Nico, Jenna, Benny and Donnie were all residents of Savior House, a home for orphans, when they were younger. They all landed there for different reasons, but one night tied them together for life. One night they have spent a lifetime trying to forget. Now someone has killed Benny and the other three are in danger.

This books is told from several different perspectives, each perspective a backstory and current telling of that persons life. Each story is fascinating in its own way and I loved diving deep into each of these characters! I highly recommend this book to those that love a good mystery thriller!

This was a quick, fun read. However, it did not dive into the characters personalities much and only grazed the surface. I enjoy books that go between multiple POV like this one, I just wasn’t invested in any of the characters. The story started off quick and picked up right away, but maybe too soon as it doesn’t give a whole lot of background on the characters.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this! It keeps me entertained and I didn’t want to stop reading! I can’t wait to see what’s next!

This was a thrilling read in which three people are reunited over past secrets making an unwelcome reappearance.

Jenna, Donnie, and Nico were once friends and residents of Savior House, a group home for teens. After several kids disappeared under unsettling circumstances, the home was shut down and they were separated. Twenty-five years later, they are reunited but it appears someone wants them all dead. They are forced to revisit the trauma they once endured as teens, but it comes with a price and the truth may not be the closure they were all looking for.

I really enjoyed reading this book and seeing how the individual characters’ stories melded together to give the reader some insight into the bigger picture. As teens, they were determined to protect more residents of Savior House from disappearing, but in doing so, they were forced to harbor a deadly secret into adulthood. The ramifications of what they had done finally caught up with them, but they weren’t willing to go down without a fight. When the truth behind the missing teens was finally revealed, I was a little shocked, but the end of the story seemed to fizzle out a bit after that.

Overall, this was a thrilling and suspenseful page-turner, and I look forward to reading more from Alex Finlay.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing a copy of this book to review.*

By far my favorite Alex Finlay book! This one was jam-packed with action, twists, and emotional character moments. I loved the three POVs we got: Jenna, Nico, and Donnie. They were all so different and it was interesting to see how their childhood at Savior House affected them each in different ways, altering the course of their lives. Donnie's friendship with Ben was my favorite, there we so many tender and moving moments during his POV that just absolutely broke my heart. The storyline itself was really fast paced and a bit outlandish but it made it really fun. Would definitely recommend this one!

4 stars...

Fast-paced, action packed thriller, emphasis on ACTION.

(honestly reminded me more of an action movie, than your typical suspenseful thriller novel....that's not a bad thing, just a different vibe).

Very fast read!

Thank you to @minotaur_books and netgalley for my #gifted review copy.

What Have We Done is action packed. I loved the premise, A group of friends that have a childhood secret that comes back to haunt them. It was cool to see their separate lives as adults when it all hits the fan and how they come back together. It’s a wild ride full of action that doesn’t stop. It was down right fun trying to figure out all the connections while they raced around to stay alive!

A bit cliche and predictable, I think I may need to give thrillers a rest for a while as this one did not do much for me!

This book is another exciting read from Alex Finlay. Nico, Donnie, Jenna and Ben all attended an abusive group home. The story starts with each of them firing a shot into a hole. They all become successful adults and 25 years later Ben is found murdered. It seems that someone is trying to kill all of them. But why? It's a race to the finish to see if they survive.

Alex Finlay writes exciting thrillers. The reader is drawn in and the book is hard to put down. The twists and turns will keep you guessing. If you like thrillers this is a book for you.

Thank you to #netgalley, #AlexFinlay, and #MinotaurBooks for a copy of this book.

While I didn't hate this book, I wasn't exactly impressed with it either. It was interesting enough to keep me reading but the unbelievable plot and characters were just not my cup of tea. I'm sure it will have its audience though so I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading however I can't recommend it. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an arc of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

I really like the way Alex Finlay paced this book and had the chapters alternating with the four main characters. #whathavewedone is complicated, unfolds at a great pace, have several twists I didn’t see coming and rewards you for getting to the end. I thank #netgalley and #stmartinspress for this arc to read and review—all opinions are my own.

I loved this! A quick read with so many twists coming from all directions! I finished this one in 2 days! #AlexFinlay knocked it out of the park! #mustread!


Thank you, @alexfinlayauthor, @minotaur_books, @stmartinspress & @netgalley for my advance ecopy and #audiobook! All opinions are my own!

I will pick up any book by this author because I know it will be good and sure enough this one didn’t disappoint. The characters were great and the story will pull you in from the very beginning. I highly recommend and looking forward to the next book.

Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
2.5 stars rounded up

I have read all of Alex Finlay's books so far and sadly have to say What Have We Done is my least favorite. Let's start with what I liked. I love the pacing of the chapters, They were short enough that it kept my attention, and I felt like I was flying through the book. The characters backstory's had me intrigued. I wanted to keep reading to figure out how they twisted together.

Now I will move into what I did not enjoy about the book. The characters were unbelievable. Quite literally they were the most stereotypical characters you could imagine. You have to suspend all beliefs for this book to happen. The ending also left me wanting more. There was very little tie-up with the past.

If you are looking for an action-packed thriller, then this book is most certainly for you. I believe there is a crowd out there that will love this style of book, however, I sadly am not one of those.

Did not love this book. Very unclimactic. The build up was extremely slow. Characters were dull. Just didn’t love it.

“No matter how bad the person, we all cling to the days of innocence we remember from our youth.”

The book begins with a group of kids standing over a grave taking turns shooting a gun into its depths.

“What have we done?” one of the boys asks.

This is an action-packed thrill ride as the kids from that grave site are now adults and find themselves being hunted down.

I read this book in two days! It’s very suspenseful and reads fast. It does have some violence but it’s not too descriptive.

I don’t know if the characters are really that likable but I was reading it for the suspense and mystery- what did they do when they were younger, who is hunting them now, and why?

And to that effect, I was highly satisfied.

The Characters and Plot

Jenna- trained as an assassin as a teen (we don’t get that full story unfortunately) but has left that life behind, trying to build a normal family now

Donnie- member of a once popular band and has problems with drugs, sex, and alcohol

Nico- executive producer for a reality show about mining, has a gambling problem and is indebted to a ruthless Irish mob boss

All three of these people were part of Savior’s House foster care when they were younger. But it was not a safe place to be and girls kept going missing.

“They sit in silence for a while. Like they’re all wondering when life will take a turn for them. When they won’t be the outcasts, when they won’t have to face the indignities of the lunchroom, when they won’t have to go to bed worried about closing their eyes, when they’ll have families again.”

They had to rely on each other— along with Benny, Arty, and others— to get through it until something caused the home to close down. They each grow to find their own success.

Finlay wastes no time getting right to the action.

Jenna is forced to do one more kill in order to protect her new family. But she purposely misses when she realizes the person she is meant to kill was Arty. After she botches the mission, she finds herself on the run.

Donnie is gigging on a cruise ship. One night while he’s particularly drunk, a woman forces him at gunpoint to jump off the ship in the middle of the ocean.

Nico gets a text to meet someone in one of the mines. But it’s not his friend who shows up, it’s a woman who chases him further into the mine then leaves and detonates an explosive to cause the mine to cave in.

All three were supposed to die, but they are still alive, confused, and afraid.

It turns out, the catalyst for these events was the murder of their friend, Benny, who had grown up to become a well-known lawyer and federal judge in D.C.

They are all being hunted by some vicious, sociopathic hired killers who don’t kill for the money, but for the sport.

The friends must connect with each other and revisit their past “on a rainy night twenty-five years ago on a patch of misery” to figure out why they are targets and how they can save themselves and their families before anyone else ends up like Benny.

Comments

As I said earlier, there is a lot of violence. Part of that violence comes at the end of a “penetrating captive bolt” also known as a cowpuncher. It’s a device used to kill cows by punching a steel rod into their brains. This is the weapon of choice for one of the hired killers. She does not use it on brains, but on legs. Whether this is realistic to be used on humans without immediate death is not something I know and I’m not sure I want to Google that.

The hired killers are actually pretty bad at their job. Of course, if they were successful right off the bat we wouldn’t have a book, but they seem a bit like bumbling killers. This may be a slight spoiler here: but they are identical twins, separated at birth, but somehow found each other in college and realized they both enjoy killing people. They have quite the backstory that we never really learn about.

