🏛💊🙊 Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay 🙊💊🏛
Genre: Thriller
Length: 320 pages
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (rounded ⬆️ for Goodreads)
Pub Date: May 6, 2025!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the advanced e-ARC of this book. The opinions stated here are solely my own.

Synopsis:
Santa Clara University in Northern California is having their annual Parents Weekend, and the freshman are scheduled for a dinner with their families. Unfortunately, five freshman who have become friends through their capstone class did not show up to meet their parents. This all follows another incident at the college from earlier in the week where another female student was found dead, drowned in a local cave at high tide.

The families of the missing students are all frantically trying to figure out where their children are, even as they all strangely left their phones behind. Agent Sarah Keller is on the case and trying to figure out what links these children. All the while, each family has their own secrets and possible motives that could be the reason for the students' disappearance. Can Keller find them before another campus death occurs?

Opinion:
This was the best type of thriller! It kept me guessing and had many red herrings along the way. The chapters were short and usually left on a question or cliffhanger. I really enjoyed how each of the families had their own skeletons in their closets to uncover, but even more how Agent Keller was able to use different technology and the parents' unusual connections to solve the mystery. I also loved Agent Keller for her own lovely family story that was integrated throughout. Great book and this was my first, but DEFINITELY not last by Alex Finlay!

An easy read if you’re seeking one. It’s full of drama. The story revolves around a college student who has passed away, and five more students who end up missing. However, I must admit that I found the book more focused on the lives of the parents than on the missing students. I found the parents’ stories to be far more intriguing than the narrative about the missing students.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

The cover and the blurb lured me in but it was like watching a bad episode of Law and Order. I was able to keep all the characters straight which I will give myself a pat on the back for because there was a lot. The concept itself could have really worked with a better author and more twists. Skip this one as there are so many better thrillers out there.

Good story

The ending was a little sad (someone died that I wish hadn't), but this was a very good book. It has very short chapters that alternate between college students and their parents. There was a parents' weekend at their college and five students mysteriously stood their parents up. There is plenty of mystery and some good emotional content. I enjoyed it and recommend it.

I didn’t want to stop reading Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay. I finished this book in 2 days.
There are quite a few characters, but I felt that I was able to keep track of them because each chapter tells you whose POV it is from. Great book with a few twists and not what I had expected.

Five families plan a night of dinner and cocktails for Parents Weekend. However, as the parents chat and get to know each other over dinner and drinks, the kids never show up. At first, everyone thinks they forgot about the gathering or went to a party instead. However, as more time passes without a word from any of them, the parents begin to panic. The campus police call in reinforcements and search parties are formed. The Five—Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella—come from very different families. What do they have in common? And more importantly, what happened to them?

I really enjoyed this one. All the parents were hiding secrets, and some had some high-profile jobs. The kids also had many secrets. There were many suspects and reasons the kids could have gone missing. It was a rollercoaster ride, and I truly enjoyed it. I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys thrillers! I give it 4/5 stars.

I had the pleasure of reading this book as an ARC reader through NetGalley. Unfortunately, I've made the choice to mark it 3 stars and this is why. I found that even though I have very much enjoyed Alex's other books, this book was different in a way. There was way to many characters, even with it being able to be followed, I found it a bit overwhelming. The story line could have been stronger, but was overall a decent read. I had issues with it keeping my attention, and found myself putting it down often to come back too.

This is my second Alex Finley book and I truly enjoyed the first one , so I couldn’t wait to read this one. I was a bit disappointed though, the story starts off really well, but than second half was a slow build to a surprise ending.

Parents Weekend, the weekend that parents are also excited about, see their children for the first time since dropping them off at college. Like most college students they just want to hang out with their friends, so it was no surprise when the 5 students don’t show up at dinner. It’s suspicious though when they don’t answer their phones and no one hears from them even the next day. Where are the Five students and are they in danger?

