Book Review: Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay

My Rating:
⭐️⭐⭐

Matt Pine returns to his dorm room after a night out with his NYU friends to the news that his parents, younger brother and sister were found dead while vacationing in Tulum, Mexico. The local police rule it as an accident attributing the cause to an accidental gas leak but the FBI suspect foul play. Matt’s family has had its share of troubles. His elder brother Danny was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Charlotte and has been serving a life sentence,  a crime that many believe he has been wrongfully convicted of. A true crime documentary featuring Danny’s case that delves into aspects of the trial, investigation and coerced confession have placed the Pine family in the spotlight and insinuations about the faulty investigation and possible suspects have led to the family being driven out of their hometown in Nebraska and relocating in Naperville, Illinois.  

There are multiple theories about what could have happened to the Pines. Could it have simply been an accident? Was this related to Evan Pine’s workplace which is under investigation by the FBI?  Was it in anyway related to Danny’s case ? Does Matt know more than he is letting on?

The narrative jumps between past and present with multiple POVs. We get to know how Evan Pine and his daughter Maggie have been conducting their own investigation into Charlotte’s murder. We get to know more about their lives , their friends, family and the dynamics they share with their former townspeople. Their timeline covers the events leading up to that fateful day in Mexico. Excerpts from the documentary are interspersed throughout the narrative and contribute to the storyline. The present day narrative follows Agent Keller’s investigation and how Matt deals with the aftermath of his family’s demise - hounded by the press, followed by the documentary filmmakers who are in hopes of a sequel and the shady people he comes across in Mexico and back home with his only support system being his NYU friends. 

Alex Finlay’s Every Last Fear starts off great! The very first page reels you in. However, as the story progressed I found my initial excitement wearing off . Matt , understandably grieving for his family, comes across as somewhat passive even after multiple dangers he faces. I found his character rather uninteresting. While I usually enjoy multiple timelines and POVs , in this case I found the story losing its pace/flow with the author trying to maybe pack a little too much into what should have been a more taut , suspenseful narrative. It was not difficult to predict the identity of the guilty party much before the actual reveal , though how the events actually play out is well executed.  I did like FBI Agent Sarah Keller a lot and would love for her to feature in the author’s future novels. 

Though not as thrilling as expected , Every Last Fear is quick read with a mystery that does hold your interest till the end. While I did not dislike the novel, I wasn’t really sitting on the edge of my seat, holding my breath or biting my nails waiting for the mystery to be unraveled, which is the way I would have liked it to be.