Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay is a thriller surrounding the events of parents’ weekend at Santa Clara University, a weekend that truly has always seemed like an extraordinarily unnecessary farce for all involved to me. My strong opinions on the existence of the weekend at colleges around America naturally led to my intrigue about the premise of this book.
Four families descend on the Bay Area for parents’ weekend at their kids’ school, and five college freshmen disappear into thin air.
Amidst dysfunctional dynamics and unexpected twists, the FBI Agent called in to the case discovers shocking family secrets and a group of dorm mates that have hidden so much from the parents who think they know them so well.
Parents’ weekend, something that is supposed to be only mildly unpleasant for all parties, quickly turns into a complete nightmare.
These characters flaunt unhappy, dysfunctional dynamics across the board, but it is hard to get more thant the barest surface level sense of these characters. Even the FBI Agent whose perspective dominates this book is quite flat.
Parts of this book are set at a hotel I know well — the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay. As a local girl, I spent much time there in high school, sneaking into the outdoor areas with my friends, and I was impressed with the accurate details. It’s clear the author has stayed there before, or at least dropped by for a drink.
The plot in Parents Weekend is fast-paced and engaging, with short and easily digestible chapters. I read this book in a single day, with most of it spent wondering where the fuck this all was going.
Parts of this book were really great. It’s well-paced and briefly shines a light on some of the darker parts of family life and social media culture, but it is left lacking without any sort of exploration of character or meaningful character development at all. Unless you are a Bay Area native, bored, stuck in an airport with a delayed flight, Parents Weekend can be skipped.
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