Parents weekend : a novel / Alex Finlay.

By:

Finlay, Alex [author.]

Material type: Text

TextPublisher: New York : Minotaur Books, 2025Edition: First U.S. editionDescription: 312 pages ; 25 cmContent type:

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

9781250360724
1250360722

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

DDC classification:

813/.6 23/eng/20250303

LOC classification:

PS3606.I5528 P37 2025

Summary: "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"-- Provided by publisher.

List(s) this item appears in: April Add-ons Fiction notes: Click to open in new window

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Adult Book	Phillipsburg Free Public Library	Adult Fiction	New Books	FIC FINLAY	Available		36748002616961

Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER

From the bestselling author of If Something Happens to Me , comes one of the year's most anticipated thrillers.

In the glow of their children's exciting first year of college at a small private school in Northern California, five families gather over 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 to dinner.

At first, everyone thinks they're just being college students, irresponsibly forgetting about the gathering or skipping out to go to a party. But as the hours tick 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 soon call them--come from very different families. What drew 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 from each family's point of view--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 in the dorms when friends become family.

"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"-- Provided by publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

An exclusive private school where CEOs, doctors, and government officials send their children gets shaken up by the disappearance of five students in Finlay's fleet if familiar latest thriller featuring FBI agent Sarah Keller (after The Night Shift). Troubled scholarship student Felix Goffman is an outlier at Northern California's prestigious Santa Clara University, but he and his dormmates have nevertheless become close friends. On the first night of Parents Weekend, the students and their parents agree to eat together. Annoyance turns to fear as the hours pass and the students fail to show up, especially because Natasha Belov, daughter of a wealthy businessman, has been recently found dead in a nearby sea cave. The case gets sent to Agent Keller, since U.S. assistant secretary of state Cynthia Roosevelt's son, Blane, is among the missing students. Blane's not the only child of a high-profile parent in the cohort: Libby Akana's father, judge Kenneth Akana, oversaw actor Rock Nelson's headline-grabbing domestic violence trial and angered the star's fans. Juggling those clues, Agent Keller races to uncover the truth as the case becomes an online sensation. Finlay writes in a conventional register, with red herrings galore, and he caps the proceedings with a particularly shocking conclusion. Fans of Mary Higgins Clark will enjoy themselves. (May)

Booklist Review

This popcorn thriller from one of the genre's best is a twisty, dark tale about the power of social media and the consequences of family trauma. It's Parents Weekend at SCU, and the festivities are set to begin with a dinner for the students and their families. When friends Stella, Libby, Mark, Blane, and Felix don't show up for dinner as expected, there are several legitimate possibilities for their absence. But their parents immediately know something isn't right and notify the authorities, who are already on high alert after a student was found dead earlier in the week. Assigned to the case, FBI agent Sarah Keller quickly discovers that everyone involved has a secret, and each family has something to hide. Finlay (If Something Happens to Me, 2024) has a gift for intertwining many story lines 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.