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danubooks 's review for:
Parents Weekend
by Alex Finlay
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A weekend for celebration becomes something far more sinister
It is Parents' Weekend at Santa Clara University, a small private Jesuit university in the heart of Silicon Valley. A group of four students, linked by the capstone project which they have been assigned to complete together, are supposed to meet up with their parents for dinner at a local restaurant, but while the parents (two couples, two single mothers) arrive none of their children show up. Its tempting to write this off as typical irresponsible behavior, but when the students remain missing the parents aren't convinced that it isn't something....more. One of the mothers is a high ranking State Department official who not only has a bounty on her own head courtesy of a disgruntled foreign regime, she also lived through this same son's kidnapping years earlier. The father of one of the other students is a judge who recently gained notoriety (and a raft of hostile adversaries) when he presided over the trial of a popular celebrity, There are secrets in the other families as well, plus some disturbing campus gossip that paints several of the missing students in an unflattering light. A fifth member of the cohort who has no close family also turns out to be missing; added to the recent disappearance of another of the university's students, a young woman friendly with the students who have dropped off the radar who later turned up dead in what appears to have been an accidental drowning, and tensions mount. An FBI agent just recently transferred to the local office gets called in to work with campus police and other local law enforcement. As the hours pass, it becomes more and more clear that The Five (as they have been tagged) are in danger...but why, and from whom?
Parents Weekend is a fast paced thriller featuring FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller, a protagonist featured in previous novels by author Alex Finlay, in addition to a raft of new characters. The narrative bounces around between multiple characters' points of view, and the plot integrates college partying, family secrets (infidelity, the loss of a child, hostile divorces) and trust issues as the plot unfolds...the large number of characters may have contributed to an overall lack of development for most (with Keller and her husband being two exceptions). This is a quick read, with short chapters that keep the suspense building and allow for some twists and turns. Did I figure out where things were likely headed early on? Yes...I am an avid reader of thrillers, so that happens fairly frequently, but if you're looking for a solid (3.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 4) quick read with a fast-moving plot this will do the trick. Fans of Harlen Coben, Lisa Unger and Peter Swanson should give this a try as well. My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for allowing me access to Finlay's latest thriller in exchange for my honest review.
It is Parents' Weekend at Santa Clara University, a small private Jesuit university in the heart of Silicon Valley. A group of four students, linked by the capstone project which they have been assigned to complete together, are supposed to meet up with their parents for dinner at a local restaurant, but while the parents (two couples, two single mothers) arrive none of their children show up. Its tempting to write this off as typical irresponsible behavior, but when the students remain missing the parents aren't convinced that it isn't something....more. One of the mothers is a high ranking State Department official who not only has a bounty on her own head courtesy of a disgruntled foreign regime, she also lived through this same son's kidnapping years earlier. The father of one of the other students is a judge who recently gained notoriety (and a raft of hostile adversaries) when he presided over the trial of a popular celebrity, There are secrets in the other families as well, plus some disturbing campus gossip that paints several of the missing students in an unflattering light. A fifth member of the cohort who has no close family also turns out to be missing; added to the recent disappearance of another of the university's students, a young woman friendly with the students who have dropped off the radar who later turned up dead in what appears to have been an accidental drowning, and tensions mount. An FBI agent just recently transferred to the local office gets called in to work with campus police and other local law enforcement. As the hours pass, it becomes more and more clear that The Five (as they have been tagged) are in danger...but why, and from whom?
Parents Weekend is a fast paced thriller featuring FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller, a protagonist featured in previous novels by author Alex Finlay, in addition to a raft of new characters. The narrative bounces around between multiple characters' points of view, and the plot integrates college partying, family secrets (infidelity, the loss of a child, hostile divorces) and trust issues as the plot unfolds...the large number of characters may have contributed to an overall lack of development for most (with Keller and her husband being two exceptions). This is a quick read, with short chapters that keep the suspense building and allow for some twists and turns. Did I figure out where things were likely headed early on? Yes...I am an avid reader of thrillers, so that happens fairly frequently, but if you're looking for a solid (3.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 4) quick read with a fast-moving plot this will do the trick. Fans of Harlen Coben, Lisa Unger and Peter Swanson should give this a try as well. My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for allowing me access to Finlay's latest thriller in exchange for my honest review.