3.75 stars rounded to 4.

This was an action packed thriller that had me hooked from the beginning. I ended up reading this book in one sitting. The lead up to the ending had a few twists but all the loose ends were tied up. I thought most of the ending was good but I still am not sure about Felix's part in the ending. I think the story would have been better with a different outcome. Also, I found there to be too many characters in this book and at times it was hard to keep everyone straight. Overall, it was a solid thriller.

In Parents' Weekend, the families are invited to join their kids for a dinner at the University. 5 students never show up to the dinner which leaves many questions. Did they ditch their parents or is something more sinister going on? Police and the FBI are called in to help investigate which is where we meet FBI agent Sarah. She is on a temp assignment in California and quickly becomes a valuable asset to the investigation. With multiple dead ends, will the students be found alive?

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love when a good thriller hits! Parents Weekend follows the kidnapping of 5 college kids during, you guessed it, parents weekend 😉 We get multiple POVs from each of the families and of course they all of their own dirty laundry that could be the reason for this kidnapping.

The pace of this one was perfect - kept me on my toes and interested throughout. The ending didn’t feel rushed and perfectly tied up all the loose ends. Safe to say Alex Finlay is another thriller author for me 👏🏼

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for this eARC!

Alex Finlay writes suspense novels that can be read in a day, and that you want to stay up late to finish reading. My one push for this book is that there are almost too many characters, with each family having time dedicated to their story. There is a good mix of families, including kids with parents who have been incarcerated, parents who work in law, and families who work at the school the students attend. I would not consider this Finlay's most compelling or well-written work, but I would still recommend it for library purchase and for patrons looking for another thriller/mystery.

📖 ARC Book Review

PUB Date : May 5 2025

My Rating : ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️ 3 Rip Roaring Stars

Happy Saturday Book Pals 🫶🏼

I almost didn’t finish this one , but I’m glad I stuck it out !

This book is a busy thriller , that’s the best I can come up with .

At first I really struggled with this one, there was too much going on, so many characters and lack of character building made it difficult to navigate.

At about 22% this is where things start to get interesting 🤨 so buckle up because the whip lash is gonna hurt as your catapulted into a wild goose chase !

Read this if you like :
🚐 Police Procedurals
🚐 Multiple POV’s
🚐 Academia’s
🚐 unlikeable Characters
🚐 Lots of Red Herrings
🚐 Busy reads
🚐 Short Chapters

I don’t want to give too much away , but we find ourselves on Parents Weekend at a university with 5 groups of parents who are the most unlikely of friends gather for a dinner in honor of their children….BUT those 5 children don’t show up 👀

In comes FBI detective Sarah Keller who is new to town who is catapulted into this investigation without a minutes warning .

If Keller doesn’t act quickly will these students be found alive or worse will she be in danger herself?? You need to read this yourself to find out 🕵️‍♀️

And if you need a little more convincing check out my aesthetic photos for inspo !!

QOTD~ Rave me your favorite Dark Academia book !!

Thank you NetGalley, St.Martins Press & Alex Finlay for this wild ARC!

Respectfully Another Read by Angie

Alex Finlay nails another one! I have enjoyed several of this author's books and they never disappoint. This captivating thriller opens by introducing the reader to five families, and then moves on to a college campus where everyone is excited for Parents Weekend. The families are to meet up for dinner on a Friday evening, but five students never arrive.

The story is told through multiple points of view, including that of the students, parents, and law enforcement; slowing building tension and providing insight into the lives of each family. Finlay deftly portrays the impact of alcoholism, death of a child, and infidelity on the family and individuals within the family. Where are the student? Are they dead or alive?

This was a real page turner and I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good thriller. Anxiously awaiting your next one Finlay!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press- Minotaur Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

If you are looking for a quick and entertaining read you can’t go wrong with an Alex Finlay thriller. Parent’s Weekend is set in Northern California at a small private college. A group of five students who are supposed to meet their parents for dinner all together over parents weekend never show up. Each chapter is narrated by each of the five different families and the FBI agent called in to crack the case. Get ready for a fun and twisty thrill ride.

This book takes place at Santa Clara University during parents weekend. The students of the families go missing around the same time as a separate student is found dead. There are 5 different families so it was a bit hard to keep everyone straight. I really didn’t know where it was going but it kept my attention the whole time. The short chapters were great and I liked the main FBI agent. I wouldn’t say this was a twisty, intense thriller but it was enjoyable and quick.

Alex Finlay has been a hit or miss author for me, but Parent’s Weekend marked the return of Special Agent Sarah Keller and re-cemented Finlay as a favorite thriller writer.

My only real complaint is that there were so many characters with different point of views that it was difficult to remember who was who. If I hadn’t of read the entire thing in one sitting, I think I would have been incredibly confused trying to keep everyone straight.

Overall, this was a fast faced and entertaining read. I wouldn’t exactly call it twisty, but its “reveals” were well done despite being semi-predictable.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book had such a good concept and would've been soooooo good if the author didn't insist on making random comments about "woke" culture and soooooo many callbacks to his old books. It really took away from the story and I wanted to like it sc bad!!! Thank you netgalley for the early copy :)

Fast-paced, delightfully twisted read -- ideal for a plane ride or vacation reading. Loved the pace of the story, short chapters and the multiple POVs. Alex Finlay is a writer you can trust to bring the goods! Recommended for readers who enjoy suspense/thrillers. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the ARC. Pub Date is May 6th, 2025.

#ParentsWeekend

It's parents weekend at Santa Clara University in Northern California, and the parents of five freshman make their way west for the weekend. Little to they know the quiet dinner is going to turn into a weekend they'll never forget.

