This was a great book looking at the connection between two murder events spanning many years. Fast paced and easy to read. 4/5*

I adored Alex Finlay's debut, but thought that The Night Shift was even better!! He's brilliant on character, which is essential for me to truly love a thriller - and holy heck, that ending!!! I can't wait to read more from Alex.

A good crime thriller
A book about a killing at a blockbusters store in 1999
And then another fifteen years later another attack happens
Are they connected ?
Thanks NetGalley

What is not to love its set in a video rental shop ....(those were the days )

But it was a good thriller with some twists in turns and bumps in the night for sure, it was fast-paced the flow of the writing was great and kept me turning page after page, I found bits a bit disappointing but overall the book was a great read and very entertaining.

It was an engaging read. It started off great! It's atmospheric and creepy.! Although, the story was great, the ending was not something that I found reasonable. I would still recommend to friends if they want a quick thrilling read,

Fast paced gripping thriller. Loved the flashing back and forth between characters which made for a speedy read. Touch of nostalgia at the start with the video rental store, sigh.. those were the days.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Honestly, nothing beats a well-crafted thriller, and this one was unputdownable from page one. Well written. Well paced. An engaging plot that kept me hooked throughout. Twists and turns (that twist at the end! 😲) Interesting and well-developed characters. I mean, what more can you ask for?? This one gets two HUGE thumbs up from yours truly!

**ARC Via NetGalley**

A decent and engaging read with a great start, and a creepy vibe throughout, but personally I felt the reasoning behind the motives and final execution let it down. Something didn't quite click overall for me, but if you buy into the story then I can certainly see why some people would give it 5 stars.

The night shift by Alex Finlay was actually a pleasant surprise.

After a bit of hype I was worried this was going to disappoint, but it ended up having more twists and turns that I believed it had in it.

New Years Eve, the night of the big Y2k event a murder takes place in a blockbuster video of local teens, leaving only one survivor. One man is charged but then disappears, although his brother swears he is innocent. 15 years later an uncanny similar even takes place in an ice cream shop. Again there is one sole survivor who is determined to find the link between the two events.

But why does the survivor have such an interest in the murders that took place 15 years ago?

The one had me guessing at every corner. I did not see the ending coming and really like the way Finlay wrapped up the story. Its was thrilling and entertaining to say the least and definitely caught me off guard.

Overall pretty happy with this one. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in response for an honest review.

A solid thriller, nicely fast paced to keep the reader guessing and want to keep reading. I ultimately found the ending a little disappointing, and the plot didn't feel wholly fresh and new, but an entertaining read nonetheless. The time jumps were done very well

Rounded up from 4.5 stars.

A massacre in Blockbuster on the eve of Y2K. Another in an ice cream shop in 2015. The killer whispered the same eerie message… “good night pretty girl”. Could it be the same killer, or a copycat? That’s what FBI agent Keller has to find out!

Told from the POVs of Ella (the blockbuster survivor), Agent Keller and Chris (a lawyer, whose connection is gradually revealed) The Night Shift is a pacy, suspenseful, and enjoyable story. With a lot of 90s nostalgia, I found this a gripping page turner and was completely immersed. I really like Finlay’s characterisation and use of twists. All fairness to Keller, when I was 8 months pregnant, it was a struggle just walking up the stairs to the bathroom 10 times a day. Catching a serial killer is a whole other ball game!!

I’ll definitely be checking out Every Last Fear by Finlay. Overall a very enjoyable, tense, and gripping serial killer thriller.

3.5 stars

The only thing that made this book really unbelievable is the fact that such a heavily pregnant woman would be running around chasing a serial killer, so regarding that part I had to suspend my disbelief and well the rest of the storyline was rather well written, I did enjoy my time with this. So much better than his first book

I definitely didn't enjoy this book quite as much as I thought I would but it did keep me on the edge of my seat majority of the way through.
The jump back and forth between the 1999 New Year's Eve Blockbuster murder and the 2014 murder of the closing crew of an ice cream shop was actually done super well though which helped me enjoy this book even more!

This is the second Alex Finlay book I've read. I find his writing easy to get lost in and fly through.
The pacing really works for me.
Throughout the book I did wonder if maybe there were too many stories going on at once. I thought maybe I would miss things trying to keep up with everything. But by the end I felt most were either connected or explained so things made sense.
I will say because of the amount of stories going on then add the random vlogger chapters I felt there were times where a chapter or character didn't get enough time spent on it.
There were plenty of twists and turns. Although I wasn't trying to figure everything out I was intrigued throughout. I wanted to know how if at all the two crimes were connected.

I flew through this, my second read from Alex Finlay and I think it was even better than Every Last Fear. There’s something incredibly immersive about this author’s writing and the world. Starting out on New Year’s Eve 1999 at a Blockbuster and moving through to present day, Finlay immerses the reader into small-town America. A place where serial murders are rare but, when they do they can have repercussions for generations.

Five teens were working the night shift at Blockbuster on New Year’s Eve. Only one survived. A boy from a local school was arrested for the brutal night shift murders, but escaped while on bail – never to be seen again.

Years later, history repeats itself at the Dairy Creamery ice cream parlour in the same small town. Four teen workers are brutally attacked. There’s one survivor.

