A Celebration of Books,
Writers & LIterary Excellence

Save the Date


Gaithersburg
Book Festival

May 17, 2025

10am – 6pm

Bohrer Park


Moderator

Alex Finlay

Latest Title: If Something Happens to Me
If Something Happens to Me

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.

About Alex Finlay

Alex Finlay is the author of the 2021 breakout novel, “Every Last Fear,” the 2022 Goodreads Choice nominee for Best Mystery and Thriller; “The Night Shift;” and the 2023 Library Reads Hall of Fame recipient, “What Have We Done.” Alex’s novels are regularly on “best of the year” lists, have been translated into 24 languages and sold worldwide, and all have been optioned for film or television. “Every Last Fear” is in development for a major series. His latest novel, “If Something Happens to Me,” releases on May 28, 2024. Alex lives in Washington, D.C., and Virginia.

Facebook

Instagram: @alexfinlayauthor

Moderator Schedule:

Venue(s):

Dashiell Hammett Pavilion

Presentation Start Time:

1:15 pm

Presentation End Time:

2:05 pm

Signing Time:

2:15 pm