What Have We Done - Alex Finlay

Thriller

Rating: 8/10

A stay-at-home mom with a past she can’t escape, no matter how hard she tries. A has been rock star with a drinking problem prone to making poor decisions. A reality TV producer who owes a lot of money to the wrong sort of people, for all the wrong reasons.

Twenty-five years ago, they were best friends, having forged a bond through the abuse they endured as residents of a group home for teens. Only they know why the home was forced to shut down and they have kept that secret buried deep where it belongs ever since. Now they are brought together by someone trying to kill them, forcing an unexpected, and frankly unwanted, reunion.

I admit I was a nervous picking up this latest from a newly favoured author, given that the brief blurb I read said something along the lines of “a group of teens share a dark secret that comes back to haunt them decades later”. A not uncommon plot device that has seen an upsurge in popularity over the last few years. But I needn’t have worried, while true in essence, in the hands of this author what could have been hackneyed was made exceptional.

He has delivered yet another skillful offering to the genre, with a fast-paced plot and characters with enough dimension to keep a reader invested, it’s a page turner that fits the definition. He has built up enough of a reputation to keep readers picking up his books and sustained the quality of his writing such that they won’t put it down.

Simply put, there are far worse ways to wile away an afternoon.

Book Pairing(s): Night Shift by Alex Finlay, Survive The Night by Riley Sager, He Started It by Samantha Downing