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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Great quick read. Fast paced and keep my attention
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay
I listened to the audiobook, and I enjoyed the different narrators. Having more than one narrator added to the cinematic, dramatic aspect of the book. Each narrator did a great job telling the story and distinguishing when they were portraying different characters. I am a huge fan of audiobooks, but I don't always think to request them on NetGalley, so I am glad that I saw a post on Alex Finlay's Bookstagram about the audiobook being available on NetGalley.
All the traveling around the world was fun. (Well, some places more so than others. Obviously, virtual travel to Leavenworth, Kansas wasn't as exciting as to Montepulciano and Paris š.)
If Something Happens to Me is an exhilarating, fast-paced thriller told from several different POV. We travel all around the U.S. and Europe trying to solve a presumed (no body was initially found) murder, with new information that's become available. This new information provides more questions than answers, and comes with renewed danger.
I highly recommend this book to fans of thrillers who enjoy multiple POV and locations, which for me, added to the excitement. The cipher element also added an intriguing layer to the mystery.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing an Advance Reader Copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Expected publication May 28, 2024. Available to pre-order now.
I listened to the audiobook, and I enjoyed the different narrators. Having more than one narrator added to the cinematic, dramatic aspect of the book. Each narrator did a great job telling the story and distinguishing when they were portraying different characters. I am a huge fan of audiobooks, but I don't always think to request them on NetGalley, so I am glad that I saw a post on Alex Finlay's Bookstagram about the audiobook being available on NetGalley.
All the traveling around the world was fun. (Well, some places more so than others. Obviously, virtual travel to Leavenworth, Kansas wasn't as exciting as to Montepulciano and Paris š.)
If Something Happens to Me is an exhilarating, fast-paced thriller told from several different POV. We travel all around the U.S. and Europe trying to solve a presumed (no body was initially found) murder, with new information that's become available. This new information provides more questions than answers, and comes with renewed danger.
I highly recommend this book to fans of thrillers who enjoy multiple POV and locations, which for me, added to the excitement. The cipher element also added an intriguing layer to the mystery.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing an Advance Reader Copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Expected publication May 28, 2024. Available to pre-order now.
writing: painful | plot: pls stop | ending: hallelujah
my opinion
Booooooo!!!!! I know I'm a few short of a dozen, but Finlay must think his readers are drooling imbeciles the way he over-explained everything. For example:
"It seems my companies have been infiltrated by a corporate spy. I need to move some assets to make sure they're secure." Translation: O'Leary thinks there's a ratāsomeone talking to the Feds. He wants to hide his money somewhere else. LMFAOOAFKOAFMO ok thanks???? It wasn't obvious enough the first time around.
And when he literally ended a chapter with "...", the punctuation equivalent of DUN DUN DUN, I knew there was no way in hell this book could escape one star territory.
But enough about that, let's get to my biggest issue of the book: if I wanted to read an old dude's opinions on social media, women who like yoga, tourism, woke culture, and Europe vs US I'd just go on Facebook. Finlay used each character, no matter their age, sex, or race, as a mouthpiece for his opinions on topics that were irrelevant to the story. Feast your eye upon the following excerpts:
"Dena, Diana, and Divya have evidently been awake for hours, Instagram ready with their contour makeup that looks like they applied it while watching a tutorial from a Kardashian. These women are smartātop of the class at Georgetown Lawābut get too caught up in social media, like everybody else, he supposes." These women are literally mentioned one other time and that's it so why was it so vital for a 23-year-old male to shade them for putting effort into their appearance? Sorry they care while you use 3-in-1 shampoo body wash and dish soap for all your cleaning needs. Also, if you asked a straight 23 yr old male what contour is they'd probably say is that a type of commercial plane.
Ryan likes this about Nora, her practical there-are-bigger-things-to-get-upset-about attitude. She understands that good people sometimes say stupid shit, unintentionally offend because they don't know any better or act or text or post in the heat of the moment. She has three things seemingly lost in this world of social-media outrage: perspective, nuance, and empathy. JFC which IG baddie tried to get Finlay cancelled?
Poppy is trying to track down three witnesses so she calls one of their moms, who tells Poppy that her daughter is at a yoga class. Poppy thinks (condescendingly) "Of course they are." Oh sorry for being active??? Would it be better if I did something stereotypically manly like a ruck march??
Fatheads is part pool hall, part dive bar. And obviously named before the world got enlightened, or too sensitive, depending on your world view. This is peak snowflake logic. The narrator is 23-years-old max. She's not contemplating the political correctness of the term "fathead" because she probably associates it with those huge cut outs of faces.
Turns out the UK and the rest of Europe are like the US: not everyone's wealthy, not everyone's good-looking. And not everyone's nice. Cool story bro but considering every bad guy in this book is American, I'm not sure why you needed to say this? Also, I don't think anyone who's received an elementary level education thinks all of Europe is wealthy OR nice.
