Another excellent read by Alex Finlay. Kept me engaged the whole book through with great twists and a satisfying ending.

What Have We Done by Alex Finlay

A small group of kids meet in at the very misnamed Savior House, a group home for teens without parents. The place is a house of horrors with bullying and inappropriate adult caretaking. And girls go missing, never to be seen again.

The story starts with some of the teens standing over a hole in the ground. Another bad thing has happened but this time who did the bad thing? Next we are meeting some of those teens as adults. And what adults they have become. Hugely successful in their chosen fields. It'd be hard to find a group of teens that could have soared to such heights except in a story such as this one.

Now one of them is dead and it seems an assassin is trying to kill the rest of them. These adults are going to have to dive back into their past to stop what is happening now. The story is action packed and more than a little silly at times. The assassin has a favorite weapon that is more than a little gross.

I'm not really into so much action especially this kind of action. Nobody is likable here although they can be sort of funny in a snicker-y kind of way. Cliched caricatures might be a good way to describe them. But the characters fit the action very well, if you enjoy that type of thing.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

A special thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur and NetGalley for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review. Alex Finlay is back this upcoming March 2023 with another high-speed thriller.

I can honestly say this one hooked me right off the start in the first few pages - Jenna is introduced first, and you get this secret agent/CIA/assassin vibe right away - loved that! So much so that meeting Donnie and Nico right after didn’t quite live up to that potential. I almost wish this one would’ve had Jenna as the main POV and had more of Donnie and Nico as supporting players - this one changed POVs with every chapter, but it also went from past to present within the same chapter, which sometimes made the continuity a little hard to follow.

I will say, I read a lot of thrillers and it’s tough to find something that’s original and unique and hasn’t been done before, and this concept was really different from what I’ve read lately. A little clunky with all the back and forth, but enjoyable to read nonetheless.

Again, thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advance copy in exchange for this review. Pub day is 3/7/23 if you’re interested in checking this one out!

I loved Alex Finlay's other books but this one was definitely lacking something. It is a thriller with 3 people that grew up in a home called Savior House. The home was shut down because several kids disappeared. Jenna, Donnie, and Nico were friends in the home and now meet again as adults to try and figure out who is trying to kill them. I wasn't as drawn into this book as I wanted to be. I didn't care about any of the characters. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

This book had all of the hallmarks of a win for me--multiple perspectives, short chapters with embedded cliffhangers, and a mystery from childhood that impacts the characters in the future. The main protagonist, Jenna, was the character and storyline that I enjoyed the most, but the rest of the character and plot development was not as satisfying.

I did not love the back and forth between timelines because it was not always clearly explained. Also, there were some missing pieces of the plot for me that left me asking questions about some of the characters and their motives.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free e-reader copy of What Have We Done by Alex Finlay in exchange for an honest review.

Twenty-five years ago, five teens in an abusive foster care home did something unspeakable. Now, someone is trying to kill them off. Who is the killer, and even more importantly, who has hired them? In the tradition of James Bond and Lisbeth Salander, Jenna - the teen recruited by “The Corporation” and the one with the most to lose - embarks on a fast-paced cat and mouse game to solve the mystery and save her friends, her family and herself. Solid writing and a couple of well placed twists make this a four star read.

I have generally liked this author’s books in the past and this was no exception. This was a fast-paced thriller which had a very surprising ending. That’s says a lot when almost all thrillers recently have been “meh” at best. I would absolutely recommend this one!

This review was also published on Goodreads.

Five teenagers growing up together in a group home until one night they commit a murder and take off into the rest of their lives. 20 years later, each of them face assassins sent to kill them and the race is on to figure out who is behind the killers. This was a fantastic roller-coaster of a thriller with lots of twists and turns.

What Have We Done is the first novel I’ve read by Alex Finlay. It gripped me immediately. We start from the prospective of Jenna, a young beautiful stepmom and trophy wife… so it seems. Within Jenna’s first chapter, we discover that she was a skilled sniper in a past life, and she’s being forced to use those skills again. We also go on to meet Donnie, a washed up rockstar alcoholic, and Nico, a reality tv producer with a gambling addiction. All three of our narrators have one thing in common - they met each other at Savior House, a dump of a group home for parentless teens.

