Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

2021 is going to be a fantastic year for mystery/thriller releases, and I was so fortunate to receive an eARC of one of the most anticipated thrillers of the year, EVERY LAST FEAR by Alex Finlay!

Synopsis (Goodreads.com):

“They found the bodies on a Tuesday.” So begins this twisty and breathtaking novel that traces the fate of the Pine family, a thriller that will both leave you on the edge of your seat and move you to tears.
After a late night of partying, NYU student Matt Pine returns to his dorm room to devastating news: nearly his entire family—his mom, his dad, his little brother and sister—have been found dead from an apparent gas leak while vacationing in Mexico. The local police claim it was an accident, but the FBI and State Department seem far less certain—and they won’t tell Matt why.
The tragedy makes headlines everywhere because this isn’t the first time the Pine family has been thrust into the media spotlight. Matt’s older brother, Danny—currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his teenage girlfriend Charlotte—was the subject of a viral true crime documentary suggesting that Danny was wrongfully convicted. Though the country has rallied behind Danny, Matt holds a secret about his brother that he’s never told anyone: the night Charlotte was killed Matt saw something that makes him believe his brother is guilty of the crime.
When Matt returns to his small hometown to bury his parents and siblings, he’s faced with a hostile community that was villainized by the documentary, a frenzied media, and memories he’d hoped to leave behind forever. Now, as the deaths in Mexico appear increasingly suspicious and connected to Danny’s case, Matt must unearth the truth behind the crime that sent his brother to prison—putting his own life in peril—and forcing him to confront his every last fear.

Even though I have read many mystery/thrillers over the past few years, I really enjoyed this one! Around the 55% mark of this book, I predicted the main plot twist, but I still found the overall evolution of the story/plot line very enjoyable.

This is a very complex mystery/thriller, so much so that if I had a very “type A” personality, I probably would have created a fancy character chart to keep track of who is attached to who and so on. That being said, if you’re not somebody who enjoys creating those while reading, you should still be able to keep track of the characters very well. I really enjoyed all of the characters in this story. The flashbacks with the Pine family were super interesting, and I found myself really caring about all of the main characters. Matt, the only surviving Pine son that is not in prison, is one of my new all-time favourite thriller characters. I really cared about his journey, and was rooting for him throughout the entirety of the novel. Sarah Keller, the FBI agent on this case, was my favourite character in this novel, as I found her character very compelling and layered.

The writing and pacing of this novel was excellent. This novel was written in my favourite narrative style, which is when a book is divided into chapters that focus on a single character, but are written in third-person. I’m not always a huge fan of first-person writing, so I always seem to enjoy this writing style a lot more. Additionally, I thought that the pacing of this book was great. I never found myself bored, and appreciated that each scene was important to the overall flow of this story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this new thriller, and rated it 4/5 stars. If you are interested in reading this book, it is available in bookstores today! Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel in exchange for a review.

Good Night Book Owls!