Funny how we all hate tourists even though we'll all be tourists at some point.... LMAOOO not the extendo ellipsis. We're at the 86% mark of the book and this is the bar you're dropping? Suuuuper funny.
Sadly there are plenty more quotes to go around, but I'm gonna stop here. I liked The Night Shift but this was NOT it. Even his last book about assassins was better because it was so blatantly OTT, you could lean into the vibes and have fun.
pros & cons
Pros: quick read
Cons: basic, closed caption writing, over-explaining basic stuff like we have a single digit IQ, using the characters as mouthpieces for his own opinions on shit that did not matter in the slightest, ridiculous, swiss cheese plot with the world's cringiest action scenes
__
Check out my YouTube
my opinion
Booooooo!!!!! I know I'm a few short of a dozen, but Finlay must think his readers are drooling imbeciles the way he over-explained everything. For example:
"It seems my companies have been infiltrated by a corporate spy. I need to move some assets to make sure they're secure." Translation: O'Leary thinks there's a ratāsomeone talking to the Feds. He wants to hide his money somewhere else. LMFAOOAFKOAFMO ok thanks???? It wasn't obvious enough the first time around.
And when he literally ended a chapter with "...", the punctuation equivalent of DUN DUN DUN, I knew there was no way in hell this book could escape one star territory.
But enough about that, let's get to my biggest issue of the book: if I wanted to read an old dude's opinions on social media, women who like yoga, tourism, woke culture, and Europe vs US I'd just go on Facebook. Finlay used each character, no matter their age, sex, or race, as a mouthpiece for his opinions on topics that were irrelevant to the story. Feast your eye upon the following excerpts:
"Dena, Diana, and Divya have evidently been awake for hours, Instagram ready with their contour makeup that looks like they applied it while watching a tutorial from a Kardashian. These women are smartātop of the class at Georgetown Lawābut get too caught up in social media, like everybody else, he supposes." These women are literally mentioned one other time and that's it so why was it so vital for a 23-year-old male to shade them for putting effort into their appearance? Sorry they care while you use 3-in-1 shampoo body wash and dish soap for all your cleaning needs. Also, if you asked a straight 23 yr old male what contour is they'd probably say is that a type of commercial plane.
Ryan likes this about Nora, her practical there-are-bigger-things-to-get-upset-about attitude. She understands that good people sometimes say stupid shit, unintentionally offend because they don't know any better or act or text or post in the heat of the moment. She has three things seemingly lost in this world of social-media outrage: perspective, nuance, and empathy. JFC which IG baddie tried to get Finlay cancelled?
Poppy is trying to track down three witnesses so she calls one of their moms, who tells Poppy that her daughter is at a yoga class. Poppy thinks (condescendingly) "Of course they are." Oh sorry for being active??? Would it be better if I did something stereotypically manly like a ruck march??
Fatheads is part pool hall, part dive bar. And obviously named before the world got enlightened, or too sensitive, depending on your world view. This is peak snowflake logic. The narrator is 23-years-old max. She's not contemplating the political correctness of the term "fathead" because she probably associates it with those huge cut outs of faces.
Turns out the UK and the rest of Europe are like the US: not everyone's wealthy, not everyone's good-looking. And not everyone's nice. Cool story bro but considering every bad guy in this book is American, I'm not sure why you needed to say this? Also, I don't think anyone who's received an elementary level education thinks all of Europe is wealthy OR nice.
Funny how we all hate tourists even though we'll all be tourists at some point.... LMAOOO not the extendo ellipsis. We're at the 86% mark of the book and this is the bar you're dropping? Suuuuper funny.
Sadly there are plenty more quotes to go around, but I'm gonna stop here. I liked The Night Shift but this was NOT it. Even his last book about assassins was better because it was so blatantly OTT, you could lean into the vibes and have fun.
pros & cons
Pros: quick read
Cons: basic, closed caption writing, over-explaining basic stuff like we have a single digit IQ, using the characters as mouthpieces for his own opinions on shit that did not matter in the slightest, ridiculous, swiss cheese plot with the world's cringiest action scenes
__
Check out my YouTube
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My Rating: 2āļøāļø sitting out here on outlier islandā¦ very meh for me!!
Ali and Ryan are high school sweethearts out at lovers lane the last night of school. Itās all young love and fun until someone smashes Ryan over the head leaving him for dead and kidnaps Ali only for no one to ever see her again.
There are secrets and lies and five years later is Ryan about to crack the case wide open and who is that going to put in danger.
Alrighty, at the time of writing this review (7 April 2024) this has a Goodreads rating of 4.26 with 763 ratingsā¦ quite popular. Those reviews are most positive and people seem to love itā¦ however, for me this was what I can only describe as meh! It started strong and I thought it was going to be for me. I knew it would be a chuck your disbelief out the window kind of story and that was trueā¦ but it just didnāt do it for me.