In addition to our three narrators, there a a few more key characters (including the killer). I thought Finlay did a nice job varying the point of views so that it was easy to keep each character straight. There are two timelines, current day and the teenage days at Savior House. The pacing was good. I looked forward to picking up the book and reading what would happen next. There were nice twist, turns, and reveals throughout the novel. I found myself guessing until the end.

I have read a few reviews by Finlay fans saying that this one was different from his others. If you are a regular Finlay reader, go in with an open mind.

What Have We Done is set to publish on March 7, 2023. I would recommend this novel to someone looking for a fast paced, twisty, multi POV and dual timeline thriller. 4 stars for me.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for the digital ARC via NetGalley.

Action packed from the first chapter! Jenna, Donnie, and Nico, forged their bond of friendship while being raised in a troubled foster home. As adults they all create successful lives but haven’t seen each other since those tender teen years filled with fear and secrets. They are forced to reunite when someone is trying to kill them; but who is it and why? This story played out like an adrenaline fueled action movie in my head, exciting and a bit far fetched at times but fun like we expect from Alex Finlay. Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book is available for purchase on March 7, 2023

What Have We Done by Alex Finley brings us face to face with five adults, who grew up in a group home, Savior House, after losing their parents. Annie went missing not long into her stay. Jenna has become something she never meant to be and has put her new family at risk. Donnie’s career as a rock star is on the rocks along with his alcohol habit. Nico is a reality show producer who almost dies on set and Alec has made millions and has a lot of power. Throw in a few assassins who seem to be after all of them and a deadly secret they have kept for over 25 years. The four are again brought together to figure out who is trying to kill them, who now know’s of their secret and what it will take to survive it all. A fast paced novel with fairly interesting characters.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This one is tough for me to review. My first novel by this author, so I’m not used to the writing and what to expect from the story. I did enjoy the writing and it seems like this a depart from his typical stories, so I will try another for sure. I liked all the characters, they’re all insanely interesting with crazy back stories and motivations but I think I would have put 3 of them together in a story, and not like 8 of them and then have them all duke it out. It’s hard to keep track of everyone. Some parts I really enjoyed, but the storyline itself is just really far-fetched and just gets more and more un-believable as it goes. I feel like most thrillers you have to suspend some belief but this just kept doing more and more.

A dark incident in the distant past connects five people, living five very different lives. And then, one of them is murdered, and someone tries to kill the remaining four. These former friends must reunite and face their past to find out who’s after them, and figure out how to save their lives and keep their secret.

This book was pretty good! I liked the characters, the plot was interesting with some clever twists, and the book was fast-paced enough to hold my attention and keep me moving through the pages quickly. I had a few problems with it, though. I had a little trouble suspending disbelief about one thing in particular. Not to be cynical or closed-minded, but kids in the foster system and group homes often have rough lives with limited opportunities, and all five of these characters went on to be hyper-successful – a tech billionaire, a federal judge, a famous TV producer, a rock star, and a highly skilled assassin. For some reason I had a hard time buying that extreme success rate. I’m not saying any of them should have been destitute or trapped in the poverty cycle for it to be believable. But not a single one of them lived a simple, low-profile life? Or rather, the only one who did was an ex-assassin? I also wasn’t a big fan of the fact that the main character of color was the dead one out of the bunch. I’m sure it was not intentional but it’s a trope I've seen often enough that it caught my attention.

Also, I don’t like that the flashbacks are in present tense, it makes it a little hard to track since the rest of the book is in present tense as well. There’s not even a break in the text to signal that it’s moved from past to present. I’m hoping that in the published version there’s at least a break in text, because as it is in the ARC it’s confusing.

All that being said, despite those issues, I still really liked it! Solid 4 stars.

CW: Drug and alcohol abuse, sexual assault, sexual assault of a minor (mentioned)

Representation: POC characters

I will be giving a full review for this book on my channel, closer to the pub date so I will edit this review with the link to my review once it is filmed and published! Overall, this book was a good suspense thriller. Without spoilers, we are following a few adults in their lives with references to their childhood linked pasts. With someone out to get the characters now, you as the reader are on the edge of your seat trying to figure out who is sabotaging the characters. It has a lot of action and I could see this becoming a movie, but I wasn't overly impressed as it didn't feel like anything new, or something different from what I have read before. That being said, I am so grateful to the publisher and to Netgalley for the opportunity to read What Have We Done! If this becomes a movie or a show, I will definitely be watching :)

What Have We Done by Alex Finlay

A special thank you to @stmartinspress and @minotaurbooks for this #arc in exchange for my honest review. What Have We Done will be available for purchase at major retailers on March 7 but you can pre order your copy now!

