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Book Review
Reviewed: 28 March 2026

The Anniversary

by: Alex Finlay

a thriller

  • Rating: full starfull starfull starfull starstar outline (4/5)

You never know the secrets people keep …

Ok, so anniversaries… most are the good, celebratory type we look forward to. Then there are those we reluctantly acknowledge. This story is the latter, in the extreme. Compounding the dread is to have horrible events associated with an anniversary that also happens to be your birthday. This is the first 17-year-old we meet, Quinn. My heart broke for him. Throughout the story, he did the “right” thing, the honorable thing, and in return, his life was changed - but not in a good way. I admire his strength of character; no matter how bad the outcome, he continued to do the right and honorable thing. The second 17-year-old we meet is Jules. Not quite as straight-pathed as Quinn. She experienced something horrific and dealt with it her way.  Mostly, bottling it up, drinking, and getting into trouble. She overcame and continued to live life.

I’ve heard that people come into your life for a reason. In this story, it seems that they came into each other’s lives to save each other. It is not a quick fix, nor does it happen overnight. In fact, it took many years. 

In both this story and If Something Happens to Me, the only other Alex Finlay story I’ve read, creating suspense, intertwining POVs, and basically keeping readers on the edge seems to be a specialty of the author - I like it. This story had the added challenge of jumping time - all the time. Though not the back-and-forth you might see, but jumping forward a year or more each scene. This created the challenge of providing depth of character without filling in the time gaps.  

Our experiences influence who we become and the paths we take. Quinn doggedly searched for answers. Jules doggedly avoids them - until she could no longer.  Jules connected with others who experienced something similar, and they gave strength to each other. It was bumpy, but in the end, they created something beautiful - not giving up any more than that, you’ll have to read to find out.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” can most definitely be applied to Jules and Quinn. I found myself wanting to be on their cheer squad for a long and happy life after all they’d been through. 

Thank you, #NetGalley and #MacAudio2026, for the opportunity for an early read/listen of this book.

Happy Reading!

Release Date: 12-May-2026
NetGalley, Mystery, Thriller

Plot Summary

“Razor sharp, smart, and emotionally charged―it’s everything I want in a thriller!”―Ashley Elston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of First Lie Wins

From the bestselling author of Parents Weekend, comes one of the most anticipated thrillers of the year.

Every year he comes for them . . .

On May 1, 1992, Jules Delaney and Quinn Riley hardly know each other.

Jules is high school queen bee in a small Midwestern town when she survives a brutal attack by the elusive May Day Killer—a predator who strikes every May 1st and then vanishes without a trace. Quinn, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, is arrested the same night after trying to break up a fight and nearly killing someone.

By morning, their lives are forever connected.

A year later, Jules is haunted by trauma and guilt, tormented by one Why was she spared? Quinn is newly released from juvenile detention and returns home to devastating news—the unsolved murder of his mother.

Over the next decade, their lives are revisited on a single day each May 1st.

As the years pass, secrets surface, lies unravel, and the paths of Jules and Quinn draw closer together. Two mysteries edge toward the truth—what really happened the night Jules was attacked, and who murdered Quinn’s mother? All the while, the May Day Killer is still out there.

And the clock is racing toward another anniversary.

Twisty, high-concept, and emotionally charged, The Anniversary is an addictive murder mystery and nail-biting thriller—but it’s also a tender, heartrending story about fate, innocence lost, and two people bound by a single day. With its masterful structure and propulsive tension, The Anniversaryreaffirms Alex Finlay as one of the leading thriller writers today.