What I did like was the alternating POVs I do love changes in timelines and the parts of the book and the POV changes.. that always is a winner. The short chapters were awesome I loved that and it did go quite quickly. So all of that was positive. It was set up as a winnerā¦
Everything else however just fell flatā¦ I felt like the writing style was very hand holdy (or as Lit With Leigh would say Close Caption) I didnāt feel like there was much in the way of letting the reader work out what was happening through nuance and imagination. Especially the Epilogue which was probably the worst part of this book.
I think the author was trying to make this story exciting and that definitely came through but to do this he put so much into the story that there was TOO MUCH in thereā¦ I get why ā¦ it was intersecting storylineās so we could go oooh that twistā¦ which was okā¦ the twist midway made me raise an eyebrow with interest but it wasnāt that far removed from what was happening so it was quite believable for the story. In terms of the ending twistā¦ I guessed itā¦ which is fineā¦ I didnāt care about thatā¦ but it didnāt leave much left to get excited about.
It just got really boring sorry to sayā¦ there were all these characters and none of them (except for maybe Poppy and Michael) were that interesting. I wasnāt really rooting for anyone, I didnāt really care what happened to any of themā¦ and really I was kind of glad it was over.
As I said earlier that epilogue ā¦ ughā¦ I didnāt like it. And if we were going to get a wrap up of some chracters why not othersā¦ I dunno I just really didnāt care by the end. I have been putting off reading this authors books because I have head they can go a bit wild which I donāt mind sometimes but also have to be in the mood for it. I was ready to roll ā¦ and it was just kind of boring.
Overall, I am on outlier island with my reviewā¦ I suspect most people will love this, most people are already loving this. So if you love this author and are thinking oh how disappointingā¦ ignore me and read it anyway. I think this will be a super popular mainstream popcorn thriller and most people will enjoy itā¦ it just wasnāt really for me.
Thank you to Head of Zeus/Aries, NeGalley and Alex Finlay for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Ali and Ryan are high school sweethearts out at lovers lane the last night of school. Itās all young love and fun until someone smashes Ryan over the head leaving him for dead and kidnaps Ali only for no one to ever see her again.
There are secrets and lies and five years later is Ryan about to crack the case wide open and who is that going to put in danger.
Alrighty, at the time of writing this review (7 April 2024) this has a Goodreads rating of 4.26 with 763 ratingsā¦ quite popular. Those reviews are most positive and people seem to love itā¦ however, for me this was what I can only describe as meh! It started strong and I thought it was going to be for me. I knew it would be a chuck your disbelief out the window kind of story and that was trueā¦ but it just didnāt do it for me.
What I did like was the alternating POVs I do love changes in timelines and the parts of the book and the POV changes.. that always is a winner. The short chapters were awesome I loved that and it did go quite quickly. So all of that was positive. It was set up as a winnerā¦
Everything else however just fell flatā¦ I felt like the writing style was very hand holdy (or as Lit With Leigh would say Close Caption) I didnāt feel like there was much in the way of letting the reader work out what was happening through nuance and imagination. Especially the Epilogue which was probably the worst part of this book.
I think the author was trying to make this story exciting and that definitely came through but to do this he put so much into the story that there was TOO MUCH in thereā¦ I get why ā¦ it was intersecting storylineās so we could go oooh that twistā¦ which was okā¦ the twist midway made me raise an eyebrow with interest but it wasnāt that far removed from what was happening so it was quite believable for the story. In terms of the ending twistā¦ I guessed itā¦ which is fineā¦ I didnāt care about thatā¦ but it didnāt leave much left to get excited about.
It just got really boring sorry to sayā¦ there were all these characters and none of them (except for maybe Poppy and Michael) were that interesting. I wasnāt really rooting for anyone, I didnāt really care what happened to any of themā¦ and really I was kind of glad it was over.
As I said earlier that epilogue ā¦ ughā¦ I didnāt like it. And if we were going to get a wrap up of some chracters why not othersā¦ I dunno I just really didnāt care by the end. I have been putting off reading this authors books because I have head they can go a bit wild which I donāt mind sometimes but also have to be in the mood for it. I was ready to roll ā¦ and it was just kind of boring.
Overall, I am on outlier island with my reviewā¦ I suspect most people will love this, most people are already loving this. So if you love this author and are thinking oh how disappointingā¦ ignore me and read it anyway. I think this will be a super popular mainstream popcorn thriller and most people will enjoy itā¦ it just wasnāt really for me.
Thank you to Head of Zeus/Aries, NeGalley and Alex Finlay for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
mysterious
fast-paced
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This thriller sucked me in with fast moving, short chapters that didnāt seem to connect at all. I knew they had to and my patience paid off in the end when the storylines converged and I was left with a satisfying result to a wild plot. Good variety of characters with dimension, made some solid guesses that worked out, saw some good growth from others. There was a bit of misdirection that I enjoyed and twists that kept me reading well past my bedtime. Call me a new Alex Finlay fan!