When Diana Brewer, a popular and well-liked local teen, is found brutally murdered in a farmer's field on the edge of her small, idyllic Vermont town, the townspeople are shocked. Fear, paranoia and suspicion grow in this spine-chilling story about small-town secrets and deception.
Through the first-person perspectives of several people in Diana's life (including Diana's own POV in the afterlife), readers learn more about Diana, her friends, family and neighbours - many of whom have secrets and will become suspects in the murder. These pivots between the characters kept the tension high and me solidly glued to the pages as I guessed and second-guessed the culprit.
There is also a poignancy to the story as we witness the impact of Diana's death on those who loved her and Diana's struggle to remember what happened to her. I appreciated how Lapena, through Diana's perspective, highlights the societal and personal pressure women feel to acquiesce and defer. How we are raised to believe the good in others and follow what men and media say over our own 'gut feelings' and intuition (that's some excellent book club discussion right there, folks!).
“How many ways, I think can a girl be assaulted? I never got to live my life. I never got to live to be old enough, to be unattractive enough to be left alone. To finally just be.”
This thought-provoking and tension-filled whodunnit will have readers guessing what happened to the popular teenager, who is telling the truth and who will do whatever it takes to keep their secrets hidden. What Have You Done? is an addictive thriller that readers will devour in a sitting or two and reinforces why Shari Lapena continues to be an auto-buy author for me.
Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Doubleday books for the complimentary digital copy of this book which was given in exchange for my honest review.
My Rating: 5 stars
Author: Shari Lapena
Genre: Suspense, Canadian
Type and Source: ebook from publisher via NetGalley
Publisher: Doubleday Canada (Penguin Random House Canada)
First Published: July 30, 2024
Read: July 24 - July 27, 2024
Book Description from GoodReads: The new binge-worthy novel from the “queen of the one-sit read,” and New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door
Nothing ever happens in sleepy little Fairhill, Vermont. But this morning that will change. And one innocent question could be deadly. What have you done?
The teenagers get their kicks telling ghost stories in the old graveyard. The parents trust their kids will arrive home safe from school. Everyone knows everyone. Curtains rarely twitch. Front doors are left unlocked.
But Diana Brewer isn’t lying safely in her bed where she belongs. Instead she lies in a hayfield, circled by vultures, discovered by a local farmer.
How quickly a girl becomes a ghost. How quickly a town of friendly, familiar faces becomes a town of suspects, a place of fear and paranoia.
Someone in Fairhill did this. Everyone wants answers.
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