Thank you Libro.fm /Macmillan Audio for the ALC and Minotaur Books, #partner for the advanced copy of Parents Weekend in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Minotaur Books / Macmillan Audio
Published: May 6, 2025
Summary:
From the bestselling author of If Something Happens to Me, comes one of the year’s most anticipated thrillers.
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 thoughts:
I’m such a fan of Finlay’s books and this was no exception. It was such a tense, addictive read and those short chapters just begged you to keep going. The return of FBI Agent Sarah Keller made this reader very happy – if you’ve read some of Finlay’s previous books, you know who she is – and if not, no worries!
There are a lot of moving parts here, and with a rather large cast of characters, it just ups the tension almost from the start. It’s such a multi-layered family drama that plays in front of us, rather like that car wreck you cannot look away from. There are so many secrets which lead to many suspects which lead to lots of suspense. Finlay has this unique way to twisting the plot to keep you fully engaged as we delve into these characters lives, both past and present, bringing you fully into the mesh, making it so that you are unable to walk away until there is a resolution…and many times you are left scratching your head trying to make the pieces fit until you have all the clues laid out.
This book takes you on quite a wild ride and I couldn’t have enjoyed it more. In true Finlay fashion, I was unable to think of anything else until I finished it…and now I am desperate to get my hands on his next book!
Audio thoughts:
This was narrated by Brittany Pressley, one of my favorite audiobook narrators, and she does such an amazing job bringing the story to life. She is able to give each character a distinct voice.
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Sounds very good.
Author
It was…as are all his books!