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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay is an action packed mystery that keeps you entertained. The story centers around the Pine family, whose oldest son is in prison for a murder he may not have committed. Evan and Olivia Pine are certain that Dan is innocent so they agree to be part of a documentary about the murder, making the family instantly famous. Matt Pine, Dan's brother, runs off to college and tries to stay out of the family drama, until an FBI agent appears to inform him that his remaining family has been killed in Mexico. Was his family's death an accident? Matt and Agent Keller try to piece the information together to find out the truth.
This story is fast paced and keeps you wanting to read more. You begin to question everyone involved and wonder what is true. The characters are well developed and you start to feel sad for Matt as he struggles with his grief. The plot focuses on both the past and present crime, interweaving seamlessly.
I really liked this story because the mystery was not easy to figure out. The story kept me interested from start to finish and the ending was satisfying. I look forward to reading additional stories from Alex Finlay.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.
This story is fast paced and keeps you wanting to read more. You begin to question everyone involved and wonder what is true. The characters are well developed and you start to feel sad for Matt as he struggles with his grief. The plot focuses on both the past and present crime, interweaving seamlessly.
I really liked this story because the mystery was not easy to figure out. The story kept me interested from start to finish and the ending was satisfying. I look forward to reading additional stories from Alex Finlay.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.
What a fun, suspenseful read. A crime novel that jumps back and forth between the present, where NYU student Matt Pine is trying to understand the deaths (murder?) of his family, and the past, where Danny Pine is accused of the brutal murder of his girlfriend. This is suspenseful and well-crafted story keeps you guessing, both about the deaths of the Pines in Mexico and who really killed Danny's girlfriend Charlotte.
Thanks to #NetGalley for the advance copy. #EveryLastFear
Thanks to #NetGalley for the advance copy. #EveryLastFear
It’s been a rough couple of years for the Pine family. Oldest brother Danny is in jail, accused of killing his girlfriend. A Netflix documentary, where Danny’s father maintains his son’s innocence, has made it impossible for brother Matt to hide in the shadows, even at film school in New York City. When Matt gets the shocking news that his parents and two younger siblings have been murdered on vacation in Mexico, a vacation he wasn’t able to attend, all eyes are back on him. Matt returns to his small hometown in an attempt to uncover what really transpired in Mexico with the help of a devoted FBI agent. This book is told from multiple points of view and jumps back and forth between the present and the past and kept me turning the pages. This is a thoughtful and suspenseful read about family, grief and uncovering secrets. A highly readable and moving thriller about a shattered family. Thank you to Minotaur Books (St. Martin's Press) and NetGalley for the advanced review copy.
Oof. Where do I begin? Let’s start with the positives:
- This was a solid family drama. The parts I appreciated were about how this family and this town were affected by a crime and a documentary. Honestly this book could’ve been truly incredible if it had been a drama instead that saw how this community was torn apart by this murder.
- I couldn’t put it down.
Now to the negatives, and why even though I read this quickly and found it engaging I just can’t recommend it:
- What other people have referenced about racial stereotypes. Beyond the big picture connotations about corruption or crime, what really made me angry reading this were the small micro aggressions. So many of the characters feel like stereotypes, from the cops in Mexico to the throwaway references to Japanese tourists being quiet and polite. There’s a moment where Keller is speaking to Maggie’s principal and she is held up as a paragon of virtue and part of that characterization is that she visited African countries. It’s all very white savior-y and very American-centric. Then he throws in a scene where the band of diverse college students faces down a racist group of small town hicks as though this solves the blatant racism throughout the rest of the book.
- It doesn’t stop at race! The misogyny, holy hell. I laughed out loud at some of the things Finlay shoehorned in for Keller. The confrontation with Eric felt like a male’s vision of what female revenge fantasy would feel like. There’s also a part where Keller visits a lawyer for this book’s version of the Innocence Project on page 270: “Keller suspected there was an attractive woman under that boxy attire.” Really?! That’s what a female investigator is thinking as she meets a woman lawyer doing criminal Justice reform work? It’s just bananas. Kala, who isn’t even a character who matters at all to the plot, is constantly just described as hot while the other female friend in the college circle is described as a militant feminist who can’t keep a relationship.