I found that I quite enjoyed this book. It's an easy read, but it keeps the reader interested. The author throws plenty of red herrings in to keep you guessing, and I found Special Agent Keller (really the main character) interesting and likeable. Some of the other characters weren't so likeable, but I don't think they were supposed to be. The author uses different point of view through out the book...each chapter is about a different character...which I typically don't enjoy as it disrupts the flow of the plot, but it was used in a way that made the story flow nicely.

Overall, a book I would recommend! Look for it May 6, 2025.

Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC!

This book is a winner! 5 college students go missing during Parents Weekend and their parents are desperate to find out what happened to them. Each family has their own unique issues and there are lots of twists and turns to uncover the truth.

This book has short chapters and is an easy read. This is the first book I've read by this author but I will definitely be looking for more of his titles. I absolutely loved this book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy!

I devoured this one! There's multiple POVs and at first I was nervous about keeping track of all the families, but it was easy to follow and each one was very distinguishable. Packed full of secrets and drama keeps the pace moving forward quickly. There's an unexpected emotional aspect to the story and it really packs a punch. Definitely not one to miss!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

My favorite author is back with another amazing 5-star read! Alex Finlay is so consistent. I just love his books. Parents' Weekend is full of action, tension and suspense. The short chapters keep the pace moving quickly and it never felt like there was a dull moment. There is a large cast of characters, and it took me a little while to remember who everyone was, but it worked because it allowed for a fuller and more complex story. The families pretty much all have some kind of baggage or secret they are keeping which makes for a lot of clues and red herrings. I did eventually realize what was happening, but not until towards the end since I couldn't quite figure out how all the puzzle pieces fit at first. There were still some surprises though! The ending ties everything up nicely but I thought it was so sad. It made me cry. Overall, I loved this book and found it practically impossible to put down. I highly recommend it, along with all of Alex Finlay's other books!

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

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was quick to get through!

If you love cop shows you will LOVE this book. I was hoping for more of a thriller not a detective case novel if that makes sense. I was expecting more focus on the parent’s relationship with each other and the kids, but we barely got any of that.

There were a lot of moments of the FBI agent trying to figure out the case, so it resembled a cop show quite a bit, which I’m not a big fan of, but if you like it you will for sure like this book.

To me, it felt like the summary misinformed you a bit. What I thought the book would be about we did not get. Even how “The Five” became TikTok sensations was barely talked about.

I almost wish it was longer so we could get to know the characters better.

The characters should have been fleshed out more and it should have revolved around the kids more. I didn’t care about them at all or wasn’t concerned why they went missing because we barely knew them. Their drama at the end was insignificant because they didn’t matter.

I only really wanted to finish the book because I was vaguely curious what the outcome was. That wasn’t really worth it to me because it was so predictable and rushed.

Too many characters and parents, and none of them really stood out, so I had to fight to remember who was who and which parent had what kid each time they mentioned a name or POV. Too much focus on the detective and not enough building up the characters we were searching for.

Most of the people were terrible people too. I don’t mind books about bad people doing bad things, but at least make them a little likeable so you can root for them, even if you hate to love them. This book did not deliver that at all. The two people that SHOULD have got a happy ending didn’t, and that made me so mad and angry.

I was disappointed with this book. Maybe that was because my expectations were not met, but there is a lot that needs to be added for it to be more entertaining.

Going to DNF this for now at 53%.

I just find myself not really caring about the outcome, there’s so many characters and we’re told barely anything about them.

Thank you NetGalley and to the publishers for giving me this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Five college students don’t show up for a dinner during parents weekend. At first the parents think the students are just being typical college kids and ditching the gathering, but they eventually start to realize that something more is going on.

It was a bit difficult keeping track of all the families and timelines at first, but once it got going, it was worth it. I would consider this a “popcorn thriller”. It’s one that once you start you want to fly through it and get to the end. I had mixed feelings about the ending because it was somewhat predictable, but it was still worth the time it took to read it. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys mystery/thrillers.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press - Minotaur Books for an eARC of this book. The opinion in this review is my own.

Parent's Weekend by Alex Finlay starts off with 5 families meeting up for dinner on Parent's Weekend with their kids. Five very different families all coming together but the kids don't show for dinner. Is this a sick joke? Where are the kids?

The book takes off from there and you won't want to put it down until you figure out if the five kids are ok.

I really enjoyed the book. I was a bit confused at the beginning with so many families that I actually made some notes to keep track. Once the story took off it was amazing. I can't say a loved the ending but still would recommend this book to my friends and followers.

Thank you Alex Finlay and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Totally obsessed with this new book by Alex Finley! His books are always so suspenseful and weave this real life stories that keeps you totally engaged and wanting to read it all at once so you know how the book ends. In Parents Weekend a group of college students families come together to visit their kids who are all in the same group only to have the student not show up and disappear. I like how this was told through the views of both the parents and the kids because I feel like it added a lot of depth to the story and was able to really dig into what was happening! If you me looking for a good suspense/ thriller book this is a great choice!

Parents weekend by Alex Finley

At a small school in North Carolina families gather for a parents weekend to see how their children have been doing in school. As the parents of five families come together, and the children don’t show up. The hours pass by and the students still don’t arrive, parents start to panic as the story rises of a missing girl just weeks previous. FBI Detective Sarah Keller gets involved in the case. And starts unfolding the dysfunctionality of the families involved. Which makes everyone suspicious.
This book was interesting as there were multiple POV’s. I enjoyed the book but wasn’t thrilled. I had an idea of what was happening early on so I didn’t have the ah-ha moment. It was a good book to pass the time. Thank you, NetGalley and St Martins Press