The Anniversary

• Author: Alex Finlay
• Genre: Mystery/Thriller
• Publication Date: May 12, 2026
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio 

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

From the bestselling author of Parents Weekend, comes one of the most anticipated thrillers of the year.

Every Year He Comes For Them.

On one fateful night in 1992, the lives of two seventeen-year-olds are changed and intertwined forever. Quinn Riley, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, is arrested after he innocently tries to break up a fight but ends up nearly killing someone. Jules Delaney, high school royalty, survives an attack by the elusive and terrifying May Day Killer—a serial predator who strikes every May 1st in midwestern small towns.

A year later, Jules is struggling with trauma and guilt, tormented by the Why was I spared? Quinn is newly released from juvenile detention and returns home to fresh the unsolved murder of his mother.

Over the next decade, their lives are revisited on a single day each year—May 1st. As secrets unravel and the paths of Quinn and Jules collide, two mysteries edge closer to the truth. All the while, the May Day Killer is still out there—and the clock is racing toward another May 1st.

Alex Finlay is a name I’ve seen around, but I haven’t actually read any of his books. But the premise of this one sounded far too intriguing to pass up, and I’m really glad that I didn’t, because it was one of the most unique and thrilling stories that I’ve read in a while, and I have a new author and backlist to work through.

The Anniversary is an utterly compelling story of the hunt for a serial killer. But it’s also a heartfelt—and heartrending—novel about fate, innocence lost, and two souls who find that sometimes being broken is the only way for the light to get in.

Twisty, high-concept, and emotional, the novel reaffirms Finlay as one of the leading thriller writers today.

Finlay went for a completely unique story structure with this one, where the readers are still following a linear timeline, except we are exposed to the story and how it unfolds in slivers of the characters’ lives around the same date each year. It allowed the story to unfurl in a way that feels natural without having to slog through all the extra pages of trailing Quinn and Jules over the course of a decade, proving to be an efficient example of cross-sectional narrative. Unfortunately, this resulted in the story involving more telling than showing.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Brittany Pressley and Ari Fliakos. I’m a big fan of Brittany Pressley’s narration, and her voicing of Jules over the years felt like she was the perfect choice. Ari Fliakos is a new narrator for me, and I enjoyed his voicing, although to me, his voice felt incongruously mature for teenage Quinn. However, the audiobook format made it a bit harder for me to track the timeline—it’s clearly listed at the beginning of each chapter, but it can be tough for me to recall what year it is by the middle of the chapter.

Set in a fictional town in rural Nebraska over the course of the 90s, the story captured the Midwestern small-town feel with so much nostalgia for the times. There were so many familiar pop culture references to my own younger years that I felt as if these were real people growing up alongside me, rather than figments of the author’s imagination. That is the ultimate compliment I can give an author’s choice of setting.

The two protagonists are as different as night and day. Quinn is a poor kid whose father was killed in a car accident and his widowed mother now works in the local potato chip factory, and he is bullied and mostly a loner; while Jules is from a wealthy family, she’s beautiful, she’s popular, she’s dating a typical jock, she’s smart, and her entire future is pretty much mapped out for her. These two shouldn’t have any reason to cross paths…except they share a study hall and wind up having some stilted conversations. It creates a tenuous bond between these two—he talks to her about books that he is reading and there is a hint of a romantic spark between these two high school students.

Women and girls have been going missing every May Day for quite some time in the midwest. All the girls know to use the buddy system and not to be alone on May 1st. But when Jules attends a concert on May 1st and eventually finds herself on her own, it’s only a matter of time before she catches the May Day killer’s attention. And while she’s dealing with her own hell and expecting her life to end at any moment, Quinn is just reaching his—at the concert he intervenes in a fight and the kid he punches hits the concrete hard enough to threaten his life, and he’s sentenced to juvenile detention until he turns 18. Quinn is not only upset about what happened to the kid he punched, but he’s heartbroken over the time that he is forced to spend away from his younger brother, who is non-verbal and presents as having various symptoms of autism, along with a seizure disorder. His life, his family, and his future all change in the blink of an eye.

Initially, I struggled to like Jules. She’s shallow, self-absorbed, and so privileged without even noticing, and while she is a really smart girl, she makes some choices that were really dumb. Which is typical for teenagers to do, but it rarely has the consequences that this decision has for Jules—she is one of the ‘lucky few’ who survive the May Day killer. But that doesn’t mean she can leave him behind—he took her drivers license and tells her to keep quiet of he’ll come back and finish the job. And she believes him, so she doesn’t tell a soul of her assault and near-death experience. Instead, it turns her into a young woman who increasingly seeks out oblivion to escape her trauma. Over the years, she does mature and level out, and I was so happy to watch her grow as she worked through her trauma. By the end of the book, I was enjoying her character and the wonderful arc that she goes through.

On the other hand, Quinn was immediately a character I gravitated towards and felt empathy for. His struggles are because of a series of bad circumstances as well, but in a way where he is forced to take responsibility for the consequences of his behavior in one moment of poor judgment. Yet as I write this, I can see the way Jules and her own nightmarish May Day also occurred as her being pushed to accept responsibility for the outcome of her single moment of rash behavior, while I felt differently towards her than I did towards him, possibly because of her privilege or because of her ‘queen bee’ status at school. I would have been much more likely to be in Quinn’s social circle than ever fit in with Jules and her crowd, who kind of read like the typical popular group in a high school, or basically a pack of piranhas. Plus, Quinn is protective, gentle, and loving to his disabled younger brother George, and prioritizing his needs.

Jules and Quinn keep crossing paths unexpectedly, and it’s clear that both are developing an attraction to each other, although the timing never seems to be right. I’m actually glad that was the case, since both of them were so traumatized by their individual experiences that it would have been a disaster if they had acted on their attraction. And while their slow-burn feelings do play a role in the story, it’s more about a combination of two young people dealing with trauma and their slow journey into adulthood and (hopefully) a healthy future. And it was this part of the story that really captured me—the different routes they find themselves on, the exploration of grief and trauma, and the way these characters start out with so much room to grow and they both have their chance at redemption in a way.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read. The plot was unique but a tiny bit predictable, and the structure of the story was a fresh take in a genre that can be repetitive. As the story went on, I started seeing some of the characters in a different light as they not only grew up, but matured through some ups and downs. Seeing a decade in the lives of these two through a cross-sectional lens was fascinating, and watching how they waded into early adulthood and careers captivated me. However, the pace lagged a bit in the early parts of the story, and the middle part felt a bit repetitive with the circular thinking of both Jules and Quinn. In my opinion, the best part of the novel was how it was able to accurately portray some sensitive topics like rape, trauma, grief, powerlessness, and substance use without feeling as if it was overdone or glossed over. I’m impressed with author, and will eagerly be browsing through some of his backlist and waiting for future offerings. 

Bottom line: A captivating plot and redemption arcs for both main characters make this one a thriller that isn’t to be missed, and although it does heal with some heavy topics, be aware of the trigger warnings for this book.

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