Reviewed: 02 May 2024

If Something Happens to Me

by: Alex Finlay

A Novel

Rating: (4/5)

The amazing and deadly ways lives can intersect

The premise drew me in, a girl is kidnapped and years later several things happen where it seems to be at the center of them. There are points where you have to hold until the intersection appears, at least for me, I had moments where I wondered how/why we were being led down a particular path.

I liked that Ryan grew out of the experiences and was able to heal. There were a few things you just kinda knew were going a certain way, but I still hung on for the ride to get there and the reasons why we got there. I was surprised by a couple of the revelations and thought they were clever.

The characters were my favorite part of the story. They were multidimensional and engaging. The parent’s love. The friends you can count on. The honor. The respect. The belief.

There were, however, a couple of times, that the time shift threw me off. Luckily after a few moments I was back on track. The audio production was amazing with multiple narrators.

This is my first time reading anything by Alex Finlay and after reading this book, I am interested in reading more. I just may read this one again …

Thank you to #NetGalley for the opportunity to do an early read and share my thoughts on the story.

Happy Reading!

Release Date: 28-May-2024

Audiobook, NetGalley, Mystery, Thriller

Plot Summary

For the past five years, Ryan Richardson has relived that terrible night. The car door ripping open. The crushing blow to the head. The hands yanking him from the vehicle. His girlfriend Ali’s piercing scream as she is taken.

With no trace of Ali or the car, a cloud of suspicion hangs over Ryan. But with no proof and a good lawyer, he’s never charged, though that doesn’t matter to the podcasters and internet trolls. Now, Ryan has changed his last name, and entered law school. He's put his past behind him.

Until, on a summer trip abroad to Italy with his law-school classmates, Ryan gets a call from his father: Ali's car has finally been found, submerged in a lake in his hometown. Inside are two dead men and a cryptic note with five words written on the envelope in Ali’s handwriting: If something happens to me…

Then, halfway around the world, the unthinkable happens: Ryan sees the man who has haunted his dreams since that night.

As Ryan races from the rolling hills of Tuscany, to a rural village in the UK, to the glittering streets of Paris in search of the truth, he has no idea that his salvation may lie with a young sheriff’s deputy in Kansas working her first case, and a mobster in Philadelphia who’s experienced tragedy of his own.

In classic Alex Finlay form, If Something Happens to Me is told from several distinct, compelling characters whose paths intersect, detonating into a story of twist after pulse-pounding twist. The story cements Finlay as one of the leading thriller writers today.