What Have You Done by Shari Lapena

Read Dates: September 10, 2024 – September 12, 2024
Date Published: July 30, 2024
Source: Owned hardback

Goodreads — Amazon

I wasn’t going to write a full review for this book because I’m a tad bit salty about the entire thing. Why? Well, I am a die-hard Shari Lapena fan. I have read everything the woman has penned. While I have, indeed, found little discrepancies in some of her other books, they weren’t enough to hinder my reading experience, the plot, or my final rating. This book, however, made me go a teensy bit insane on more than one occasion.

This book is about a girl who was murdered. A farmer finds her body dumped in his field, being eaten by vultures. A full investigation is launched, and we’re taken through the story via the POV of the dead girl’s boyfriend, close friends, neighbors, and family. If you know Lapena then you know she writes her books with no less than about eight POVs at a time. She does it so well, though, that it’s actually one of my favorite things about her books.

I knew who the killer was from the beginning, though I believe any thriller lover would do the same in this case. It’s just kind of given to us if you ask me. This wasn’t what made me dislike the book, though.

And, ok, let me say, I didn’t HATE this book. It was definitely different from Lapena’s other books, and I was thoroughly intrigued, but there were just a few things that were hard to ignore, and this is where the spoilers come in. I can’t tell you what irked me without giving the killer away. Never mind that Lapena does that on her own at the very beginning. I refuse to be the reason the killer is spoiled for any potential future readers so I will keep my irks to just the ones that don’t give anything away.

One of my biggest irks was the fact that they never tried to ping the location of the phone. Once the location of the dead girl’s phone is revealed, it’s also revealed that it’s just sitting there… ON. The phone was just ON the entire time and no one on the police force cared to even try to ping it’s location. Why? WHY???? This bugged me from the time we knew the killer had her phone up until the very end. 150 pages were harmed in the making of this plot decision. Lapena seems to understand the American school system, but she doesn’t seem well-versed in the criminal justice system. Citizens rights? Nah. Probable cause for arrest? *shrugs* THE ABILITY TO LOCATE AN ACTIVE SMART PHONE!? (Deep breaths)

Another irk was the fact that unnecessary questions were left unanswered at the end. We were given a specific POV in the book that was different than usual, and we weren’t told what ended up happening to the person. I wish I could say more than that or explain a little better, but I am really trying to stay spoiler-free here. I’ll just say this, I needed some CLOSURE, damnit.

My biggest irk by far, though, was the fact that the killer was given away. The fashion in which they were given away was what irked me. It was so incredibly obvious who the killer was before I had truly met any of the main characters. I read on, hoping I was being misled, but OF COURSE, I wasn’t.

Anyway, this was an okay read, but it just didn’t do it for me. Finally, eight books later, I met a Lapena book that I didn’t care for. It was bound to happen. Will I continue to blindly purchase every future book she releases? OH YEA. I certainly will. There’s just something about her. I couldn’t quit her if I tried.