What unfolds is a taut, gripping mix of crime procedural thriller and psychological drama, told through three strong voices. One is the survivor of the Blockbuster killers, one is the FBI agent working on the current ice cream parlour case and one is a young lawyer, Chris, whose connection through his brother is gradually revealed.

The alternating perspectives and short, snappy chapters make this book compulsively readable. Alongside that, Finlay has created a small cast of truly sympathic, relatable characters – all with their own flaws, but all of which I was rooting for in their own way. Throw in some killer twists and you have a top notch crime thriller – this is one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to any fan of the genre.

Alex Finlay is writing such digestible thriller books at the moment and I’m thoroughly addicted. I read his first book (the first one under this pen name, anyway), Every Last Fear, last year and very much enjoyed it. So I was thrilled to get my hands on The Night Shift, especially after I realised that the fast pacing and the intriguing characters were a match for Every Last Fear.

I was most intrigued by The Night Shift because it mentions Blockbuster in the synopsis. I feel like the description is crack for all us 90’s babies who remember borrowing VHS tapes from a physical store and the whole “Be Kind, Rewind” era. It really shaped us.

Unfortunately there’s not much time spent in the 90’s or early 2000’s, so I did feel a little let down by that. The Night Shift is mostly set in present day, where an almost identical murder spree has happened in the same town as the first. I love reading about such things as I like trying to figure out the connections and threads that run between the two (or more) events. I didn’t mind that there wasn’t much focus on the first event, although I would have liked to have seen a bit more of that era. Mostly for my own nostalgia, of course.

I feel like Finlay’s characters are always his weakest point, judging by the two books I’ve now read from him. They didn’t particularly stand out to me in his first book, and the only things I can remember about the characters in this one are the killer(s), the pregnant lady, and one of the teenage girls. I suppose that’s all I really need to remember, but I think I’ll even forget about those in a couple of months’ time.

That said, I was on the edge of my seat for a lot of this and I really enjoyed my time. As a mystery thriller, it’s pretty solid, and Finlay managed to weave a plot that kept me on my toes. I’m excited to see what he comes out with next.

Before I go any further I need to ask someone to buy the film/tv rights to this immediately!

What connects a Blockbuster Video store in 1999 and an Ice Cream shop in 2015 - murders with similar MOs. The alleged killer is still on the run from 99 could they be back or is FBI agent Keller looking for a copycat?

It's got final girl vibes, loved it! It's a highly addictive page turning thriller and I'll definitely make it a point to source Alex's other books and give them a read!

What connects the murder of staff at a blockbuster on the eve of Y2K and the murder of staff at the towns Ice Cream Shop 15 years later? Has a killer returned or is it a copy cat?

I enjoyed parts of this book, but for me the synopsis gave the impression there would be more 1999/2000s feel to the book. Whilst there was a nod to the time, not as much as I was expecting. The story follows the murders 15 years later as the police try to figure out the motive and any connection to the fateful Blockbuster murders.

A solid thriller with twists and turns following the point of view of a District Attorney and a therapist, both with links to the Blackbuster murders, and a FBI agent. I found that some of the character stories unbelievable. Like why was the FBI agent pregnant with twins? Why have the FBI not done a Risk Assessment that maybe she shouldn't be in the field chasing potential killers so heavily pregnant? Leave the pregnancy out and you still have have a bad ass FBI agent.

I didn't guess some of the connections or the conclusion. If you enjoy a thriller with twists it will keep you entertained.

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus publishing for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun read that kept me guessing until the end of the book, but I wasn’t blown away by it sadly.

I, like a lot of other reviewers it seems, was expecting more from the Y2K/Blockbusters/90s setting that was promised in the plot summary but was never actually delivered. The novel switches between two timelines (the crime in the 90s and the copycat crime 15 years later) which kept things interesting, but we spent way too much time in the ‘present’.

The characters were pretty unforgettable, and I felt like the constant flicking between timelines and viewpoints got confusing.

The big reveal was a surprise to me (I’m not sure if I’m just really dense about thrillers) and the killer wasn’t a character I thought to suspect at all so I did enjoy that, but overall it all felt a bit lacklustre rather than Blockbuster.

Thank you NetGalley to providing me with an ARC of this book for review.

Thank You Netgalley, Head Of Zeus Publishing and Alex Finlay for the arc of this book.

What connects a massacre at a Blockbuster Video in 1999 and a massacre at a Ice Creamery in 2015? Both murder sites have similar MO's, with one surviver left to tell the tale. The accused killer from the 1999 massacre is still on the run, could they have returned to kill again?

The story is told via three POV's. Keller, an FBI agent assisting the local police. Ella, final girl from the blockbuster massacre, now a therapist and Chris, a public defender with a secret. They are all separately working to solve the case, each with their own motivations in mind. What follows is a story full of twists, turns and shocks galore!

I loved the Y2K aspects. This reminded of me of my 1999 new years as a young teenager thinking that the world was going to end because computers were going to shut down!
This book had a multilayered plot that had you trying to connect the dots before the reveal. I can honestly say that I thought I had figured it all out but I was completely wrong, which I love in a book.

I will be buying this author's debut novel because if it's as good as this, I'll be just as obsessed!
4.5 Stars