Reviews

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

A UK Sunday Times Bestseller • # 1 Canadian Bestseller • Irish Bestseller •

A LibraryReads Top Pick (A Library Reads Hall of Fame Author) • A Loanstars #1 Pick •

AppleBooks August Staff Pick • An Indigo’s Best Books of the Year 2024

“Captivating… What begins as a straightforward mystery gradually blooms into a portrait of a community coming apart at the seams. While the secrets-of-a-small-town themes aren’t exactly novel, Lapena’s richly drawn characters and gift for suspense give them new life. It’s gripping stuff.”
—Publishers Weekly

“In Fairhill, Vermont, a community where nothing seems to happen, a violent death exposes the cruelty hiding beneath the town’s supposedly placid surface. Diana Brewer’s body is found in a farmer’s field, and what initially seems to be a crime novel walking a well-worn path of plot points and tropes instead travels in a new direction. Lapena rolls out a story unique and timely in its telling. No one can imagine who could have killed Diana, a high school senior, and suspicion immediately turns to her possessive boyfriend, Cameron Farrell. He might have been the last person to see her alive, but the police have additional suspects. Any of them may or may not be murderers, but when their interactions with Diana are exposed, it becomes clear none of them is innocent. The throughline in this astutely observed story is that as much as young women want to take charge of their own lives, there are men who want to control and abuse them. Lapena makes sure Diana’s spirit is profoundly present, first as she’s looking down from above on her dead body, then as she observes her mother’s grief, the interrogation of suspects, and the pain her friends suffer as a result of her death. Equally fascinating is the portrayal of the fiancee of one of the suspects, who’s torn between his insistence that he’s not guilty and the strong possibility that he’s not the person she’d planned to marry. As much a commentary on how women’s concerns and accusations are often dismissed as it is an intense crime story, Lapena’s novel excavates the ways so-called responsible adults don’t do enough—a crime in itself—to keep young women like Diana safe. “How many ways,” Diana asks after her death, “can a girl be assaulted?” The novel’s emotional heft will linger with readers. A tragic death and a slew of suspects ignite this incendiary tale.”
—Kirkus Reviews

★Lapena, Shari. What Have You Done? Pamela Dorman: Viking. Jul. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9780593489963. $30. THRILLER

“Lapena (Everyone Here Is Lying) delivers another top-notch twisty thriller. Teenagers Riley, Evan, and Diana are best friends, 17 years old and ready to take on the world. They just need to get through one more year in sleepy Fairhill, VT, where nothing. ever. happens. Content (for now) to hang out in the graveyard on Friday nights, drink vodka, and tell ghost stories, they even tolerate Diana’s controlling boyfriend, Cameron. Only Riley knows that Diana is unhappy with the clingy Cameron, who wants them to go to the same college, and that she plans to break away from him soon. Then a local farmer discovers Diana’s naked, dead body surrounded by vultures in a field one morning, changing the friends forever. Rumors and questions about Diana’s death swirl in the once-peaceful town, and no one is above suspicion.
VERDICT Lapena is a master of suspense, and she doesn’t disappoint here. Her many fans and those who enjoy domestic suspense, small-town crimes, and twisty thrillers will flock to this one. Very highly recommended.”
—Library Journal, starred review

“Shari Lapena is a doyenne of the domestic thriller, with her newest novel another masterclass in the genre.”
—The Herald (Scotland)

“Told in short, cliff-hanging chapters from different characters’ points of view that propel the investigation forward at breakneck speed, this intriguing thriller grips from start to finish…”
—Irish Independent

“Lapena does a great job of showing how thin the line is between wanting the truth and wanting to protect those we love, no matter the cost. If you enjoy small-town murder mysteries, you should read this book.”
—San Francisco Book Review

“An engrossing thriller.”
—Prima Magazine

“You can always rely on the author of bestseller The Couple Next Door to deliver a thriller you want to stay up all night reading.”
—i news (UK)

“What Have You Done? is a masterpiece of human emotion that compassionately engages with all its subjects even as it makes no excuses for terrible behavior.”
—criminal element

“Shifting between perspectives and shimmering with suspense, this is a novel that keeps you constantly questioning the characters’ motives as you unravel their secrets.”
—Culturefly (UK)

“Shari Lapena knows how to pull you in with a title: Everyone Here Is Lying, Not A Happy Family and now, What Have You Done? Pages will turn when a small community is upended by the murder of a girl in once-sleepy, now tense Fairhill, Vermont.”
—Parade

“An intense, well-written thriller, that keeps you on the edge of your seat.”
—Red Carpet Crash

“What Have You Done? is the eighth murder mystery for Toronto lawyer Shari Lapena, and it grabs you in the opening pages and never lets go. The clichéd “fiendishly clever” covers only a small handful of authors — Gilly MacMillan, Ruth Ware, Peter Swanson and most assuredly Lapena…What Have You Done? is tragic. Lapena never lets you forget that a 17-year-old girl has been murdered, leaving behind a mother who will never forgive herself for working nights, and friends who know they’ll have a lifelong hole that can never be filled. Will they ever know who did it? Lapena is good. Really good..”
—Winnipeg Free Press

“Fans of twisty, dark, chilling thrills love Shari Lapena. USA Today calls her a “master of manipulation,” and she does it again with her latest release…This marks another brilliant thriller. I promise you’ll enjoy the chills.”
—The Post and Courier

"What Have You Done? is a brilliant thriller. What you should do is buy it."
—Cara Hunter, NY Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of Murder in the Family

“I inhaled this book in less than 48 hours and what a treat it was. Lapena can always be relied on for great plotting, characterisation and structure, and WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? exceeded all expectations. Entertaining and enjoyable as ever, a total reading pleasure.”
—Liz Nugent, No.1 bestselling author of Strange Sally Diamond

“Incredible atmosphere, breathless pace and perfect plot – the queen of the one-sitting read has done it again. I adored What Have You Done – the inimitable Shari Lapena is at the top of her game!”
–Andrea Mara, No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of No One Saw a Thing