In one of the year’s most anticipated debut psychological thrillers, a family made infamous by a true crime documentary is found dead, leaving their surviving son to uncover the truth about their final days.
EVERY LAST FEAR
by Alex Finlay
Minotaur Books, March 2021
“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. Told through multiple points-of-view and alternating between past and present, Alex Finlay’s EVERY LAST FEAR is not only a page-turning thriller, it’s also a poignant story about a family managing heartbreak and tragedy, and living through a fame they never wanted.
• Indie Next Pick – A Top Book Voted by Independent Bookstores for March 2021
• Amazon Best Book of the Month – March 2021, Mystery & Thriller category
• LibraryReads Selection – A Top Book Voted by Librarians for March 2021
• Newsweek‘s « Best Books to Read This Spring »
• Goodreads‘ « Most Anticipated Books of 2021 »
• PopSugar‘s « Best New Books Coming Out in 2021 »
• BuzzFeed‘s « Mystery Novels We’re Highly Anticipating in 2021 »
« Prepare yourself for twist after exciting twist. A standout novel plotted with surgical precision.”
―Karin Slaughter, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
« Explosive! A knife-edged thriller that explores the true meaning of family, including love, loyalty, and lies. » ―Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
Alex Finlay is the pseudonym of an author who lives in Washington, D.C. Born in Opelika, Alabama, Alex’s formative years were spent traversing the globe, from a tropical island in the Pacific to a small village in the UK to a remote region in the Far East. But it was on a vacation in Tulum, Mexico that Alex was inspired to write EVERY LAST FEAR.
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