really not for me.

Five college students go missing on parents weekend on the heels of another student’s death. Everyone’s worried. The clock is ticking to find the students and solve the mystery. Lots of characters to keep straight but a great, fast paced read.

I was hooked from the very beginning and loved trying to figure out the mystery. I loved all of the different POVs and loved getting to see Sarah Keller again. The writing, pacing, setting and twist were all well done and I can’t wait to read more from this author.

I did not care for the first book I'd read by Alex Finlay, but I liked his writing style enough to read another book by him. That book, I really enjoyed and then vowed to read more. So this is the third book of his that I've read now, and I'm still so glad I gave him another shot.

His writing is quick and witty. I love that his chapters are short and to the point; it makes reading so much faster. There were a lot more POVs this time around and sometimes that did feel a bit overwhelming, but the characters and their backstories were diverse enough to quickly remember who was who.

The mystery reveal almost fell flat for me, but even if it had I ultimately wouldn't have minded because I enjoyed the overall ride.