They run. Run with a primal fear knowing that if they slow down, all five of them will die.
It’s hard to think in this fog of terror.
Blane puts his hands out, palms down: “Stick to the story like we agreed.”
His gut clenches, but he makes sure to smile reassuringly. He warned Stella—warned them all—that Natasha Belov was bad news. Bad, bad news.
Five students are running for their lives. Will they survive? Why are they running? From whom? We go back three days.
Alex Finlay – image from his site – shot by Julie Litvin
It is parents’ weekend at Santa Clara University, a private institution on the California coast. (There is an actual SCU. The author’s son goes there.) Events are planned. Parents of freshman are invited to join their children for a Friday dinner. We are introduced to the families of the five in their capstone group (Each freshman dorm breaks the residents into small groups of five to six students. They have to complete a project together by the end of the year, but spend most of the time partying.) and will subsequently rotate among them for POVs. This is standard operating procedure for Finlay, albeit with a larger cast than usual. Well, sort of. More on that in a bit. It is a mixed group.
The Roosevelts include an undersecretary of state, Cynthia, her staff and security. This is necessary as her now-college-age son, Blane, has been kidnapped before. You can’t be too careful. The Maldonados are David and Nina. He is a plastic surgeon, but it will take more than a nip and tuck to repair their marriage. Stella is their co-ed. The Goffmans consist of Alice, who is a secretary to Dean Pratt, and her son, Felix. His education is the primary benefit of a job she does not exactly love. The Akanas are Ken, a relatively famous Chief Judge of Superior Court in LA, and wife Amy. The loss of a child to cancer has made their daughter, Libby, all the more precious. The Kellers are special agent Sarah, husband Bob and their twins. Their son is Michael. Readers of Alex Finlay may remember Sarah Keller from The Night Shift and Every Last Fear.
Keller was a surprise reader favorite in Every Last Fear. I wasn’t planning to bring her back, but as I wrote THE NIGHT SHIFT she just appeared. I love writing her and her husband Bob. Both are so decent and supportive of one another, and they provide some needed moments of calm in the storm. – from The Big Thrill interview about the Night Shift, and here she is again.
Although the five families split time, most is devoted to Sarah Keller, as she takes an active role in the investigation, working closely with the head of security at the university. This is our procedural pathway. Going by the numbers, the Kellers (Sarah, really) takes up half of the chapters in the book, thirty-five of seventy. The four other families get five to seven each, and there are eight chapters assigned to individuals or the missing. This is actually a good thing as the Keller family offers a welcome relief from the dysfunction of some of the others. Tolstoy pops to mind: “Happy families are all alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” A loving, supportive marriage in service of truth-telling. What’s not to like? This is not to say that there is much deep character study at work here. This is a thriller, after all. But there is always peril in juggling POVs that two or more may begin to sound the same. Finlay has managed that challenge well, as each is presented with a distinctive voice and personality.
There’s people who write wonderful literary fiction, and they can get into the in-depths of the character like I never could… “I don’t have a lot of internal inner monologue. I try and make you know who these characters are by what they do and what they say. – from the Read with Jul interview
They all have their secrets, well, mostly. We get to see them revealed one by one, and must consider if they have any relevance to the dual mysteries at play. It just so happens that another student at SCU, missing for several days, had been found dead, three days before. The five had been messaging each other about sticking to their story, so a core mystery; what had happened to the girl, how, and what was the involvement of the five? The presenting mystery is the disappearance of the five on the night of the Parents Weekend dinner. What is the link between the two?
There are plenty of clues scattered about, not all of them red herrings. We learn of the parents’ and students’ pathologies and strengths over the course of the investigation. There are bad people at work, and we wonder how much damage they will do before they can be identified and stopped.
Finlay sustains a breathless pace, providing the end-of-chapter hooks that keep us turning the pages. Secondary characters fill in needed blanks, sometimes offering more substantive support to notions or particular primary characters.
The tension, informed by factual discoveries and personal revelations, builds to a dramatic climax. You will get to find out if your guesses were correct. Finlay has made a habit of writing fast-paced thrillers that serve the purpose of pure entertainment. You do not need to be a student or a parent to enjoy this Parents Weekend. It would make an excellent beach, (unless you are going to a place with sea caves) or airplane read (commercial, not private jet), or even something to help you get through the down times at an actual college parents weekend. But pay attention. This will count towards your final grade.
Review posted – 06/13/25
Publication date – 05/06/25
I received an ARE of Parents Weekend from Minotaur Books in return for a fair review and a Gentleman’s “C” on that disappointing final exam. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating.
This review is cross-posted on Goodreads. Stop by and say Hi!
=======================================EXTRA STUFF
Links to Finlay’s personal, FB, and Instagram pages
Profile – From the author’s real-name website
Anthony Franze is a critically acclaimed novelist with St. Martin’s Press, and a lawyer in the Appellate & Supreme Court practice of a prominent Washington, D.C. law firm.
For more than a decade, Anthony was an adjunct professor of law teaching courses in Federal Courts, Legal Rhetoric, and Appellate Practice, and he currently participates in a European faculty exchange program where he teaches at law schools abroad.
He writes legal thrillers under his own name, including THE LAST JUSTICE (2012), THE ADVOCATE’S DAUGHTER (2016), and THE OUTSIDER (2017) He writes commercial fiction under a pen name, [Alex Finley] and his 2021 novel was an Indie Next pick, a LibraryReads selection, an Amazon Editor’s Best Thriller, as well as a CNN, Newsweek, E!, BuzzFeed, Business Week, Goodreads, Parade, PopSugar, and Reader’s Digest best or most anticipated thriller of the year. His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages and optioned for television and film.
My reviews of two of Finlay’s prior books
—–2024 – What Have We Done
—–2023 – If Something Happens to Me
Interviews
—–Authors on the Air – Alex Finlay Parents Weekend Authors on the Air with James L’Etoile – video – 17:30
—–Mystery and Thriller Mavens – Special Pre-launch Q&A with Sara DiVello – 28:47
—–Read with Jul – chapter 86. an interview with bestselling thriller author alex finlay
—–The Big Thrill – Up Close: Alex Finlay The Ties That Bind
—–Outliers Writing University – Get To Know Author Alex Finlay with DP Lyle and Kathleen Antrim – video – 19:24 – good bits on writing process and shifting from legal novels to thrillers, and from Anthony FranZe to Alex Finlay
Songs/Music
—– AC/DC – Back in Black – in Chapter 12
Coot's Reviews 