What Have We Done | Alex Finlay | Book Review

I dabble into the spy and assassin thrillers from time to time and usually enjoy them. Though I typically like my psychological thrillers to be character-driven—and that’s not usually what we find in more action-packed thrillers—Alex Finlay’s latest book What Have We Done somehow manages to be both. A heart-pounding thriller about a group of former foster kids who have put the past behind them, until someone is bringing it back with deadly motives.

About the Book | What Have We Done

Characters

Five former foster kids who survived the dark Savior House are grown up and living successful lives, despite their meager upbringing. Jenna is a married stepmom (with a secret past as an assassin). Donnie is a talented musician but whose career has passed it’s peak. Nico is a successful producer, currently working on a reality series about coal miners. Artemis (Arty) is a wealthy programmer who made billions creating a social media platform. Ben is a judge who has wound up murdered recently, setting off the chain of events.

Plot

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.

My Thoughts

This is a departure in style for Alex Finlay, though he does tend to have some killer (pun intended) plots for his books. I found this to be more action-y, like watching a good action thriller. The book is more plot-driven than character-driven, though the characters were well-developed enough to keep me hooked.

Twenty-five years before the events of the book, Jenna, Donnie, Nico, Ben, and Arty lived at Savior House, a home that takes in kids whose parents have passed away or left them. While in some ways Savior House saved them—it gave them a place to stay when they had nowhere—it was also their tormentor. Girls at Savior House seem to disappear. Maybe they got placed with families like the administration said, but it seems unlikely. We learn about Savior House and their time there through snippets of story and memories. Savior House looms over the story as a dark entity. Even before we learn exactly what happened at Savior House, it’s clear this was not a happy home.

But it did bring our central five characters together. As adults, they don’t keep in touch as much as they should. Jenna is the central character of the book, and in my opinion by far the most compelling (though I think I would have also thoroughly enjoyed Ben if he had been alive for the book). Jenna was “recruited” (and I put this in quotes because she was definitely not old enough to consent fully to this) into a shadowy organization known as The Corporation. Among the many skills Jenna learned, she also became an assassin.

When the book begins, Jenna is retired from her life of crime and adventure, married to a lovely man with a teenage daughter. She’s happy. And that makes the events of the book particularly terrifying, because Jenna receives a calling card that must be from The Corporation.

I loved reading Jenna’s story. It was entirely unrelatable—something that can at times be frustrating—but in this case it worked because Jenna herself was relatable. She’ll do anything to protect her loved ones and the quiet, content life she has finally achieved. Jenna isn’t naïve though, she has safe guards upon safe guards built around their life to trigger if any threat gets too close. And sure enough, they all get triggered one by one.

The third-person narration worked well so we could get glimpses from a few different character’s stories. Donnie and Nico were less compelling and developed than Jenna, but equally as important to the broader story. They hold some pieces of the story we wouldn’t get if we only heard from Jenna.

The book moves fast and it becomes clear early on that someone is targeting this group from Savior House. While the characters seem like caricatures in their descriptions, they actually had some interesting development to them. Jenna is not your average former-assassin. Donnie may be a washed up musician, but he has more going on than you think. And Nico has a lot more details to uncover about what is going on in his life and his gambling addiction. The history of how he became the person he is fascinated me.

Though the book takes place in the present, this is a book grounded in the past. A lot of what we are trying to figure out is not just who is behind this, but what happened all of those years before? The past never stays in the past, after all. And secrets have a way of resurfacing.

Entertaining, lightening-fast, heart-pounding—What Have We Done may be different from Alex Finlay’s prior books but it is no less engrossing. A must-read if you are looking for a fast-paced thriller!

Other Books to Try

If you like a fast-paced thriller over a character-driven thriller, you might like No Bad Deed by Heather Chavez, in which a good samaritan tries to help when she sees a couple fighting, only for the attacker to come after her. If the child-turned-assassin grabbed your interest, check out Prodigal Son and the other Orphan X books by Greg Hurwitz. Finally, for a true thriller full of conspiracies and characters on the run trying to figure it all out, check out L. C. Shaw’s The Network.

About the Author | Alex Finlay

Alex Finlay is the author of the 2021 breakout novel, Every Last Fear, the 2022 Goodreads Choice nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller, The Night Shift, and the 2023 LibraryReads Hall of Fame recipient, What Have We Done.  His work has been an Indie Next pick, a LibraryReads selection, an Amazon Editor’s Best Thriller, as well as a Cosmopolitan, CNN, Newsweek, E!, BuzzFeed, Business Week, Goodreads, Parade,PopSugar, Scribd, and Reader’s Digest best or most anticipated thrillers of the year. Alex’s novels have been translated into twenty-one languages and are sold around the world.  All of his novels have been optioned for film and television, and Every Last Fear is in development for a major limited series.  

Alex writes under a pen name and is a prominent Washington, D.C. lawyer who has represented clients in more than 40 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

His next novel If Something Happens to Me releases in May 2024.

Check out his author site to learn more and stay up to date on his upcoming books!