If Something Happens to Me

Alex Finlay

Mystery Thriller

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.

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

(4 / 5) That horrible night five years ago has haunted Ryan daily. While in the car with his girlfriend Ali, she is taken while he is knocked out. No clues are left. So of course Ryan is charged but luckily cleared. Getting away from the people that still believe he did it was difficult but he has changed his name and is successfully completing law school. While on a summer trip, his dad calls with news that Ali’s car was found in a lake with two bodies in it and a note from her. Now he finds himself following a man across Europe that he is positive was the one who took her.

First off, Finlay is the master of twists and suspense. I was grabbed quickly with this one and immediately connected with Ryan and his inability to let go of that night and the need for answers. I loved the trickle of clues along the way but I could not put them together to fit. Then, in maximum Finlay form, the twists kept coming and coming until this unbelievable scenario played out. Now that is how you write a thriller! I did feel the end wasn’t one of his best but it did not stunt my entertainment. Finlay still stands as a phenomenal suspense writer.

I recommend this to those that love unpredictable twists!

General content summary: F words= 28

Language

Young woman missing

Parent illnesses (cancer, stroke, death)

Person thrown in deep water with weights

Car retrieved from lake with bones inside

Alcohol (multiple)

Bullying (video, urine, confinement)

Gunshots (multiple)

Intimacy (referenced, M/F kiss)

Suicide and grief (gun, no details)

Fire (deaths)

Overdose (unconsciousness)

Corpses (blood, signs of torture)

Car accident death (few details)

Physical violence (fist fights, blood, injuries)

Person hit by a car (few details)

Torture (water boarding, some details)

Deaths (physical violence and drowning, broken neck, gun, strangulation)

Explosion (small, death, no details)

F/F relationship (no details)

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the copy!

The book releases May 28, 2024.

**As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.