Jules Delaney and Quinn Riley are teens in middle America just trying to get through high school. Every year on May 1st, a serial killer comes out of hiding to claim his next victim. Somehow Jules is one of the lucky ones to survive the ordeal. While Quinn ends up in juvenile detention from a deadly fight. What follows are the years watching Jules and Quinn grow up and move on from their tragedies. But the May Day serial killer is still on the loose and claims a new victim close to home.

The setup of this book was very well executed. I loved the short punchy chapters and the passage of time felt realistic. I liked that the author focused on the good and bad events from the characters’ lives. It was emotional and quite dark at times but built up to this fantastic tension in the last quarter. I enjoyed the parallels and overall investigation that kept circling back to the serial killer. The story focuses on Jules and Quinn, I liked both of their characters and personalities. You really see them grow up and become well rounded people. The touch of 90s nostalgia with mentions of real people and events also appealed to me a lot!

Audiobook narration by Ari Fliakos and Brittany Pressley was completely bingeable. I ate up this story in a couple days, the short chapters helping a lot. They had fantastic delivery with their pacing and emotions, bringing the characters to life and creating a moody thriller atmosphere.

Pub date: May 12, 2026

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the advance listening copy.

Title: The Anniversary
Author: Alex Finlay
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️