Review: Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay is a gripping debut that crime fans will love. Read the full review via @tbookjunkie

Matt and his family have already been through more than enough. Seven years ago his brother Danny was found guilty of murdering his teenage girlfriend, Charlotte Rose and ever since the family have been thrust into the limelight, journalists prying into their lives at every opportunity.

At the time of the murder, everyone automatically assumed that Danny was guilty and therefore when a documentary about Danny’s case was released highlighting that there was reasonable doubt in the case, the family suffered even more.

At the time, the Pine family believed that nothing else could be worse. Surely they had suffered enough. They were hoping for a miracle; hoping that the documentary would lead to a pardon for Danny so that they could start to live again.

Then tragedy hits again.

Matt Pine had been arguing with his father and therefore hasn’t spoken to him properly since Christmas so when he gets an invite to join the family on holiday to enjoy Spring Break in Mexico he ignores it.

Now though, he has to come to terms with the fact that while on this holiday, his whole family – mother, father, sister and kid brother – have all been found dead in their rental property.

With no signs of forced entry or a struggle, the authorities suspect that they may have been subjected to some sort of chemical poisoning, but was it simply a bad accident or has something far more sinister happened to his loved ones?

Special Agent Keller has been assigned to the case but not because they believe foul play is involved but because she was investigating his old firm in Chicago; the firm that let him go some weeks ago.

She was actually hoping to interview Evan Pine, Matt’s father, about his employers, Maconi Accountants. It seems that the firm is involved with the Sinaloa Cartel and it’s normally those that feel that they have been wrongfully treated by past employers that want to bring them down. But does Evan actually know anything? Is it just a pure coincidence that he worked for a firm heavily involved with a cartel and died suspiciously while on holiday in Mexico? Where his family just collateral damage?

There is another theory floating around on the periphery of Keller’s mind. On the lead up to the Mexico break, Evan had clearly felt extremely low. His search engine results for example suggest that he was contemplating suicide, even researching which insurance policies would pay out in that situation. Add to this the fact that he was seeing a therapist for depression; it is not unheard of for these sorts of dark thoughts to occur.  But would he really consider killing off his entire family?

With so many theories floating around, Keller has her work cut out. All she really wanted to was to nail the owners of Marconi for criminal activity but after meeting Matt she feels that she needs to delve deeper and gain answers for the young man who has now lost everything.

Will Matt and Agent Keller be able to uncover the truth? Will they be able to right the wrongs done to this family? Will Matt gain justice not just for his dead family but also his incarcerated brother?

My Thoughts on Every Last Fear

Sometimes as soon as you pick a book up you just know that you are going to enjoy consuming every page and this is exactly what happened with Every Last Fear.

Alex Finlay has written an explosive fast paced novel that, if you enjoy crime thrillers, you will struggle to put down. The story flits between the present day and the past, where we get an insight to each member of the Pine family and what their biggest hopes and fears are. We get to understand the back story from each of their perspectives while also learning about the advancements in the current investigation that is going on surrounding their deaths. Alex Finlay is one of the few writes that seems to curate this detail almost effortlessly, moving from one perspective to another, from one timescale to another without difficulty while all the time dropping hints about what truly happened, leaving clues and feeding us with red herring to stop us from uncovering the truth too early on.

As Every Last Fear unfolds we get learn more about each character leading to a depth which is not always found in with this particular genre. It is unusual to find out so much about the deceased because it is normal for the plot to centre on uncovering the truth about who the murderer could be. Of course, this is still one of the main threads of the story but it features alongside the second thread, where they are trying to prove the innocence of a wrongly imprisoned teenager.

This debut novel has appeared on many lists of the most anticipated books of 2021 and I can honestly see why. Alex Finlay writes to keep the audience entertained.  It is intelligent and breathes new life into the psychological thriller genre.  

It really is difficult not to ooze love for this book. It was, as I have already said fast-paced, packed full of action and several twists that were neither predictable nor outrageously unbelievable. The characters were well developed and even though there were several points of views shared it didn’t confuse the story but instead helped to provide a depth to the novel that can often be lacking. I loved that there were in fact, not one but two murders to solve and try as I might I struggled to see any true link between the two although deep down I knew they had to be connected.

Overall, Every Last Fear is an extremely clever and well-written novel that will keep you hooked from start to finish. The fact that Alex Finlay is a pseudonym also adds to the mystery of this novel.

Have you read Every Last Fear? Perhaps you have read other psychological thrillers that you believe others will enjoy? Please share you book suggestions with us below.

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Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay is a debut novel that crime fans are going to love. Filled full of tension and twists that will keep you guessing until the very end. Read the full review via @tbookjunkie

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