Book review: What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena

What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena could be (yet another) book about a shocking murder in a small town where nothing usually happens, but Lapena’s ability to insert readers into the minds and suspicions of community members – and more importantly – family members and friends of suspects takes this to the next level. She also does a great job of reflecting the devastation caused by the loss of the only (very beloved) child of a single parent.

Nothing ever happens in sleepy little Fairhill, Vermont. But this morning that will change. And one innocent question could be deadly.

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.

Lapena puts us in the heads of some of the victim’s friends and their parents so we see the fallout from this murder from multiple perspectives. We’re also hosted by the suspects – Diana’s increasingly possessive boyfriend, a teacher who’s behaved inappropriately, and an overly friendly customer at her part-time job.

Lapena successfully throws many red herrings at readers and on several occasions has us thinking, ‘Ah ha!’ believing the murderer has been uncovered… but we’d be wrong. Again and again. The final reveal may not entirely be a surprise but it’s certainly sufficiently twisted that I enjoyed it.

As in Lovely Bones, and many books since, we also hear directly from Diana who’s watching over the events taking place after her death. Her mother certainly senses her spirit and worries Diana won’t find ‘rest’ or move on because she’s died young, tragically and unfairly.

This is essentially crime fiction that delves a bit deeper. In some ways it’s less about the why and who-dunnit, focusing more on the impacts of the crime on a small community and reverberations from secrets and distrust as well as the guilt that comes from suspecting those we care about or love are capable of evil.

What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena was published by Random House (Bantam) in the UK in July 2024.

I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.