What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena review: The ghost part wasn't needed

Nothing ever happens in Fairhill until it does. And that “does” is what kicks off What Have You Done? By Shari Lapena.

The new murder mystery is out now. Thanks to NetGalley, I got an advance copy to be able to share this review.

If you’re new to the genre, I think you’ll love this more than those who have read thrillers and murder mysteries a lot. That’s not a bad thing. It just means that authors need to find a way to step up their game as the genre does end up a little predictable at times.

However, this is a fun read that draws you in from the start. Let’s get into the review.

What is What Have You Done by Shari Lapena about?

The novel kicks off with the murder. Diana Brewer was supposed to be in her bed, but that wasn’t the case. A farmer finds her dead in one of his fields, and it’s clear that she has been murdered. Now everyone wants to know who killed her, and there are a few suspects.

Throughout the novel, we get different POVs. We see the POVs of some of the murder suspects, of Diana’s best friends and mother, of some of the teachers, and of Diana herself. She is a ghost trying to figure out what happened to her.

That ghostly bit didn’t really do it for me. I’m not a big fan of adding the ghosts of the victims in the story unless the story is from that ghost’s point of view completely with them figuring out their own murder. I preferred to read everyone else’s POV.

What Have You Done? review

The book itself does hook you in from the start. You’re immediately given the victim’s name and identity. We get to hear about her from friends, her mother, teachers, and more. This is a great way to figure out who she was to people and the type of personality that she had. It helps us feel something for the victim, which can be lacking in many murder mystery books.

Seeing the story from different POVs certainly helps to keep readers guessing at first. Once you’ve read enough in the genre, you can usually tell where everything is going. It’s easy to tell who the murderer is, but it took until around 50% of the way in for me to start putting all the pieces together. There was enough jumping around different people to figure it out.

I loved reading it all from Riley’s point of view. She gave us an insight into the investigation and into Diana’s life to feel for the victim. We also got to see how her bias started to cloud things. That’s the problem. There is a lot of bias in murder investigations, and you need to separate feelings and fact. One of the great things about switching POVs is that you get this chance to see everyone’s bias and then form your own opinion based on facts at hand.

If you’re looking for a fast weekend read, this is the book for you. It really is one that once you start, you can’t put down.

Stars: 4.5 out of 5.