Reviews

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay

Only show reviews with written explanations

jurga3's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

jill_holly's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A beach read for fellow thriller bookworms!

I thought "Every Last Fear" was an entertaining and page-turning thriller. The Pine family's oldest son is in prison for the death of his girlfriend, but his family - with the exception of his brother Matt - and a Netflix documentary maintain his innocence. When the Pine family, minus Matt, are found dead on a family vacation in Mexico, the weird circumstances unfold a mystery that Matt and FBI agent Keller work to unravel.

Telling the narrative from the perspective of multiple members of the Pine family and FBI agent Keller across two timelines kept it from feeling too formulaic. Although it wasn't terribly unpredictable and the characters weren't super deep, it was a fun read. I really liked that it incorporated the fall out of a true crime documentary on the people involved and the ways that those films/series can truly alter lives, for better or worse.

Content Warnings

kelli7990's review against another edition

Go to review page

In one of the year's most anticipated debut psychological thrillers, a family made infamous by a true crime documentary is found dead, leaving their surviving son to uncover the truth about their final days.

I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway in 2021 but I decided to listen to it on audio. I decided to DNF this book at 62%. I was interested in the story at first and I really liked the excerpts from the true crime documentary. I kind of felt like I was listening to a true crime show when those excerpts came up in the book. I really liked that we were following the POVs of the college student and the FBI agent investigating this case but then POVs from the college student’s dead family were introduced from the past before they were killed and I found that when this story went back and forth from the past and the present that it took me out of the story and I just didn’t care about what was going on. I also didn’t like the characters that much.

mburam's review against another edition

Go to review page

Every Last Fear is a solid plot driven murder mystery for spring reading! It tells the story of a college-age student Matt, whose family is murdered under mysterious circumstances in Mexico. A secondary mystery in the story involves his older brother, who is in jail for the murder of his high school girlfriend, which was the subject of a recent TV documentary. The murder of his family may have to do with their continued attempts to prove his innocence.

The story is told from multiple points of view of the family, prior to the murder, as well as Matt and a Special Agent in the present moment. I did find the constant switching between point of view and time to be a little jarring. The ending was also not a complete surprise, but the pace of the novel kept me engaged until the last page where everything comes to a satisfying conclusion. I would recommend to readers that enjoy contemporary thrillers/murder mysteries.

Thanks to Net Galley and Minotaur for the advance copy to review in exchange for my honest opinion.