Helloooo. Man, I loved this book. I recently read Alex Finlay’s The Night Shift and really enjoyed it, so I was excited to start on his new novel. I was not disappointed at all. 

This book is told in many different POVs ranging from Ryan, Poppy, a mobster, and a few sporadic others. It’s written similarly to The Night Shift and I liked the writing style there, so this felt familiar. Be warned, though, considering that there’s mobsters, there are some pretty gut wrenching scenes. 

So, our story is basically about several different people as they all follow down the same thread. You have the mobster and his wife (both brutal in their own ways), you get the mobster’s right hand man (who becomes a particularly interesting character, you get Ryan (the brooding boyfriend of the abducted girl who actually gets accused for her murder), you get Poppy (think badass woman who doesn’t take other people’s shit). All characters were important and so vivid in the way they were built. Poppy is following the leads on Ali’s cold case, Ryan is following his own lead in Italy, and the mobster is following leads that don’t fully make sense until closer to the end (which I totally appreciate because you get to try and figure it out on your own). 

My favorite part about this novel was definitely the plot. It was woven together so seamlessly that I literally was following the tracks of the mystery as all of our characters were. There comes a point about 70% of the way through the book where you know more than the characters did overall (unless you’re really good at solving mysteries). This is the first time I’ve read a mystery and really went “wow, it all makes sense” because you get every piece of the mystery slowly enough to play detective on your own. 

Spoilers ahead. 

One of my absolute favorite parts of this novel was when I realized that we had dual timelines as well as multiple point of views. I had a feeling in the beginning, but everything finally came together when I realized that Taylor was actually a younger version of Alison. Alison had to change her identity and run away after her and her friends bullied a mobster’s son to the point of suicide. The whole book after that shoes the relentless chasing that the mobster goes through to make sure that his son sees “justice” as the mobster sees it. While I don’t condone bullying at all, the mobster had a perverse sense of justice and what he thought would heal him.

In terms of the star-crossed lover situation with Alison and Ryan, I was a little disappointed that they didn’t get together, but it was so much more realistic that after all those years, Ryan would be with Nora. After all, both Ryan and Alison were completely different people from who they were in high school before she was abducted.

Overall, this novel was so much fun to read and an absolute thriller. Mysteries are one of my favorite genres and Alex Finlay’s If Something Happens to Me is the perfect example of why I love this genre so much. A huge thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this novel in exchange for an honest review.  

Source: Advanced Reader Copy from NetGalley

(P.S. You can read this book for free by signing up for a free trial of Audible, which gives you two free audiobooks of your choice!)