Nicole's Reviews > Every Last Fear

3.5 stars

I was excited to read this book after seeing the positive reviews and it didn’t disappoint!


The first chapter opens up with

“They found the bodies on a Tuesday.
Two days after the family had missed their flight home.
Six days after all the texts and social media had gone dark.”

and the story doesn’t slow down.


Matt Pines is surprised when an FBI agent, Sarah Keller, stops by and the last thing he imagines learning is that his family was found dead in Mexico. Although the Mexican authorities claim it was a gas leak, evidence suggests otherwise. What follows is Keller to find more about what happened and Matt trying to catch up with his new reality, until his discovers that his family might have been murdered.

The book is told from several perspectives. In the present, we have Matt and agent Keller. But we also read about the past (the days before the accident) from Evan, Olivia (the parents), and Maggie (the daughter) perspectives. But you might wonder, what’s different about them?

You see, the eldest son, Danny, has been charged with murder seven years ago. And if that wasn’t enough, a hit documentary was made claiming Danny is innocent and in fact, he didn’t kill Charlotte, his girlfriend who was killed horrifically. So the Pines’ case received more spotlight because of their fame.


I won’t discuss the plot much further and I’ll leave it to you to discover and try to guess what happened. While I didn’t see the plot twists coming, I did guess a suspicious.. let’s call it “element”. I’m getting better at this :D


I love how Alex Finlay constructed the family. Evan the passionate. Maggie, the smart and mature kid (I loved her, she didn’t deserve this fate at all L not that anyone does.. but you get what I mean), and Olivia, the mother with her own inner demons. Danny was the promising child and Matt always lived in his shadow. Even after his incarceration, Evan was all too focused on proving his son’s innocence. It was Tommy’s birth that saved the family after Danny’s case. My only complaint is that I did not connect with them as much as I would've liked to.


I’m not a big fan of the “before” and “after” stories because they usually are a cheap way in my opinion to keep the reader on the edge of their seat. And the before part rarely interest me. Not here. It was necessary to give color to the dead family members. To understand what Matt was going through. How this news hit Danny. And simply, to feel the story. Also, the before part wasn’t a mere filler. You see, Maggie got a tip and her dad had an unbelievable call from Mexico, hence the “vacation”.


Overall, this was a good mystery/thriller and I couldn’t stop reading it. It's not a perfect mystery. Not even a great one and yes would not happen irl but I enjoyed it. I'm not 100% satisfied with the ending but Every Last Fear was a page-turner that kept me anxious and worried. Although I knew the Pines will die in Mexico, I kept hoping they don’t. Somehow. Especially Maggie.

Thanks to Head of Zeus and Netgalley for sending me an e-arc of this book.