📚ARC REVIEW📚 - What Have We Done
Author: Alex Finlay
Out: March 7, 2023
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

*Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

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.

What I liked:
🦴 Short Chapters
🦴 Fast Paced
🦴 Action packed
🦴 Strong female lead
🦴 Mysterious
🦴 Good ending

What didn't work for me:
👀 I spent the first 3/4ths of the book so confused as to what on earth was happening.
👀 A lot of characters and names in the events to remember. (That could certainly just be me. I have ADD 🤣)
👀 The last 1/4th of the book happened so quick, almost like whiplash. I had to stop for a sec and try to remember all the twists.

So, big picture, solid action-packed book! It wasn't my fav of his, but good!

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Definitely more of an action-thriller than a psychological thriller - more boom boom boom than plunging the depths, but the booms crackle and the time you put into this popcorn book pays off for the most part. Would make a great movie for Netflix etc

3.5 stars rounded up.

What Have We Done is another fast paced, action packed, thriller from Alex Finlay. The story centers around a group of people, who were in a foster care home together as children. They manage to survive the home and go on to live interesting lives until their past comes back to haunt them. They then are on the run from contract killers with an agenda that is unclear to them.
The story has an unique set of characters, each one with their own issues and skill sets. There are quite a few twists and turns to the story to keep you on the edge. The action starts from the first chapter and keeps going to the end. The story engages you as you follow this action and become invested in the characters lives.
If you like fast paced thrillers, you will not be disappointed. This has elements of blackmail, kidnapping, gambling but it also mentions child abuse and sexual assault, although not in detail.
Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press Minotaur Books for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

Jenna, Donnie and Nico share a deadly secret from their childhood at a group home called Savior House. They are now being hunted for it.

This one just didn't do it for me. It read more like an action-packed Hollywood movie than the thrillers I've come to love from Finlay. If you love ridiculous themes of paid assassins, rock-stars and reality tv stars, then this is right up your alley. I'll continue to read Finlay's work because I loved his other novels!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I liked the storyline and overall it held my attention well. However, I felt like some of the flashbacks could have been done better because the transitions felt a bit clunky a few times.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the eARC.

This book read like an action movie with a super sad back story. There’s friendship, death, secrets, and federal agents.

I think Alex Finlay is a fantastic writer. I liked the way the story unfolded. I struggle a bit with more action themes, but overall a good read.

3.5 stars :)

2.5 stars - I'm a big fan of Finlay's prior books so I was eager to read this one as well! It started off quite strong and I was very intrigued. Unfortunately that pace continued - which I thought would be a good thing - but ended up becoming too far fetched which after awhile started to feel corny to me. I think it just was a little more action and I was hoping for a little more thriller twisty. That being said the story was creative and not cookie cutter and I would definitely continue to read Finlay as I feel he's a talented author.

For a Whodunnit, it was fairly easy to guess Who Did It? Perhaps because I've read the entirety of Alex Finlay in these last three days and this one I read last … I was too attuned to the writer's patterns. Finlay's characters are here, as elsewhere, larger than life and credulity stretching. But it's perfectly good escapism.

Jenny, Donnie & Nico grew up living in a foster home together and shared a very traumatic experience. They went their separate ways after that event. Now as adults, they are all being targeted to be murdered and figure it must have something to do with what happened in their foster home.

The start of this boom HOOKED ME. It has short chapters and four different POVs. The whole book is very action packed but the start of the book was the strongest in my opinion.

I found it slowed down a bit between 50-75% and then the ending picked up again.

This book lost a star because I didn’t find there were any great twists - I predicted the two “twists” from the start of the book.

This book would be good as a movie!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was hard to put down! It’s the story of the Savior House, a group home where things weren’t right. Suddenly 25 years later, someone is trying to kill a group of kids from there. This was a really good story with lots of twists to keep me engaged!

Alex Finlay is officially an auto pre-order for me. I have yet to be disappointed by any their books!


I started this at bed time and all of a sudden it was 5 AM in the morning. Did I regret staying up so late? Not at all. This book was fast paced, twisty, and action packed. Maybe a little far fetched at times. But ultimately SO fun!

25 years ago Donnie, Jenna, and Nico did something terrible. All three were orphans and foster siblings stuck in a horrible group home. But they all have grown up and left that awful place behind. But soon things get wild when someone starts to hunt them down. Can they make it out alive and keep their secrets?