Four friends are bound forever by a choice they made together twenty-five years ago at Savior House. Now they’re being hunted one by one. Are they being picked off for revenge or for what they know? The only way to find out is to go back to where it all began. Now a quiet stay at home with a secretive past, a rock star with a drinking habit, and a reality TV show host with a gambling problem are all on the run for their lives racing the clock to solve the mystery of who is after them.

This was delicious chaos. I could not put this down and it was one that I kept turning over in my mind when I wasn’t actively reading. A lot of layers and moving parts. I liked that this alternates between the past at the main characters’ time at Savior House and present day though occasionally it was hard to tell it had shifted and I’d have to go back a little. This wrapped up nicely aside from the killer sister portion - she should have finished them both off - and this ending with them in the epilogue read slightly like a Bond villain plot. If you’re in search of a fast-paced thriller with an intriguing mystery, look no further!

TW: drug and alcohol abuse, child abuse, violence and more

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

After really enjoying The Night Shift I was really looking forward to this one. The plot was decent but I thought the book really lacked in character development and cohesion. I didn’t feel any sort of connection to the characters and thought that there wasn’t anything very plausible about the story. I thought the book could have benefited from more rounds of editing as well as better plotting. Normally I like multiple pov and short chapters but this one just fell very flat for me. I also felt like this was written more like a screen play which I would probably appreciate the story much more in a film. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for my e arc. I will give the author another try in future books. 2.5 stars rounded up.

⭐️: 4/5

Jenna, Nico, and Donnie haven’t seen eachother since their childhood at a group home, where they were separated after a terrible act. When attempts on each of their lives are made, they must come back together to figure out who’s targeting them, and what it has to do with their shared childhood traumas.

Once I got into What Have We Done, I was hooked. The short chapters made it compulsively readable, and the multiple POV helped because not all character viewpoints will be relatable to all people. The amount of storylines that all had to weave together to form the conclusion had me invested in it to the very end, especially once I started getting some theories of my own going. At the beginning, the sheer amount of names made it a little confusing and hard to keep all the facts straight, and although I liked the short chapters, before the story is able to get its hooks in the reader, they cause the book to feel a little disjointed. It really took about 50% of the book for me to really feel like I was invested in the conclusion of the mystery. I found the characters of Haley and Casey so amusing though, for their sheer absurdity. I definitely liked The Night Shift a lot better, but What Have We Done is still a solid read that has all the traits that you’d want in a thriller.

Thank you to @netgalley and @minotaur_books for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

What. A. Thriller. This was an intense read, but it was so good. This book kept me guessing at every turn. Things that you were not even expecting.

There are a group of 5 kids who grew up together in a group home for orphaned children. Their group home supervisor is killed and several girls are missing from the group home. The girls are suspected to have runaway, but when one of them is not the runaway type, it becomes clear something else has happened. Fast forward to 25 years later, and they are all adults. Benny, a federal judge, is killed and they are all brought back to Chestertown for his funeral. Attempts are made on each of the remaining person's life, and they are all trying to figure out what happened.

Through a series of twists and turns, surprises and shocks, and pure intensity, we find out that one of "kids" was aware of what happened to the girls and now he wants revenge for whomever was blackmailing him...another one of the kids.

At times it was difficult to follow, but for the most part, it was an easy and quick read. It definitely kept me on my toes. It compares to being on the best rollercoaster ride of your life where you're not sure where exactly the turn or drop will be but when you get there its exciting and thrilling.

Don't miss out on this one, it comes out on March 7, 2023. Preorder it now! You won't be disappointed.

#WhatHaveWeDone #NetGalley

Alex Finlay became an auto-read author after reading Every Last Fear. I'm glad I read this one and will continue to read what Finlay writes! The twists are top-tier!

You know when a story includes a murder within the first chapter it’s going to be a good book. The story focuses on multiple different characters that all group
Up in a foster home. When girls start disappearing the kids know they have to do something to protect themselves. The story gets a bit confusing at times going between present time and the past but it doesn’t deter from the story. Filled with suspense, twists, and great characters I couldn’t put this book down.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy.