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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Audio: Matt's entire family, minus his brother in prison for murder, is dead. They died in their rental house in Mexico while on an impromptu vacation. Through several twists and turns, we learn what really happened to them and the truth about that awful night that landed Danny in prison and the subject of a true crime documentary. This book was really good, I liked Matt and his friends, as well as FBI Agent Keller. The family dynamic was a good one and I was sad they all met such an untimely end. All in all this was a great thriller, and I didn't suspect the final result.
“People think I’m obsessed, that I’m crazy. That I’m selfish and a fool. But what would you do if your son was convicted for a crime he didn’t commit? If he was locked up for the rest of his life and you knew in your bones he was innocent? If your family was broken?
You have two choices when you’re confronted with your every last fear:
Give up or fight like hell.”
What a thrilling and well done thriller!
Every Last Fear opens up with a family dead and one of the two surviving members having to be informed about what happened. Matt’s whole family, excluding himself and his incarcerated brother, went on a vacation to Mexico to try to clear his brother, Danny, and get him out of jail.
Something went terribly wrong because they all ended up dead, but the Mexican police are labeling it as accidental deaths. The U.S. aren’t so convinced and want to send Matt to Mexico to get their bodies and bring them back, so they can conduct their own investigation. Come to find out, this may not be an accident and their deaths end up being more complicated than anyone ever thought.
The thing about mysteries and thrillers is that some people like for something to be happening every second of the book and others, like myself, are okay with things starting slowly and then gradually building up. The latter is exactly how this story is written. The beginning is a lot of build up and setting up the story and there is a lot to set up.
The twists and turns happen gradually until the ending when things kind of explode. There were some twists that I didn’t see coming and even the ones that weren’t as shocking to me were still enjoyable because of the way the author revealed them.
There was this one part where someone is giving their child advice on dealing with the police that kind of made me cringe because it felt like it was defending cops. I as a Black woman living in America couldn’t really get behind that because doing what cops say when you’re in a Black body doesn’t always save your life. I’m going to just assume the best and hope the author was being facetious because the cops in the story were kind of awful.
This is a bit of a darker thriller with a couple of content warnings, which is not something I was really expecting. So, if you need an idea of the tone of the story, know that it is very dark.
I was pleasantly surprised by this and I already have Finlay’s next novel on my TBR for next year. I highly recommend this for mystery thriller lovers.
CW for rape, attempted rape, death, blood, attempted suicide and child sexual abuse.
You have two choices when you’re confronted with your every last fear:
Give up or fight like hell.”
What a thrilling and well done thriller!
Every Last Fear opens up with a family dead and one of the two surviving members having to be informed about what happened. Matt’s whole family, excluding himself and his incarcerated brother, went on a vacation to Mexico to try to clear his brother, Danny, and get him out of jail.
Something went terribly wrong because they all ended up dead, but the Mexican police are labeling it as accidental deaths. The U.S. aren’t so convinced and want to send Matt to Mexico to get their bodies and bring them back, so they can conduct their own investigation. Come to find out, this may not be an accident and their deaths end up being more complicated than anyone ever thought.
The thing about mysteries and thrillers is that some people like for something to be happening every second of the book and others, like myself, are okay with things starting slowly and then gradually building up. The latter is exactly how this story is written. The beginning is a lot of build up and setting up the story and there is a lot to set up.
The twists and turns happen gradually until the ending when things kind of explode. There were some twists that I didn’t see coming and even the ones that weren’t as shocking to me were still enjoyable because of the way the author revealed them.
There was this one part where someone is giving their child advice on dealing with the police that kind of made me cringe because it felt like it was defending cops. I as a Black woman living in America couldn’t really get behind that because doing what cops say when you’re in a Black body doesn’t always save your life. I’m going to just assume the best and hope the author was being facetious because the cops in the story were kind of awful.
This is a bit of a darker thriller with a couple of content warnings, which is not something I was really expecting. So, if you need an idea of the tone of the story, know that it is very dark.
I was pleasantly surprised by this and I already have Finlay’s next novel on my TBR for next year. I highly recommend this for mystery thriller lovers.
CW for rape, attempted rape, death, blood, attempted suicide and child sexual abuse.
This book seems quite popular amongst readers so take my review as you’d like. First off, as many other readers have said, this novel contains many BIPOC characters and shades them in a negative light. I don’t know if the author was trying to be inclusive but it failed. I don’t know why the murder had to take place in Mexico and then continue to refer to anyone working on the case in Mexico as “The Mexicans,” instead of “authorities” or any other term. It rubbed me the wrong way because it gave such a negative connotation to people in Mexico as a whole. There are other BIPOC characters that have very stereotypical characteristics and, again, rubbed me the wrong way. There are a lot of reviewers who have articulated these plot points in a beautiful way so I suggest reading those for more on that and why it’s problematic.
Second, I found this book to be BORING. A lot of the other viewpoints and stories seemed to be fillers and this was such a slow-paced thriller. I am okay with this sometimes, but this story fell flat for me. To me it read more as a contemporary fiction. I was so excited for this book but was disappointed.
Second, I found this book to be BORING. A lot of the other viewpoints and stories seemed to be fillers and this was such a slow-paced thriller. I am okay with this sometimes, but this story fell flat for me. To me it read more as a contemporary fiction. I was so excited for this book but was disappointed.
dark
mysterious
tense
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:
Yes
3,5 A solid listen. Pretty similar to the Night Shift - slow build in multiple timelines and then a wild ride at the end in an attempt to wrap it all up. I liked seeing Keller again. I'm not usually a genre person but Finlay's 2 books have been solidly entertaining listens.
Every Last Fear tells the story of the Pine family, whose eldest son has been serving time in prison for the past 7 years for killing his girlfriend. But the Pine family doesn't think Danny killed Charlotte and they've been doing everything they can to investigate and find out what exactly happened the night Charlotte died.
When Matt receives the news that his parents and younger brother and sister died in a freak accident in Mexico, he is shocked. Especially when he is told that there might be evidence of foul play. Danny is still in prison and now Matt is all on his own, with only an FBI agent and loyal friends on his side.
The narrative in Every Last Fear is non-linear and told through multiple POVs. We go back and forth between the present and the past and we go backwards to piece together the puzzle pieces. It might seem confusing, but you get used to the narration pretty quickly. It works out really well—little hints here and there, small cliffhangers here and there, all enough to keep your attention and to push you to keep turning the pages.
I really enjoyed this book. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was well done, except for the whitewashed pronunciation of the name Ganesh. The last 40%-ish of the story is particularly addictive, to the point where I just couldn't stop listening. There are several scenes that punched me right in the feelings. The mystery is well crafted even though I figured out the who and the why pretty early on. I was still addicted to the storyline even after correctly guessing the culprit and motive. I only wish we had gotten more chapters from Danny's POV; that was definitely missing from the story. The epilogue does a good job wrapping things up, but I wanted some more time focused on Matt's connection to his family, particularly Danny.
Overall, this was a solid and well-written mystery. I look forward to reading more from Alex Finlay!!
P.S. I am not Mexican, so I cannot say if the Mexican representation was well done. Some aspects did feel stereotypical to me, but I'm not an expert. So I would suggest looking for own voices reviews.
When Matt receives the news that his parents and younger brother and sister died in a freak accident in Mexico, he is shocked. Especially when he is told that there might be evidence of foul play. Danny is still in prison and now Matt is all on his own, with only an FBI agent and loyal friends on his side.
The narrative in Every Last Fear is non-linear and told through multiple POVs. We go back and forth between the present and the past and we go backwards to piece together the puzzle pieces. It might seem confusing, but you get used to the narration pretty quickly. It works out really well—little hints here and there, small cliffhangers here and there, all enough to keep your attention and to push you to keep turning the pages.
I really enjoyed this book. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was well done, except for the whitewashed pronunciation of the name Ganesh. The last 40%-ish of the story is particularly addictive, to the point where I just couldn't stop listening. There are several scenes that punched me right in the feelings. The mystery is well crafted even though I figured out the who and the why pretty early on. I was still addicted to the storyline even after correctly guessing the culprit and motive. I only wish we had gotten more chapters from Danny's POV; that was definitely missing from the story. The epilogue does a good job wrapping things up, but I wanted some more time focused on Matt's connection to his family, particularly Danny.
Overall, this was a solid and well-written mystery. I look forward to reading more from Alex Finlay!!
P.S. I am not Mexican, so I cannot say if the Mexican representation was well done. Some aspects did feel stereotypical to me, but I'm not an expert. So I would suggest looking for own voices reviews.
It took about 40 pages to really get in to the story, but once I did it was unputdownable! There were so many layers to the story and Findlay did an amazing job keeping the story driving forward even with multiple narrator perspectives and two timelines. I felt heartbroken for Matt Pine while also satisfied by the resolution.
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No