What Have We Done

Alex Finlay

Thriller

In this “top-notch mystery thriller” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) from Alex Finlay, What Have We Done is a tale about the lives we leave behind and the secrets we carry with us forever.

A stay-at-home mom with a past.
A has-been rock star with a habit.
A reality TV producer with a debt.
Three disparate lives.
One deadly secret.

Twenty five years ago, Jenna, Donnie, and Nico were the best of friends, having forged a bond through the abuse and neglect they endured as residents of Savior House, a group home for parentless teens. When the home was shut down―after the disappearance of several kids―the three were split up.

Though the trauma of their childhood has never left them, each went on to live accomplished―if troubled―lives. They haven’t seen one another since they were teens but now are reunited for a single haunting reason: someone is trying to kill them.

To survive, the group will have to revisit the nightmares of their childhoods and confront their shared past―a past that holds the secret to why someone wants them dead.

It’s a reunion none of them asked for . . . or wanted. But it may be the only way to save all their lives.

What Have We Done is both an edge-of-your-seat thriller and a gut-wrenching coming-of-age story. And it cements Alex Finlay as one of the new leading voices in thrillers today.

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

“You don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg. You break its wing, rest the blade of the axe on its neck.“

(3.5 / 5) As children in foster care, a group of kids become bonded because of the conditions they live in. Many kids go missing and abuse and neglect is common. Years later as adults, they are forced back together as each is being targeted for death.

Full of intense scenes featuring the past and present, Finlay brings you into a story that will keep you guessing. We get to know each mortally flawed character. Their past and their current lives are colliding and they’re doing everything they can to avoid it. There is mystery throughout and characters to both love and hate.

I guessed a few aspects but was surprised by quite a bit. The climax was done well and had me entertained throughout. My only complaint were a few scene jumps that made me need to back track a bit to keep up. For instance, in one scene I was convinced a person was dying only to have the character show up a few chapters later and be out of mortal danger and recuperating. What? I wanted those details! The scenes that were “skipped” made me feel like I was missing out on the good stuff.

General content summary: F words= 33, derogatory slurs= 1, language, parental death (cancer, previous), hard drugs and alcohol (multiple, some underage, alcoholism), a friend has been killed (previous, grief, alcohol to cope), gun threat and shots fired (multiple), killing (drowning, some details), physical violence (blood, fire, injuries, bullying), mine cave in, being held underwater (near drowning), child taken and placed in foster care, car accident (parents killed), underage alcohol, m/f kiss, topless swim, talk of liking to cause others pain, older teen women are hit multiple times with paintballs (injuries), intimacy (man and woman with partial clothes on, some details), f/f marriage, knife stabbed through a hand (blood), references to child abuse (previous), many missing foster kids, gun threat from adult to kids, reference to “selling girls,” vague reference to sexual abuse of girls, physical violence (adult and teens, fists, weapons, electrocution), sedative given (unwilling recipient), attempted rape (some details), spousal physical abuse (previous), dead body, a man was convicted for “having a thing with underage girls” (previous, no details), gunshot to face (death, few details), gunshot wound (death, blood), weapon death.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the gifted copy!

The book releases March 7, 2023.

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