EVERY LAST FEAR

5 stars out of 5

Even though my Spidey sense kicked in early on with a suspicion of how it would turn out (and I was right), this action-packed book was a real treat. By the halfway point, I started to plow through it like a crazy woman, stopping only after my usual bedtime when I couldn't keep my eyes open a minute longer. 

At first, I was a bit skeptical; this is one of those books in which chapters switch both from individual characters' perspectives and chronology - a trend that seems to be a favorite of mystery-thriller authors these days, but in general not by me. This one, though, is especially well done, with each chapter building on background that led up to the death of an entire family - father, mother and two children - in Mexico. At first, it's thought to be an accident caused by a gas leak; but when the FBI gets involved, thoughts turn to suspicions of murder.

Two members of that family remain alive: Matt Pine, a filmmaking student at New York University, and his older brother Danny, who's been in jail ever since he was convicted of murdering his teenage girlfriend Charlotte. After a team of producers released a video reminiscent of "Proven Innocent" in which Matt's father goes off on a rant about his son's innocence, the townsfolk shunned the entire family and forced them to move from the small Nebraska town to Chicago.

Meanwhile, the FBI - in the person of agent Sarah Keller - has been investigating the Chicago accounting firm for its possible ties to a Mexican cartel. As it turns out, Matt's father Evan worked there as an accountant. There's no discernible connection to the family's deaths, but needless to say, it raises a few suspicions in Sarah's mind as she tries to collect enough evidence to successfully prosecute bigwigs at the accounting firm.

And that, friends, is all I'm going to tell you - except that this is an intricately woven story that's a delight to read. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to get an up-close-and-personal look prior to release. 

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay (Minotaur Books, March 2021); 368 pp.