What I loved:
- the plot was fast paced, action packed and super intriguing. We follow along through three POVs from all three former foster siblings. We also have multiple time frames!
- Jenna was such a bad a** and i LOVED her! Her chapters were my favorite.
- A few twists that I didn’t expect! But i wasn’t sure at times how this one would play out.

This book was the perfect read for my current thriller streak. I really enjoyed it. I can't wait to pre-order this and also get my book club to check it out. I can't wait to read more in the future by this author. 4 stats out of 5! Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I cannot recommend this book enough! Having read the Night Shift and absolutely adoring it, I didn't think that it could be topped. Boy was I wrong! This book was amazing! I stayed up well past my bedtime and devoured What have W done! Completely didn't see the twist! Definitely, and then some more recommend this book!! Thank you so much to Minotaur publishing and Netgalley for this advanced copy.

Finlay delivers another entertaining blockbuster thriller. This story takes hold from the first page, it is loaded with action, interesting characters each with their own unique personality, and unexpected twists. What Have We Done is a somewhat cliché storyline but Finlay captivates through his talented writing style.

Highly recommend adding What Have We Done to your 2023 reading list.

ARC was provided by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review. Expected Pub Date: March 7 2023

I would like to thank @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this ARC of What Have We Done by Alex Findlay. This is my second book by the author and I enjoyed it as much as the first. It’s fast paced and keeps you on your toes the entire time. I did enjoy the chapters by Jenna more than the other characters.

The book is told in multiple points of view as well as the past and present day. When Jenna and her friends haven’t seen each other since they were kids and they committed a crime together. They are brought back together because there is a killer after them. One of their friends has already died. Who will be next?

This was my first book by this author. I had to get to the bottom of the mystery and couldn’t put it down. It’s a must read.

A group of teenagers are united when they are residents of a group home called Savior House. Twenty-five years ago, the home was shut down when the headmaster and several girls went missing.

Now one of their friends has been murdered and someone is trying to kill the others. Jenna, Donnie & Nico will return to their past to try to find out who wants them dead. Will they find the killer before anyone else dies? 

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

What Have We Done by Alex Finlay
@AlexFinlayAuthor
Pub date: March 7, 2023

“In the dark the gentle boy utters the words none of them will ever forget: ‘What have we done”?

This is a pure action-packed thrill-ride from start to finish!

Told in multiple POV and dual timelines, the reader gets to know a group of kids from Savior House, a foster home they barely survived. After an incident that bound them together and drove them apart, the kids, now adults have led somewhat successful lives. When attempts on their lives start happening, the reader gets an inside view on the complex nature of just what happened all those years ago and just how far those reaches go.

I am a fan of Alex Finlay and this book cemented my love for his pure talent writing unique storylines. Interspersing a heartbreaking coming of age story and family drama with that of elite killers is brilliant and I loved the pure direness that some situations brought. Just when you think things are all over, Finlay swoops in with a twist and MIND BLOWN!

Full of secrets, dark and brutal, and a tightly woven plot, this is a page turner that had me invested from the start.

My thanks to @Minotaur_Books for this gifted DRC!

What Have We Done by Alex Finlay
Alex Finlay has a huge following, and after reading this book I get it, and am now a fan as well. Definitely won’t be my last book by this author. This book is twisty and action-packed. The short chapters make it so easy to read. I was truly entertained and did not want to put this book down. I definitely recommend.
Many thanks to Alex Finlay, NetGalley, and St Martin’s Press for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a captivating thriller! I love when a mystery/thriller allows us to get more than one perspective. I find that I'm able to get a clearer picture of the story and also allows for more twists. I felt this story had great progression and I flew through it just wanting to get to the end!

The newest from Alex Finlay is a keeper. An action packed story of four children who met at Savior House, a group home.
What did they do to cause such a action packed, Jason Bourne vibes and wild ride today?
You’ll have to read and find out!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

25 years ago bad things happened at Savior House, a group home for kids. 5 kids were involved. Jenna, Donnie, Art, Ben and Nico.
Present day Ben is killed and a hit is put out on the rest of the group. Someone has hired psychotic twins Casey and Haley to do the job.
This was an awesome read, totally twisted.
Can’t wait to read more by this great author.
Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martins Press and Alex Finlay for this ARC!