Reading in the Mountains

🌧️ 2/5 stars

Some books are like rainy Sundays—gray, heavy, and hard to fully sink into. Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay had all the ingredients for a gripping thriller: five students vanish from an elite college, powerful parents scramble for answers, and FBI agent Sarah Keller is called in to untangle the mess. But for me, it all just… drizzled.

The premise? Solid. A group of kids goes missing during Parents Weekend, and the clock is ticking. There’s media frenzy, political pressure, and plenty of secrets bubbling beneath each family’s carefully polished surface. It should have been an edge-of-your-seat page-turner. But instead of being swept into the storm, I felt like I was watching it from a fogged-up window.

Finlay tries to juggle multiple POVs—parents, students, Keller—but the emotional pull felt distant, like I was always one step removed. The characters never really got under my skin. I didn’t hate them, but I wasn’t exactly rooting for them either. It’s like trying to care deeply about a stranger’s family drama while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil.

There were some interesting twists, and I’ll admit, the mystery around a previous student’s death added a good layer of intrigue. But even the reveals didn’t hit as hard as they could have. Maybe it was the pacing, maybe it was the flatness of some characters, or maybe it was just the weather in my brain while reading—but the tension never quite crackled.

I can’t seem to catch my breath—this book just isn’t holding my attention. I’m frustrated, especially since I’ve been eagerly waiting for it and the author is one of my favorites. But for some reason, it’s just not pulling me in. Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if the problem is me.

If you’re a Finlay fan or in the mood for a mellow, rainy-day mystery that doesn’t demand too much emotional investment, this might still be worth your time. Just don’t expect lightning strikes.