I’m hard on thrillers. Remember Lois Duncan’s I know What You Did Last Summer? This is like the adult version involving a group of adults who were children in a group home where something happened that they’ve kept a secret for decades. This is one of those action thrillers like Lisa Scottoline’s What Happened to the Bennetts? If you liked that one.

The Night Shift was one of my fav thrillers from 2022 and I kept recommending it to everyone, so I was really excited to read Alex Findlay’s latest book, What Have We Done.

The story centered around childhood friends from Savior House, an orphanage. They grew up and realized someone has found out an evil act they did in the past and trying to assassinate them.

The story was fast-paced and got right into the action with an attempted assassination and cat-and-mouse chase. Multiple POVs in the story but there’s one that’s a bit unhinged and felt out of place. As the story progressed, it got more ridiculous and some of the dots didn’t feel connected to me.

My biggest disappointment was the last 2-3 pages though, just felt that was a bit unnecessary. What Have We Done felt more like a action-packed and fun B thriller movie than a carefully crafted mystery/thriller. It was a quick and fun read but not my fav Findlay.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 ⭐️

A group of kids living in a group home do something terrible.
Much later in life they are being picked off one by one for reasons they can’t decipher. Meanwhile the FBI has joined into the fray.
All of these people have a variety of careers and lives and the only common denominator is that terrible thing they did long ago.
Fraught with tension , action, and suspense. This is a great read. I highly recommend it.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me this ARC.

I have only read a couple of Finlay's books to date. He seems to have a knack for a taur mystery filled with secrets and twists that you think you know, but you don't really know.

This book intrigued me from the start. I thought I had all the characters figured out, and I was sure I had all the mystery figured out. Until I didn't. I was engrossed in these characters' stories, both past and present.

I defintely wanted something a little deeper for the who and why by the end of the book. I wasn't necessarily disappointed. It all fit. However, I just wanted a little something more of a wow factor for that ending.

All in all, this was a fun, engaging, and twistful read. I would definitely receommend picking this one up.

This was my first book from Alex Finlay so I wasn't sure what to expect. That said, this was more of an action-packed crime thriller than I anticipated it to be based off the synopsis and what I've heard about the author's style, so it ended up not being a great fit for me. I was unfortunately only invested in one of the main characters, and since the story switches to two other POVS, that left me only feeling engaged for 1/3 of the story. I wanted to get to know the characters more and to feel like I cared about them, but I felt like the action was overshadowing the character development. Overall, not for me, but I wouldn't discount it for readers who enjoy action-packed crime thrillers.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alex Finlay and St Martin’s Press for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Another good novel from Finlay! This one wasn’t my favourite, but I still really enjoyed the entire thing. It’s a fast paced novel with a ton going on, but that’s what kept me so interested. Definitely recommend.

🕵🏻BOOK REVIEW🕵🏻

What Have We Done - Alex Finlay
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

“In one of the year's most anticipated thrillers #1 New York Times bestseller Sarah Pekkanen calls ‘Alex Finlay's best yet,’ What Have We Done is a tale about the lives we leave behind and the secrets we carry with us forever.”

This was my first Alex Finley novel and I really enjoyed it! I loved the weaving together of the past traumas and current situations. It did get a bit of a slow start - just because there is background needed - but I felt it picked up quickly. Each of the characters were flawed but likable

What I thought was going to be a twisty thriller about girls going missing from a group home, turned out to have so much more below the surface! I started out switching between the audio and physical books but enjoyed the audio and narration so much that I only did the audio after the first few chapters.

It was narrated by Brittany Pressley; James Patrick Cronin; Jon Lindstrom; Maggie Thompson - they all did an exceptional job and brought a lot to both the story and the personality of the characters.

Recommend if you like:
- Dual POV (especially with a multi-cast audiobook narration)
- Twisty thrillers
- Suspended belief
- Female assassins
- Thrillers that could be action movies

Thanks to @netgalley, @macmillan.audio, @stmartinspress and the author for copies of this ARC.

This book was fast paced and intriguing all the way. Never missing a beat which I loved. I really liked all the different POVs and never lost track of who was who. Wish there was some more character development so we could feel closer to them. I really liked how everything was wrapped up in the end. Nothing felt rushed or not believable. I’m excited to keep reading more books from Alex Finlay! Every book has been great, exciting and fun to read for me. Thank you NetGalley, Alex Finlay and Minotaur Books for this ARC!

What Have We Done?
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That’s a great question, don’t ask me, I’m still not sure 🤣🤣🤣
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The synopsis of this book sounds so good, and I’ve enjoyed Finlay’s books in the past. Unfortunately, I could not suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy this. Lots of characters, lots of chaos. An ex-assassin stay at home mom? Folks surviving mine explosions and falls from cruise ships? Psychopathic twins? Even more assassins? No sir. You’re doing too much.
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The reveal wasn’t shocking due to a simple process of elimination, and I thought the epilogue was totally unnecessary. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Can’t recommend this one, but I do like the author enough to read his next book!
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Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur books for the e-arc!

