Transitioning from child to adult is never easy, but it is also never a solo journey. Our formation is strongly impacted by the teachers, friends, co-workers, and yes, parents, who accompany us on the journey into the adult world. Parents Weekend is about what happens when that journey is interrupted by sinister events.

It’s Parents Weekend, and the campus of Santa Clara University is abuzz with activity. Staff members, among them the Dean’s secretary, Alice Goffman, are stressed rather than excited. The Dean typically delegates any and all contact with the public to his associate deans, but Parents Weekend means he will have to be front and center, wining and dining the families whose tuitions make this small, private school in Northern California a desired destination. Alice’s anxiety doesn’t just come from dealing with her frazzled boss but from the pending dinner that evening with her son Felix’s capstone group. The families at Santa Clara are wealthy, influential people. It’s a world where a single working-class mom and her child wouldn’t typically be found, but her job at the university opened the door for them via free tuition as a perk, and Alice is determined to fit in. She wants Felix to not just take advantage of the educational opportunities here but is determined to see her odd little outsider of a son welcomed and loved by his peers.

Alice isn’t the only one suffering from angst. Cynthia Roosevelt, a high-ranking member of the state department, is fighting with her ex and feeling estranged from her fun-loving son Blane. She knows Blane doesn’t approve of her job or the administration she works for, or appreciate the pressure being the child of someone in the public spotlight adds to his life, but she is determined to use Parents Weekend as a chance to reconnect.

Ken Akana might be known as No Drama Akana to the public, a man who rules over his courtroom with an unflappable demeanor, but his life has been nothing but a melodrama for the past several years. From celebrity cases that eat up his time and thrust him into a spotlight he never sought, to the tragedy surrounding his young son’s death, his existence has been anything but calm. He hopes to use the time this weekend to bridge the distance fame and adversity have put between himself and his wife, Amy, and daughter Libby.

Mark doesn’t have family coming to the dinner and is happy about it. He plans to spend the evening chilling before meeting up with his pals later.

Nina and David Maldonado are on the verge of a divorce. Travelling with one of David’s cocaine-addict clients into San Francisco doesn’t get the trip off to a great start and reminds Nina of all the reasons this relationship is about to come undone. Things don’t get better after they land since their daughter Stella has elevated disdaining them to an art form. Nina can’t imagine how they will make it through an entire dinner with others as witnesses to their bitter dysfunctionality. Especially since Stella ditches them almost immediately, telling them she will meet them at the restaurant while she goes off to deal with what is obviously a made-up issue.

The excuse Stella gives her parents is indeed fabricated, but the reality of needing to deal with a problem isn’t. All five students have seen the same text and are on their way to (hopefully) resolve a matter that has put a serious damper on their collegiate experience for the past several days.

When all of the kids are no-shows for the meal, the parents laugh it off, joking about how easy it is to lose track of time when you’re in your first year of college. But as the minutes turn into hours, and none of the young people can be reached, the panic starts to rise. Alice reaches out to the campus police, who would typically not respond to the problem of young collegiates being AWOL for one evening. But the drowning of a missing young woman, discovered earlier that day, has them eager to prove themselves by solving this one quickly. Only their search doesn’t lead to easy answers, and within hours, the FBI is involved, and Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella – the missing youngsters – are all over the media. The Five, as the podcasters, bloggers, and TikTok sleuths call them, have captured the national imagination, leaving their anxious parents worried not just about their children but about what secrets will be revealed during the hunt for them.

Agent Sarah Keller might be new to Northern California, but she excels at keeping her cool during high-profile cases. And at digging beneath the surface to discover all the things people would just as soon keep buried.

First, let’s give a very excited. ‘Woot, woot!’ at having Sarah back, and having this book take place after Every Last Fear. The ending of that novel made us doubt Sarah’s fate, but seeing her alive, well, and ready to kick serious tushie is terrific. For those just discovering this author, you don’t need to read the prior books to appreciate this one. Sarah’s in Cali on a temporary hardship transfer so that Bob, herself, and the twins can be near Pops, her dying father-in-law. It is a serious career derailment, but one Sarah is happy to take for her family. She likes her job but doesn’t need the notoriety that has dogged her since the Blockbuster case. Her plan is to graciously accept being the lowest woman on the totem pole in the San Francisco office.

Since the missing students situation is initially seen as a hand-holding job, it is deemed perfect for Sarah. A mom herself, she agrees she’ll be ideal at making everyone feel like all is being done to find the kids while the local cops and campus police pull the children out of whatever party they’ve disappeared into. But Sarah excels at riddles. She figures out pretty quickly that this isn’t just teens being teens and goes full throttle into a twisty, turvy, full-speed-ahead manhunt.

The author does a great job of introducing us to all the different personalities that bring this narrative together and paces the story brilliantly, so that we are never bored as Sarah goes about solving the puzzle. The tale isn’t always believable – most mysteries aren’t – but it is thoroughly engaging.

Part of the fun of reading this kind of novel is finding things out for yourself, so I am not going to give a lot of detail. I will say, however, that Parents Weekend is just about perfect. Strong personalities, toxic relationships, youthful indiscretions, and smart policing all combine to make this a must-read for those who enjoy thrillers. I strongly recommend it to that audience.