Every Last Fear

“Every Last Fear” by Alex Finlay is nearly predictable, and highly entertaining as it yanks readers along for some moderate thrills on an unflagging race to find out who killed Matt Pine’s family? Matt, a student at NYU, and his family, have already been in the spotlight for part of their lives. Matt’s older brother has spent years in prison for murder, and further notoriety has beset the family in the way of a documentary aiming to place doubt on the court case (and confession) that sent Danny to prison. Now Matt and Danny’s brother, sister, and parents have perished in what seems to be an accident while on vacation in Mexico.

But is it an accident? Or has something more sinister befallen the family? The answer may be tied up in anything from Danny’s crime to murky financial dealings…enter the FBI and Agent Keller, a sympathetic government official attempting to answer some of these questions.

This book gets three-and-a-half stars from me. It’s clean and well-written, and the pace is unrelenting. However, I found the characters to be as flat as a pancake, and I mean a crepe. As far as light reading goes, this is better than fine–I actually enjoyed the furious speed and the rollout of the plot. It’s a novel that’s pretty plot-driven, which is good, considering that the characters are fairly wooden. Consider our protagonist, who learns about the demise of nearly his entire family, and for most of the novel seems relatively unconcerned by this knowledge. I mean, the guy may be stoic, but his family is dead. He cries once or twice, but otherwise, his behavior is normal, if normal is acting like a brick wall with nominal intelligence.

That’s another thing: none of the characters in this novel are too bright. And that’s OKAY! Characters don’t need to be geniuses. But let’s not pretend that they are. Matt is described at one point as being well-aware of his surroundings, since he goes to school in New York. However, with keen reflexes and an eye for details, he seems to miss out on obvious signs of danger EVERYWHERE. The rest of his family (told in flashbacks) seems to be similarly handicapped by danger blindness, incapable of noticing danger signals. This family appears to be missing a pretty major spidey-sense.

While the end of the novel was a bit predictable (okay; the end was predictable TO ME, because I read about a thousand thrillers a week), the whole book was fun and fast. The writing is clear, and I enjoyed the mystery. This would be a great beach read. It’s a terrific way to unwind.

Raise your hands, the police accuse you of murder and dont ask for a lawyer.Anyone? Wait, they give you information about the murder and tell you if you confess about how you did it, you can go home. So, you do. Right?
Marylyn Stasio of the the NYTimes owes me $13.99 for recommending this cliched, over plotted disappointment.

I actually received a free copy of this book from Netgalley, but forgot about it and then bought this last week. I was really excited to read this book. It started off so strongly, but at every turn, the author had a choice and he chose the drama every time. And that makes for a ridiculous book.
There need to be a couple of quieter moments so you can surprise the reader, but an incident or traumatic event occurs after every action. For example, every time a character goes somewhere, there shouldn’t be an accident or some other trauma.

Also, characters in this book never just walk. They stalk or saunter or swagger or strut. In one particularly jarring case, the old man in the nursing home sauntered. Old men don’t saunter. They shuffle!

And then for all the exotic locales, the ending is really dumb. It makes no sense and it doesn’t tie up all the loose ends.

This book was amazing! Expertly paced small town murder mystery that had me hooked from the very first line to the satisfying conclusion. I definitely recommend!

MARCH 2021 : 4 STARS (Debut book). After a late night of partying, NYU student Matt Pine returns to his dorm room to devastating news – nearly his entire family (mom, dad, little brother & sister) have been found dead from an apparent has 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. This isn’t the first time the Pine family has been thrust into the media spotlight. Matt’s older brother, Danny is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his teenage girlfriend, Charlotte.

Author’s debut novel. The description drew me in and right away I liked the author’s writing style. At 30% the pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together. I’m more of a thriller girl, but this is a great mystery. Enjoying trying to figure it out. Kept me guessing until the end.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member