Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay
🎓 Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay ⭐ 3.5/5 — When Overprotective Parents Take Things Way Too Far
📘 Buy Parents Weekend on Amazon
Genre: Thriller / Campus Mystery
Author: Alex Finlay
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐½
Vibe: Elite college secrets, missing freshmen, FBI chaos, and one twist you’ve probably read before.
⚠️ Trigger Warnings
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Death of a child / college student
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Suicide and suicidal ideation
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Abduction / captivity
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Child sexual abuse (past)
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Violence and gun use
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Classism and trauma
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Substance use
🚨 Spoiler Warning
This review is full of spoilers — if you plan to read Parents Weekend soon, maybe bookmark this and come back later!
🎒 Overview
So here’s the setup: five college freshmen — Blane, Mark, Libby, Stella, and Felix — mysteriously vanish during Parents Weekend at Santa Clara University. The disappearance shocks the campus and sends their parents, FBI agents, and half the Bay Area into full panic mode.
But this is an Alex Finlay novel, which means beneath the “missing students” hook lies a tangle of grief, guilt, trauma, and (of course) dark family secrets.
The story alternates between the parents, the missing students, and FBI Agent Sarah Keller, as everyone scrambles to figure out what the heck happened — and who’s responsible.
📚 Plot Summary (Full Spoilers)
The book opens with a flash-forward: five terrified college kids huddled together in a sea cave, wondering if they’ll live long enough to see help arrive. 😳
Then we rewind.
These five — Blane, Mark, Libby, Stella, and Felix — are all freshmen at Santa Clara University. They bonded through a class project, and it’s Parents Weekend, meaning dinner, awkward small talk, and family secrets galore.
But there’s something heavier hanging over them: the recent disappearance of Natasha Belov, another student they all knew — and may have had something to do with.
As their parents arrive for dinner (and drama), things spiral fast:
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Natasha’s body is found in a sea cave, ruled an accidental drowning.
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The kids don’t show up for the dinner.
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By nightfall, they’re all missing.
The parents — a chaotic mix of wealth, dysfunction, and denial — each have their own messes:
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Blane’s mom is a State Department official with security detail and a drinking problem.
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Libby’s parents are a judge and lawyer whose marriage is cracking under the weight of grief.
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Stella’s dad, a plastic surgeon, is being stalked by the son of his former lover.
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Felix’s mom, Alice, is the struggling single mom who can’t catch a break.
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And Mark… well, his dad is a registered sex offender, so family dinners are off the table.
Cue FBI Agent Sarah Keller, who steps in to lead the investigation. Between social media sleuthing, burned-out vans painted like the Mystery Machine, and a masked kidnapper in a Smurf mask (yes, really), the case turns bizarrely cinematic.
It’s eventually revealed that the five students were kidnapped and locked inside a U-Haul, then dragged to the same sea cave where Natasha died. The kidnappers? Natasha’s parents. They’re seeking revenge against the kids they believe caused her death.
In a chaotic showdown, FBI Keller rushes to save the students — but it’s too late for Felix, who’s fatally shot during the standoff. The actual killer of Natasha turns out to be her creepy professor, Turlington, who stalked and murdered her.
By the end, Natasha’s father Ivan is fatally shot by Professor Turlington (after Ivan shoots and kills the professor), mother Iza is arrested, and the survivors are left to pick up the pieces.
Three years later, life (mostly) moves on. Blane and Mark are thriving. Libby’s helping cancer patients. Stella’s heading to med school. And poor Alice — who worked so hard to get Felix into that school — loses everything. Her son, her job, her peace.
Like… come on, Alex. Could we not give the single mom the worst fate again? 😩
💭 My Thoughts
This was my first reaction finishing the book:
“Wait. It’s the victim’s parents again?! Didn’t I just read this exact twist in another thriller?”
(*Yes, I did. Title withheld to not spoil the book.)
The pacing? Fantastic. The setup? Great. The execution? Meh. I couldn’t put it down — but I could definitely predict it.
The “grieving parents seeking revenge” trope has officially expired. 🪦
And yet… I was hooked. Alex Finlay knows how to structure a mystery that keeps you reading, even when you’ve seen the beats before. The multiple POVs worked well, and Agent Keller was a standout — competent, calm, and human.
Still, I can’t shake the frustration that the only struggling character — Alice — ends up with nothing. Like, every other parent and kid gets growth, forgiveness, or redemption. Meanwhile Alice loses her job and her son. What’s the message here? “Hard work doesn’t pay off”?
✨ What Worked
✔️ Fast-paced and cinematic – short chapters, cliffhangers, and emotional gut punches
✔️ Interwoven timelines – good use of multiple POVs
✔️ Strong emotional core – grief, guilt, and parent-child dynamics
👎 What Didn’t
❌ Predictable twist – it’s always the grieving parents lately
❌ Uneven character justice – poor Alice deserved better
❌ Some “TV movie” dialogue moments – especially near the end
☕ Final Thoughts
Parents Weekend is the kind of thriller that keeps you flipping pages but leaves you sighing at the end. It’s propulsive, cinematic, and emotionally resonant — but also a little too familiar.
Still, I had a great time reading it. Just maybe next time, let’s give the single moms a win, huh?
⭐ 3.5 out of 5 stars
Would I recommend it? Yep — especially if you love Alex Finlay’s other twisty thrillers.
Would I read it again? Nope, but I’d totally watch the movie adaptation.
📚 If You Liked Parents Weekend, Try:
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The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North – similar grief-fueled revenge theme
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The Night Swim by Megan Goldin – another smart, layered college-town mystery
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The Night Shift by Alex Finlay – same author, tighter plotting
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