- Don’t think he forgot fatphobia. So many random unnecessary characterizations of shitty small town bullies, random people helping Matt in the street, etc. include weight descriptions that are just mocking and needless. This man LOVES the word “heavyset” (nothing wrong with that as a descriptor, but I swear it was used to describe like 5-6 separate background characters for no reason).
- Why the throwaway homophobic moments, too? Lord. There’s something towards the end where I was like … really?
- All of that aside — the plot was too predictable for me in the end. I suspected what happened midway through. Brief maybe spoiler: And then in the end a ton more random and unnecessary violence against women got added to what we already knew happened.
- I could’ve used 50 fewer pages. There’s a lot of filler in this book.
I’m giving Finlay one star extra for this being a decent drama. But honestly — it just reeks of a white dude writing the perspectives of a lot of non white dudes and completely missing the mark, but still occasionally sprinkling in “woke” moments to show he “gets it”. I pray he gets diversity readers in here for the next book. I don’t think I’ll be reading unless I hear that all of this got remedied.
- This was a solid family drama. The parts I appreciated were about how this family and this town were affected by a crime and a documentary. Honestly this book could’ve been truly incredible if it had been a drama instead that saw how this community was torn apart by this murder.
- I couldn’t put it down.
Now to the negatives, and why even though I read this quickly and found it engaging I just can’t recommend it:
- What other people have referenced about racial stereotypes. Beyond the big picture connotations about corruption or crime, what really made me angry reading this were the small micro aggressions. So many of the characters feel like stereotypes, from the cops in Mexico to the throwaway references to Japanese tourists being quiet and polite. There’s a moment where Keller is speaking to Maggie’s principal and she is held up as a paragon of virtue and part of that characterization is that she visited African countries. It’s all very white savior-y and very American-centric. Then he throws in a scene where the band of diverse college students faces down a racist group of small town hicks as though this solves the blatant racism throughout the rest of the book.
- It doesn’t stop at race! The misogyny, holy hell. I laughed out loud at some of the things Finlay shoehorned in for Keller. The confrontation with Eric felt like a male’s vision of what female revenge fantasy would feel like. There’s also a part where Keller visits a lawyer for this book’s version of the Innocence Project on page 270: “Keller suspected there was an attractive woman under that boxy attire.” Really?! That’s what a female investigator is thinking as she meets a woman lawyer doing criminal Justice reform work? It’s just bananas. Kala, who isn’t even a character who matters at all to the plot, is constantly just described as hot while the other female friend in the college circle is described as a militant feminist who can’t keep a relationship.
- Don’t think he forgot fatphobia. So many random unnecessary characterizations of shitty small town bullies, random people helping Matt in the street, etc. include weight descriptions that are just mocking and needless. This man LOVES the word “heavyset” (nothing wrong with that as a descriptor, but I swear it was used to describe like 5-6 separate background characters for no reason).
- Why the throwaway homophobic moments, too? Lord. There’s something towards the end where I was like … really?
- All of that aside — the plot was too predictable for me in the end. I suspected what happened midway through. Brief maybe spoiler: And then in the end a ton more random and unnecessary violence against women got added to what we already knew happened.
- I could’ve used 50 fewer pages. There’s a lot of filler in this book.
I’m giving Finlay one star extra for this being a decent drama. But honestly — it just reeks of a white dude writing the perspectives of a lot of non white dudes and completely missing the mark, but still occasionally sprinkling in “woke” moments to show he “gets it”. I pray he gets diversity readers in here for the next book. I don’t think I’ll be reading unless I hear that all of this got remedied.
Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay
What a time to read a book that I didn't want to put down. I was reading this book on Christmas Eve and Christmas so I couldn't just read nonstop and ignore my husband, like I might do on other days...ha ha. This story starts with a dead family, mother, father, son, daughter, on vacation in Mexico. Such a terrible tragedy caused by a gas leak.
