Parents Weekend

A Novel

De: Alex Finlay

Narrado por: Brittany Pressley

From the bestselling author of If Something Happens to Me, which AudioFile called "thoroughly engaging from beginning to end," comes one of the year’s most anticipated thrillers.

This program features an author's note and acknowledgments read by the author.

In the glow of their children’s exciting first year of college at a small private school in Northern California, five families plan on a night of dinner and cocktails for the opening festivities of Parents Weekend. As the parents stay out way past their bedtimes, their kids—five residents of Campisi Hall—never show up at dinner.

At first, everyone thinks that they’re just being college students, irresponsibly forgetting about the gathering or skipping out to go to a party. But as the hours click by and another night falls with not so much as a text from the students, panic ensues. Soon, the campus police call in reinforcements. Search parties are formed. Reporters swarm the small enclave. Rumors swirl and questions arise.

Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella—The Five, as the podcasters, bloggers, and TikTok sleuths call them—come from five very different families. What led them out on that fateful night? Could it be the sins of their mothers and fathers come to cause them peril or a threat to the friend group from within?

Told through multiple points of view in past and present—and marking the return of FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller from Every Last Fear and The Night Shift—Parents Weekend explores the weight of expectation, family dysfunction, and those exhilarating first days we all remember in the dorms when our friends become our family.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

©2025 Alex Finlay (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

One of BookBub’s “Must-Read Mysteries and Thrillers of 2025”

“From one of the genre's best . . . Finlay has a gift for intertwining many storylines and characters in a cohesive, compelling way. The tropes used here don't feel stale, and plenty of surprises and red herrings will keep readers interested. Fans won't want to miss Finlay's latest.”—Booklist

“Finlay writes . . . with red herrings galore, and he caps the proceedings with a particularly shocking conclusion.”—Publishers Weekly

“[Finlay] crafts a genuine page-turner with a cast of flawed and realistic human characters. Plan a weekend to devour this terrific thriller.”—First Clue

Great read

Excellent read with great details and description of Santa Clara.
That certainly made for a tragically unforgetable parent’s weekend!!

So good

Quick and enjoyable story. Loved the interconnected POVS and how the story all came together

Suspenseful

Loved this one. A clever plot line told from different viewpoints and keeps you guessing.

Really well written

Good thriller! Lots of twists and turns. I liked the ending and everything in between.

Maybe it’s me

Maybe I’ve read too many books like this and that’s what made it so easy to figure out early on what happened to the girl, but also this story had no big twists or climactic ending. Wasn’t horrible. But I won’t be telling anyone to read it.

B+ rating

Not his best, love this author, but also finished it all in 2 days, but stopped last 30 minutes. Would’ve been excellent bc storyline was really interesting & unique but cheesy lifetime one liners make you laugh out loud. One that comes to mind, “Never send a man in to do a woman’s job. Now go get my son” Sorry. B+ rating just for that one line alone. Still recommend & authors note at end was super precious

Intriguing and perfect voices for each character. It just made it so real.

Just a really good read that you get enthralled with immediately. I’m raising two granddaughters that are getting close to that age. I picked up on a lot of things to be aware of when that time comes that will be very helpful. I couldn’t wait to get back to listening.
Besides the fact the book was really good the voices for each character were perfect!
That really kept me focused and they became real people immediately. I felt like I knew each individual character.

A Storyline to Die For

Parent's Weekend by Alex Finlay was one plot twist after another! I loved the way the author wove the characters together. The depth of background on each character made me feel like I personally knew each character as a friend for years. I would definitely recommend this book!

Good writing, predictable twist

Maybe it's just me, but I grew up on thrillers and mysteries and I've developed a great sixth sense for spotting the culprit in just about every story. I knew who did it within the first hour of listening. And not in a fun, twisty way.
What gave it away for me was simply this: in my experience, when an author introduces a character, names them, and gives them even a sliver of focus, even if it's just one scene, it usually means that character will serve a purpose later. And sure enough, that’s exactly what happened here.
I kept hoping I’d be proven wrong, that the story would throw me off somehow... but nope. My suspicions were spot on and the ending just felt anticlimactic.

That said, the writing was solid. I did struggle a little at the beginning keeping track of the characters, but once they settled in, it was easy to follow. The story just didn’t land for me, but I think that might be a “me” problem. If you're not someone who overanalyzes everything looking for clues, you'll enjoy the ride more than I did.

Also, the narrator's voice was good but her tone tone felt a little too upbeat for a murder mystery. A slightly more grounded delivery would have matched the mood better.

Good story, nice twist

I enjoyed this story. I didn’t see the twists and thought the characters were believable.