It is always enjoyable to discover a new kid on the reading block, so to speak, and pass the word on to your friends. May I accordingly introduce Alex Finlay, whose debut novel has readers and book clubs talking? EVERY LAST FEAR straddles multiple subgenres in the mystery and thriller categories while providing a number of puzzles that will keep you reading all night to untangle.

The book begins with four members of a family being discovered in Mexico at a vacation rental. The stark opening sentence (which I won’t give away) sinks the hook for readers in just seven words. We learn quickly enough that the deceased are Evan; his wife, Olivia (or “Liv”), and two of their children: Maggie, a high school senior, and Tommy, the young post-toddler surprise.

"Despite its grim subject matter (or maybe because of it), EVERY LAST FEAR is a fun novel with a propelling story that surrounds a compelling mystery or two."

They are survived by Matt, who is attending college in New York, and Danny, who is doing time in prison for a young woman’s murder that he insists he did not commit. It does not appear that Danny is going to be released anytime soon as the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected his final appeal, even though he has the support of everyone from an Innocents-type organization to the daughter of the President of the United States.

Matt, who is estranged from Danny, must inform his brother of their family’s death before traveling down to Mexico to reclaim their bodies, where he encounters a bit of resistance that he does not understand. What was initially considered to be a tragic accident is beginning to look like a homicide. In addition to determining who is responsible, there is the pressing question of why someone would commit murder and go to such great lengths to cover it up.

An extremely tenacious FBI agent wonders if someone from Evan’s former accounting firm  might have something to do with it, particularly because she is currently investigating the same company for its connections to a Mexican drug cartel. In the meantime, the narrative ping-pongs back and forth from the period leading up to the deaths of Matt and Danny’s family to the book’s present. Some information is revealed to the reader before Matt and his bureau agent learn of it, but for the most part everyone is in the dark until the very end, when a series of explosive revelations change everything.

Despite its grim subject matter (or maybe because of it), EVERY LAST FEAR is a fun novel with a propelling story that surrounds a compelling mystery or two. Some readers may have trouble with the almost constant churn between the past and present, and the characters’ points of view, although Finlay clearly marks off the when and who in the narrative. It certainly works as a tool to build suspense while demonstrating that Finlay should have a bright future in the thriller world. I’ll look forward to his next book.