Leanne Olson

by Alex Finlay

released March 7, 2023 from Minotaur Books / St. Martin’s Press

I loved Alex Finlay’s first two thrillers, Every Last Fear and The Night Shift, but What Have We Done was less to my taste.  

I enjoyed parts of it, and it’s not a bad book, it just wasn’t for me.  I originally DNFed it back in February, and went back to it this week to read the entire book.

What Have We Done is an action-heavy book centred around a former hitwoman, Jenna, and several of her friends from a group home where they lived as teenagers. Jenna is forced back into her old life when her husband and children are threatened, and she’s told to assassinate an old friend.

Because the emphasis is more on the action and less on the characters and mystery, the characters fell a bit flat for me.  It was fun uncovering their previous lives and secrets at the group home, and I particularly liked Donny, the rock star, but the mystery didn’t have as much emotional impact as I liked.

The scenes with twin sorority-girl type hitwomen were over-the-top but I wound up really enjoying them.  Once I leaned into the silliness, I liked the book more, and I’m glad I gave it another try.

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Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for my review copy of this book.