This book gets three stars from me (bumped up because I read it pretty quickly), but definitely wasn’t a favourite. The synopsis drew me in but then I realized it was a bait and switch, as the description didn’t parallel the story at all (so misleading!)

So, the assassin(s) were so bad at assassinating that they left two of the three marks alive? And that wasn’t a big deal to anyone? I kept expecting it to be a plot point (as in, the victims were only meant to be scared instead of killed), but nope. I guess they were just having a bad day at the office.

I knew who the kids thought was the bad guy adult wasn’t; and I knew who ended up being the bad guy adult was. No big shock there. But…did I miss what happened to the real bad guy adult?

I didn’t mind the characters, but I did mind the trick that got me to read this book in the first place. Assassins / spies aren’t my jam so, if I had known that I probably wouldn’t have picked up the book.

This book was fast paced and a quick read, but something just fell a little flat for me. I was confused for a good majority of the first chunk of the book and couldn’t really connect or figure out any of the characters. It is definitely action packed and a quick read, so give this a try for a bingeable thriller.

I absolutely loved Finlay's last book The Night Shift so I was so excited to read this one! Sadly, I just didn't connect with this one. I think this was a case of me and not the book? There were so many characters and so much going on that I had trouble keeping up. I wished for more background on them and more explanation of who they were and how they got to where they were.

Overall rating: 3.5 stars

This book is very fast paced so I managed to get through it pretty quickly. However, for me, the ending was sort of predictable and overdone. It seemed like the most obvious answer and just felt kind of meh.

On the brightside, the premise is very interesting and I enjoyed the way it weaved together the current story with the characters' past actions. It was an interesting way to convey why the characters were being targeted the way they were.

Overall, it is a pretty quick and easy read, however if you are a major thriller/mystery fan, this may not be for you as the ending is fairly common across the thriller genre.

I’m a big fan of Alex Finlay, and was so excited to read this. It ended up being different than prior novels, but I still really enjoyed it. I loved the different POVs and the characters were fairly likable. Some parts were a little far fetched, but I didn’t see the ending coming at all. I recommend this one to anyone who likes an easy read with a good twist.

WOW. This is my first Alex Finlay book and I will not be the last!! It was so fast paced right from the start, and I could not put the book down for the life of me.

We follow three friends who were connected by their past at the Savior House, which was a group home for parentless teens. Some shady stuff happened back then, and now years later, it looks like someone is hunting down each of them one by one. But why?! And why now?? You find out eventually with their alternating POVs and their trip down memory lane as well.

Let me tell you- even when you THINK you know what’s going to happen, the surprises come out and knock you on your ass. I had to pause several times near the end because I was so stressed and just wanted the best for these people!!

I can’t wait to read more from Alex Finlay

I’m officially an Alex Finlay fan now. I really enjoyed this one and the way it was written. I was hooked from the beginning wondering WHAT DID THEY DO?! We know the group is connected and they’ve done something, but what?! I was hooked and I had to keep turning the pages to find out more.

Looking for a book with multiple povs and a super twisty ending? Consider:
Kids at a Group Home - 5 Kids that live at a group home have a secret
Mysterious Disappearances - girls are disappearing, and they decide to take matters into their own hands
25 years later - 25 years later, they are being hunted, so they must come back together to find out who might be responsible
What did they do? - but the real question is What Did they do?

This book is a fast read. One of my most anticipated books of the year, and I was not disappointed. Like I mentioned before, the publisher sent me this necklace with the book, and I was very excited to see how it connected to the plot. The book also came with a message from one of the main characters. Once I got to the end of the book, I was kinda of taken aback. I felt like I didn’t connect to the characters as much as I expected and that probably was the biggest issue for me. But it was a quick read and very exciting.

What I liked: very short chapters. That’s my favorite. Only 3 characters to keep up with (mainly). Donnie (a washed up singer), Nico (works on a fake reality tv show called “The Miners”) and Jenna (a stay at home ex-assassin). They were pretty different but I still found myself confusing Donnie and Nico occasionally.

The eh: the story started out with a bang (literally). Lots of action (or attempted murder) for all 3 characters. Then things simmer down. It seems like we’re working our way through character building and some travel for the characters but about 60% of the way I was craving some more action and hoping we find out who the real bad guy is.

Fast forward to the end, I definitely didn’t see the ending coming and appreciated the twists and turns. This book gave me action movie vibes rather than thriller (even though it has plenty of aspects that scream thriller). Overall, quick read that kept me very invested thanks to short chapters and interesting characters and a good plot twist.

The beginning of the audio is a bit confusing with the pace of multiple POV as well as the timeline changes.

They’re a lot of different charavters to keep track of which for an audiobook can be difficult and I felt that way.

However the story and plot I thought was really interesting. I really liked the character Jenna and her storyline. I think I would have liked hearing more from this character.

Overall I would say to pick up the physical book before the audio.

Another Alex Finlay winner! Good pacing, a fun story to read. It kept me engaged. I love watching Finlay's writing evolve.