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mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fun and fast-paced thriller. There's a large cast of characters but once the story really got going it wasn't difficult to keep everyone straight. There was just the right amount of twists and turns to keep me engaged without making the ending obvious.
Thank you to Libro.fm for the ALC.
Thank you to Libro.fm for the ALC.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Drug use, Pedophilia
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Stalking
Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Alcohol
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Stalking
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Violence
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Stalking, Murder
Minor: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Blood, Kidnapping
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love Alex Finlay’s books. Always a wild ride. I’m never sure where the story is going to take me. This was a fun one. I tend to love thriller tropes that have some sort of college scandal. Never gets old for me, and this was a different twist from what I usually read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Stalking
Minor: Sexual assault
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
SYNOPSIS
-It’s Parents Weekend at a small private college in California. Five freshmen mysteriously go missing.
-At first, everyone assumes they’re just being typical college kids — partying, blowing off dinner with their parents.
But as the hours stretch into days with no word, panic sets in.
-Search parties form, reporters swarm, and the missing students (dubbed “The Five”) become a media obsession.
-Told through multiple POVs and split timelines (past and present), the story unravels messy family secrets and raises the big question: are the parents’ past mistakes catching up with their kids?
⸻
MY THOUGHTS
-The idea was fun — messy families, missing students, media circus — but the execution didn’t totally land for me.
-There are way too many points of view. Between the kids, their parents, and Agent Keller, it felt like a lot of voices competing for space.
-Similarly, the cast of characters is huge. Five missing kids, plus all their families — it gets a little crowded. I definitely felt like the same story could have been told with fewer people.
-I liked the short chapters.
-The writing style wasn’t my favorite. The dialogue felt really unnatural in a lot of places — very “tell-y” instead of “show-y.” Characters explained things instead of just talking like normal humans.
-Definitely a popcorn thriller — quick & dramatic.
-Apparently, Agent Sarah Keller is from earlier books, but I hadn’t read them, and it didn’t matter. This reads fine as a standalone.
-If you love stories about dysfunctional families and bad life choices coming to light, this book leans heavily into that vibe. Basically everyone is cheating on everyone.
-The mystery itself felt a little flat — not super twisty or complex.
-The ending didn’t really wow me either. It wrapped up quickly and felt kind of anticlimactic.
-Overall, the characters didn’t have a ton of depth, which made it hard to care about them once everything hit the fan.
⸻
TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️A fast, easy read with messy families, missing kids, and a ton of drama, but the huge cast of characters, too many POVs, flat mystery, and not-so-great dialogue made it fall a little flat for me.
⸻
THANKS: Thanks to St. Martin’s Press | Minotaur Books and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on May 6, 2025.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, Murder
Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse
Minor: Stalking
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
if there’s one thing alex finlay knows to do, it’s write a fast-paced, addicting, heart-pounding thriller 🤯 I love a good ol thriller that I can’t put down!!!
five students go missing during parents weekend, leaving their parents scrambling to cover up their own secrets while find out the truth about what happened 😮💨 and it definitely felt more like a true crime doc more than anything
there wasn’t much mystery to this one, as the detective (the same one from EVERY LAST FEAR and THE NIGHT SHIFT) methodically ruled out every red herring until they were only left with one solution - and while I thought it was obvious, I lived for the drama between all of the parents!! there’s something about a messy secret that just gets me going 😂
this was definitely a telling rather than showing type of story, and the cast of characters was so huge that it felt a bit overwhelming at times. even when the readers were supposed to connect with the missing kids, I felt like I didn’t really know them due to the lack of characterization and time spent with each character 🤷🏼♀️
a huge thank you to netgalley and minotaur for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
rating: 3.5 stars
wine pairing: burgundy red blend
five students go missing during parents weekend, leaving their parents scrambling to cover up their own secrets while find out the truth about what happened 😮💨 and it definitely felt more like a true crime doc more than anything
there wasn’t much mystery to this one, as the detective (the same one from EVERY LAST FEAR and THE NIGHT SHIFT) methodically ruled out every red herring until they were only left with one solution - and while I thought it was obvious, I lived for the drama between all of the parents!! there’s something about a messy secret that just gets me going 😂
this was definitely a telling rather than showing type of story, and the cast of characters was so huge that it felt a bit overwhelming at times. even when the readers were supposed to connect with the missing kids, I felt like I didn’t really know them due to the lack of characterization and time spent with each character 🤷🏼♀️
a huge thank you to netgalley and minotaur for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
rating: 3.5 stars
wine pairing: burgundy red blend
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, Suicide
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse