“What Have We Done” by Alex Finlay
Description: “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.”
Review: I was instantly hooked by this book. The author does a great job of grabbing you and pulling you in. The story is told in the present but there is a lot of weaving the past in. I liked how the characters reminisced on the past to help give more information to keep the plot going. It’s not a fast paced book but smoothly unravels. Even though I found the pace to be a little slow there is a lot of action to keep you reading.
My biggest complaint has to do with the characters. It’s obvious from the start how the characters are connected but there’s still a lot of intrigue and mystery around their lives and past. There are a lot of characters in the book and at times it’s difficult to keep track of everyone. I was drawn to some characters more than others, such as Jenna and Donnie.
The characters are stereotypical (Nico the gambling addict, Jenna the ex-assassin, Donnie the drunk old rock star). I enjoyed the characters at first but the stereotypes got redundant. I was hoping the characters would have more growth. You’d think a man that almost dies being drunk and falling off a ship would stop drinking. Jenna was the most well rounded character.
There aren’t too many big plot twists until the end of the book. I was a little confused by the plot twist (definitely didn’t see it coming) and would have like it to be cleared up a little more. I still have some questions at the end of the book.
Overall I enjoyed the book. The action and pacing kept me reading even when I started to find the characters annoying.
*please note that I received an advanced copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.