Book Review: If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay
By John Valeri
June 14, 2024
The pseudonymous Alex Finlay—a prominent lawyer residing in Washington, D.C. and Virginia—achieved breakout success with his debut thriller, Every Last Fear (2021). He has since continued to merge the high concept premise with high precision plotting, earning critical acclaim, global readership, and interest from the entertainment industry (all of his books are under option for television or film). On the brink of blockbuster/bestsellerdom, Finlay is in fine form with his latest standalone, If Something Happens to Me.
Five years ago: Senior high school basketball star Ryan “Dodge” Richardson and his girlfriend, Alison Lane, are about to consummate their relationship under the stars at the local Lovers’ Lane in Leavenworth, Kansas when they’re interrupted by rain. After relocating to Alison’s car to continue their rendezvous, they’re interrupted again—this time by a mysterious figure who knocks Ryan unconscious and pulls Alison from the car. Just like that, she’s gone in the dark and Ryan falls under an umbrella of suspicion that only begins to lift when Alison’s disappearance is later linked to a serial predator.
Present day: Having left his hometown behind and changed his last name to Smith, Ryan now studies law and eschews intimacy in favor of anonymity. On a school trip to Montepulciano, he receives the news that Alison’s car has been found submerged in a lake, two dead bodies inside (neither of which is hers); further, there was a note recovered with her belongings that reads: If something happens to me … (followed by a cipher). Unmoored by these mysterious revelations, Ryan begins spiraling—especially after catching a glimpse of the man he remembers from that fateful night (identifiable by a missing pinky finger) in Italy.
Ryan’s storyline is offset by others, all of which serve to clarify, or deliberately confuse, the circumstances of Alison’s disappearance. Chief among them is Poppy McGee, shamed by her recent discharge from the army, whose first assignment as Deputy Sheriff after returning to Leavenworth is to review the tips that have come in since the car’s recovery. Doing so leads her to confront baffling deficiencies in the initial investigation—and to ask disturbing questions that hit uncomfortably close to home. The subsequent collision of people and places, all somehow connected yet seemingly discordant, results in a combustible fusion of action and emotion that carries the book to its memorable close.
Alex Finlay plays to his proven (and plentiful) strengths in If Something Happens to Me, which boasts a legitimate jaw-dropper or two, admirably executed conceptual trickery, and the kind of urgency that equates to terms like “propulsive” and “page-turner.” But beyond any stylistic swagger, there are undertones of poignancy and sentimentality that befit the story’s broken characters, all of whom are searching for something, whether it be rapprochement, redemption, or revenge. This one ranks among Finlay’s absolute best and may just prove to be the book that takes him to the next level as his star continues to rise.