Also the FBI agent hired to investigate the death of the federal judge is not that great at his job considering his demise.

I was really hoping one of the twists would be that Benny wasn’t actually dead and he comes back to save the day like he always did when they were younger. He was probably my favorite character and he wasn’t even there!

PARTIAL SPOILER COMMENT- CONTINUE SCROLLING IF NECESSARY

I’m still confused about one thing… So… this is all because of Nico? He needed money to pay off his debt so he blackmailed his own friends? Which led to the eventual events? How come no one is mad at him? I don’t know if I felt the guilt from him on this part…

SPOILER COMMENT OVER

Recommendation

It appears like this book has gotten some mixed reviews. Many reviewers who have enjoyed Finlay’s previous books found ‘What Have We Done’ to be too much of an adrenaline thriller and not enough character development. I suppose this is true. But if you’re like me, sometimes you just want an intense thriller and you don’t necessarily care how the characters change.

Sure, I didn’t find the characters likable at the beginning or in the end. I didn’t see much redemption to their characters in the epilogue. But what I liked and would recommend this book for was the action/suspense/mystery.

However, if you don’t like violence, you may not like this one. After all, it’s full of assassins.

I read Finlay’s book, The Night Shift, and I liked that one too. I critiqued that one for having ‘a lot’ of swearing but it actually had less f-words than this one. The more I read, the more I realize my perspective on ‘a lot’ has somewhat shifted. There is definitely a difference between books with 60+ f-words and ones with 30.

I prefer clean novels, but for some reason the swearing in this book didn’t seem as distracting as it often does.

I feel like even if you don’t like swearing, this book may still be worth your time because of the edge-of-your-seat action.

Overall, I really liked this book but would understand if it’s not your cup of tea!

[Content Advisory: 33 f-words, 27 s-words; no sexual content other than implied abuse]

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

This action-packed thrill ride kept me up way past my bedtime and was totally worth having a less-than-stellar attitude the following day! This was one of my most anticipated reads and it didn’t disappoint! Seriously though, I know it’s said a lot but it was difficult to put this one down!

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇ:

- Short chapters. The quickness of each chapter keeps the suspense on high!

- Multiple points of view. Each character has such a different personality which is enhanced for the reader by providing a view into their inner monologue.

- Dual timelines. A look into the MCs lives from 25 years ago and the present, alternating throughout. I love how well this transition is written! It provides a unique view into the reasoning behind their decision making.

- The entire plot is fast paced and packed with suspense!

- The conclusion truly shocked me and the epilogue was perfection!

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of edge-of-your-seat tension, Jason Bourne movies, and badass female MCs!

Alex Finlay is one of my favorite writers, the way he weaves a story together with multiple characters, periods of time and location is nothing short of genius. I was patiently waiting for the release of 'What Have We Done' and it was absolutely worth the wait!!! The storyline felt so fresh and relevant yet it was at times very dark. Living in the DC area I loved the references to locations in the area and while reading through the acknowledgements I could absolutely see where the inspiration for many of the characters came from.

I was so excited and grateful to receive and ARC of this book. Unfortunately, it just didn't do it for me. I loved the author's last book so much and this is very, very different from that book. This one reminded me more of a Harlan Coben or Linwood Barclay type thriller. The problem that I had with this book was that there were too many characters and the story was just too convoluted. I lost interest often and I never really grew to care much about the characters because the POV changed quickly with each chapter. I think if you like this kind of thriller, you will probably love this book. It just wasn't my fave.

I truly enjoyed this book. Alex Finlay has created a great, fast paced thriller. Five former friends all connected to one unthinkable incident from their young teenage years that comes back to haunt, and try to kill, them. The friends haven’t seen each other since the incident, and when events start happening to each of them, they all begin the trek back to the ill fated town where all their bad memories, and even worse secrets, are kept.

This novel was a quick read and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t expect who the culprit was until the end and it had many twists and turns that had you doubting your suspicions until everything is revealed at the end.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Publishing Group for this ARC!