Parents Weekend

The investigation into the disappearance of five students confronts the idea that law enforcement is responsible for public safety, but is often hindered by limitations meant to protect people’s privacy. In Parents Weekend, three broad categories serve as vehicles for this idea: celebrity, college campuses, and modern technology. Through them, Finlay explores the opposition between an individual’s right to privacy and law enforcement’s efforts to preserve public safety, examining the challenges of striking a balance between the two.

In Finlay’s novel, public figures, such as Cynthia and Ken, who contend with intense scrutiny of their public lives, take measures to protect themselves that impose a similar violation of privacy on those around them. For example, Cynthia’s security team performs background checks on the capstone students and their families without their permission. When the students’ disappearance escalates into a media frenzy, everyone involved gets a taste of fame and the ways it erodes their privacy. Exploitative journalists harass them, strangers film them and post about them online, and wannabe sleuths make wild accusations that harm their reputations—all of them justify these violations by citing public safety concerns.

Finlay’s university setting and focus on parents of college freshmen taps into the anxieties that come with a child’s