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A Thriller
by Alex Finlay
From the national bestselling author of Parents Weekend, comes one of the most anticipated thrillers of the year.
Every May 1st, a serial killer stalks a small town. 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 question: 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 year: 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 Anniversary reaffirms Alex Finlay as one of the leading thriller writers today.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/16/2026)
I finished THE MAY HOUSE by Jillian Cantor and THE ANNIVERSARY by Alex Finlay. Alex Finlay is coming to Pittsburgh, and I will be going to the event. We rarely get "big" authors so I'm excited. Currently reading THE HOPE KEEPER...
-Elizabeth
"The suspense never lets up, the various story lines come together nicely, and there are a few twists that even the most well-read mystery readers may find surprising. This is Finlay's best book in years." ―Booklist (starred review)
"Somehow, Finlay manages to improve with each amazing book, and he has crafted another terrific suspense novel that demands to be read in one sitting. Jules and Quinn fly off the page, and readers will be emotionally engrossed in their journey to see where they are in their lives each May 1." ―Library Journal (starred review)
"The Anniversary is Alex Finlay at his best, an addictive murder mystery, nail-biting thriller, and tender love story, all beautifully told through a masterful story structure. I could not put it down!" ―Angie Kim, New York Times bestselling author of Happiness Falls
"This ingeniously structured thriller races through the 1990s with two sympathetic heroes and nonstop twists. It's phat, it's fly, it's all that and a bag of chips!" ―Jason Rekulak, New York Times bestselling author of The Last One at the Wedding
This information about The Anniversary was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Alex Finlay is the bestselling author of several acclaimed novels, including the 2025 instant national bestseller, Parents Weekend. His work regularly appears on best-of-the-year lists and has been translated into twenty-seven languages and sold around the world. Alex's books have been optioned or in development for film and television, including Parents Weekend, which was recently acquired for adaptation to the screen. Alex is a director of the thriller/mystery section of the Leopardi Writing Conference in Italy, and a board member of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. He lives in Washington, D.C.
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