Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay is a thriller about five sets of parents whose children go missing. It’s full of twists, turns, and surprises!
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Parents Weekend Book Overview
Title: Parents Weekend
Author: Alex Finlay
Pages: 320 Pages
Publish Date: May 6th, 2025
Genre: Mystery/ Thriller
My Star Rating: 4/5 stars! (I loved this book and would recommend it to most people.)
Grab your copy here: https://amzn.to/4ivMcbR
Amazon Synopsis
In the glow of their children’s exciting first year of college at a small private school in Northern California, five families plan on a night of dinner and cocktails for the opening festivities of Parents Weekend. As the parents stay out way past their bedtimes, their kids—five residents of Campisi Hall—never show up at dinner.
At first, everyone thinks that they’re just being college students, irresponsibly forgetting about the gathering or skipping out to go to a party. But as the hours click by and another night falls with not so much as a text from the students, panic ensues. Soon, the campus police call in reinforcements. Search parties are formed. Reporters swarm the small enclave. Rumors swirl and questions arise.
Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella—The Five, as the podcasters, bloggers, and TikTok sleuths call them—come from five very different families. What led them out on that fateful night? Could it be the sins of their mothers and fathers come to cause them peril or a threat to the friend group from within?
Told through multiple points of view in past and present—and marking the return of FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller from Every Last Fear and The Night Shift—Parents Weekend explores the weight of expectation, family dysfunction, and those exhilarating first days we all remember in the dorms when our friends become our family.
My Review of Parents Weekend
Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and Alex Finlay for this Advanced Reading Copy of Parents Weekend in exchange for my honest review.
Parents Weekend is told from multiple POVs, which seem overwhelming at first, but once you get who everyone is, it makes sense. There was a lot of background knowledge about each child’s parents, which helped understand that anyone could be responsible for the children disappearance.
FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller is a strong and confident woman! I loved reading from her POV. I loved her marriage, and her husband was an MVP of the book. Also, this made me want to read more of Alex Finlay’s books featuring Agent Keller.
The reason this book didn’t receive 5 stars is that the ending felt a little bit obvious about halfway through. Also, some of the parents were extremely unlikable (though that was the point). Still, I’m glad I read this book, and I think most people will like it too.
This is the first book I have read by Alex Finlay but I can guarantee this won’t be the last! I loved the writing and the way that Alex Finlay grabs your attention and holds on to it throughout the novel.
Lastly, Parents Weekend was a quick read for me. It’s the perfect read for a rainy weekend.
Grab your copy here: https://amzn.to/4ivMcbR
Who Would Enjoy This Book?
If you like to read quick, thrilling novels with twists and turns, then this book is for you! It’s filled with suspense and mysteries.
Fans of multiple POVs and lots of characters will enjoy this novel. Also, if you love a strong, confident BA of a main character, then you will love Agent Keller.
Lastly, this book is perfect for anyone who likes to spend a weekend solving a mystery and loves books with cliffhanging chapters.
Grab your copy here: https://amzn.to/4ivMcbR
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Final Thoughts
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Thanks for reading
Kel