If Something Happens to Me: A Novel

Alex Finlay

May 2024 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Helen Laser, John Pirhalla, and Paul Dateh

About this audiobook

This program features multicast narration.

A USA Today Bestseller!

From “one of the genre’s most exciting voices” (E! News) comes one of the year’s most-anticipated thrillers.

For the past five years, Ryan Richardson has relived that terrible night. The car door ripping open. The crushing blow to the head. The hands yanking him from the vehicle. His girlfriend Ali’s piercing scream as she is taken.

With no trace of Ali or the car, a cloud of suspicion hangs over Ryan. But with no proof and a good lawyer, he’s never charged, though that doesn’t matter to the podcasters and internet trolls. Now, Ryan has changed his last name, and entered law school. He's put his past behind him.

Until, on a summer trip abroad to Italy with his law-school classmates, Ryan gets a call from his father: Ali's car has finally been found, submerged in a lake in his hometown. Inside are two dead men and a cryptic note with five words written on the envelope in Ali’s handwriting: If something happens to me...

Then, halfway around the world, the unthinkable happens: Ryan sees the man who has haunted his dreams since that night.

As Ryan races from the rolling hills of Tuscany, to a rural village in the UK, to the glittering streets of Paris in search of the truth, he has no idea that his salvation may lie with a young sheriff’s deputy in Kansas working her first case, and a mobster in Philadelphia who’s experienced tragedy of his own.

In classic Alex Finlay form, If Something Happens to Me is told by several distinct, compelling characters whose paths intersect, detonating into a story of twist after pulse-pounding twist. The novel cements Finlay as one of the leading thriller writers today.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

Ratings and reviews

Here I am once again, on the outskirts of popular opinion. The positive: Pacing is quick, with short chapters that constantly build tension. That’s really it for me. The rest was, well, kind of a mess. We have LOTS of POVs and different timelines, with vastly different stories. I struggled to keep it all straight in my head. Sometimes I wasn’t sure where I was on the timeline. Eventually it linked together, but it’s a lot of distraction and random pieces that kept me from being engaged with or committed to the characters and their personal stories. The plot is over the top. I couldn’t take it seriously, which lessened the urgency and interest for me. Some of the language, both in exposition and dialogue, had me making that scrunched up, what the heck face. The audio production and narration are well done. *I received a free audiobook download from Macmillan Audio.*

Although it's not one of my top thriller books, this book constantly had things going on and it was never boring. I read it all in one night and thoroughly enjoyed it.. I loved the concept of having a note left behind detailing what it did in this story. Although, it wasn't a HUGE part of the story (I wish it was a bigger plot point (it actually led to a really great part of the story and did not disappoint at all, don't get me wrong)), I was hoping that the letter would have more in it, like her whole life story. Because what if she did die and she wasn't actually able to tell anyone her story? But the book code was genius and it made me happy that Ryan was instantly able to know exactly what Ali used for the code.

If Something Happens to Me is a twisty crime thriller about a missing person’s case that gets reopened five years later. This is a fast paced and enjoyable mystery and thriller with twists and turns. 🎧 audiobook notes: If Something Happens to Me is narrated by Paul Dateh, Helen Laser, and John Pirhalla who do an excellent job bringing the three different points of view to life.

About the author

ALEX FINLAY lives in Washington, D.C. and is the author of several critically-acclaimed novels, including the 2021 breakout, Every Last Fear. His work has appeared on numerous best-of-the-year lists, been published in twenty-two languages around the world, and Every Last Fear is currently in development for a major television limited series.