The Pine family had suffered so much already. Years ago, the oldest son, Danny, was convicted of murdering his high school girlfriend although a true crime documentary has made a compelling case that the boy's confession was coerced and that a serial killer could be responsible for the death. Due to the crime and then the documentary, the family is both pitied and despised and the second oldest son, Matt, does his best to stay completely under the radar of anyone who wants to discuss the case. Now, Matt is in college when he is notified that his parents, sister, and youngest brother are dead.
The FBI has reason to believe the deaths were not an accident and asks Matt to go to Mexico to get the remains released. Before Matt leaves, someone tries to hurt him and once in Mexico, Matt runs into troubles also. Things cascade from there, red herrings and suspicious people make their appearances, and it wasn't until about halfway through the book that I could pinpoint a potential suspect. So many moving parts, so many points of view, had me questioning everything and everyone.
The story is told in the past and the present. There is the party that Danny attended all those years ago, the night the girl was killed. Then there is the immediate past, where we get to know Matt and his family. Seventeen year old Maggie, Matt's sister, and his dad, Evan, have worked endlessly to clear Danny's name. They've just received a video that sends them hightailing to Mexico to check out their latest lead. It's so hard to get to know the family, especially Maggie and Evan, knowing from the beginning of the book that they are going to be dead in a few days. I really became attached to the Pine family and we know they are dead, in the present timeline.
For me, this fact didn't take away from the tension of the story. Matt is still in danger, someone does not want the truth to come out and will continue to kill. Why was the girl killed, who killed her, who is still killing those connected to the case? The story keeps feeling bigger and bigger as the FBI investigates a cartel and the Mexico government puts roadblocks in front of the investigation. Thankfully FBI agent Sarah Keller is not going to be thrown off the trail. She's a great character and I'd love to see her again, in a future book.
Pub March 2, 2021
Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC.
What a time to read a book that I didn't want to put down. I was reading this book on Christmas Eve and Christmas so I couldn't just read nonstop and ignore my husband, like I might do on other days...ha ha. This story starts with a dead family, mother, father, son, daughter, on vacation in Mexico. Such a terrible tragedy caused by a gas leak.
The Pine family had suffered so much already. Years ago, the oldest son, Danny, was convicted of murdering his high school girlfriend although a true crime documentary has made a compelling case that the boy's confession was coerced and that a serial killer could be responsible for the death. Due to the crime and then the documentary, the family is both pitied and despised and the second oldest son, Matt, does his best to stay completely under the radar of anyone who wants to discuss the case. Now, Matt is in college when he is notified that his parents, sister, and youngest brother are dead.
The FBI has reason to believe the deaths were not an accident and asks Matt to go to Mexico to get the remains released. Before Matt leaves, someone tries to hurt him and once in Mexico, Matt runs into troubles also. Things cascade from there, red herrings and suspicious people make their appearances, and it wasn't until about halfway through the book that I could pinpoint a potential suspect. So many moving parts, so many points of view, had me questioning everything and everyone.
The story is told in the past and the present. There is the party that Danny attended all those years ago, the night the girl was killed. Then there is the immediate past, where we get to know Matt and his family. Seventeen year old Maggie, Matt's sister, and his dad, Evan, have worked endlessly to clear Danny's name. They've just received a video that sends them hightailing to Mexico to check out their latest lead. It's so hard to get to know the family, especially Maggie and Evan, knowing from the beginning of the book that they are going to be dead in a few days. I really became attached to the Pine family and we know they are dead, in the present timeline.
For me, this fact didn't take away from the tension of the story. Matt is still in danger, someone does not want the truth to come out and will continue to kill. Why was the girl killed, who killed her, who is still killing those connected to the case? The story keeps feeling bigger and bigger as the FBI investigates a cartel and the Mexico government puts roadblocks in front of the investigation. Thankfully FBI agent Sarah Keller is not going to be thrown off the trail. She's a great character and I'd love to see her again, in a future book.
Pub March 2, 2021
Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC.
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced