What Have We Done
What Have We Done
By: Alex Finlay
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2023]
[Fulfilled ‘Book with a title that is a question’ for Shelf Reflection’s 2023 Reading Challenge]
“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 book just released March 7, 2023. You can purchase a copy of this book via my affiliate link below.
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