Overall the book was good, but could have been a bit more faster paced in the second half of the book, also the conclusion was a little surprising to me. I do love that each chapter isn’t 20 pages long, so you can break the book up easily when reading.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin Press - Minotaur Books for this eARC in return for my honest review. I look forward to reading many more of Alex’s books.

Typically I devour his writings, he has written a few of my all time favorite thrillers but this one wasn't a top 5 star but still good! I loved the first half but I thought that the second half was too slow. This one is every parent's nightmare. Five families plan on a night of dinner and cocktails for parents weekend. As the parents stay out way past their bedtimes, their kids, five residents of Campisi Hall never show up at dinner. What happened to them? The story was told through multiple points of view in past and present. I was on the edge of my seat at the end there was lots of action which I loved. I loved the short chapters. This was not a predictable read for me. I was not able to solve the mystery. I did enjoy the the conclusion. There were some twist and turns too.

This book was amazing! I was hooked from the very beginning and couldn’t stop reading it. Will definitely be purchasing it when it is published. 4.5 stars!

3.5 stars.

This book was fun enough to read. I really really liked Keller. My issue was that I never learned to care about the missing students. More development was needed on that end. But all in all, i had a good time reading.

I loved so much about this book! The character building was great. Keller's husband was just a dream, swoon. Tragic, heart pounding suspense at it's finest.

Well, I wanted to love this books or even like it but not so much. Too many characters to keep track of and the story just didn't keep my interest.
Love the author, love the premise but I just couldn't get into it. Lots of drama but the parents never really worked together which I found odd.
I guess the book just wasn't for me

There were a lot of characters to keep track of between the parents and the college students. While some were more appealing than others, each was brought to life in full dimension with all their many flaws. Being a fan of this author and always expecting the best, I wasn't blown away with this one. It wasn't for the lack of writing skills because this is an author who has a very talented hand and mind. The storyline was good, I think I just expected more. However, don't let me sway you one way or the other. Give this one a try. You may just end up loving it. Three stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

Really enjoyed this book. Kept me interested and on the edge of my seat.

The characters and their backgrounds are pretty great. Great information but not too much unneeded detail.

Just a few twists and I had a few thoughts about who and where the students disappeared to.

My initial instinct was correct but still really enjoyed this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy.

Alex Finlay delivers again in this latest thriller! Perfect for those who like:
- twisty thrillers
- family secrets
- college setting
- multiple narrators

This page turner drops the reader into parents weekend on a college campus in Northern California. A group of students goes missing, and the narration shifts between the families and investigators as they work to uncover secrets and find the students. There's a lot of twists and turns to reach the finish line.

The character had absolutely no depth to them and were very unlikeable. The scenarios were outrageous and just silly.

This one was even better than the first book I read by this author. I honestly should be upset with him for keeping me up all night! I started and finished this one and the same day! It pulls you in and keeps you with short chapters that get right to the action. I have been struggling finding books that I love lately, but this one definitely did it! Looking forward to finding more by him to add to my TBR!

What a weekend.

A girl goes missing and is found dead before the weekend begins, and then another five students go missing from an exclusive school with high-profile parents and a few that aren't high profile.

None of the students showed up for a planned, parents dinner, but they figured the students were just out partying. But...when no one is answering their phones and no one shows up, panic ensues.

What could have happened to Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella who had a few things in common - unusual they were together.

We follow the investigation and try to figure out the mystery - will you be able to do it?

Lots of characters - most unlikeable and definitely a group of dysfunctional families that make the book interesting but not as pull you in as some of his other books. 4/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I flew through the first 75% of this book, then I had to put it down to go to bed LOL. I really enjoyed it! The only thing I had a complaint about was the ending - specifically the final "action" scene so to speak. It felt very rushed and I didn't like that the mystery was solved within half a page. I was kinda like "oh... that's it, then, it's all solved". I think it could've been played out a bit more/described in more detail. At times, I did confuse some of the characters, as there are 5 students + all their parents and then some other characters on top of that, but once I would keep reading, the details would come back to me. A lot of information to remember at times. I did love the glimpse into the future after the mystery was solved that took place because it gave me closure about each character.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinions.