What Have You Done?: A Novel

by Shari Lapena

Overview

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

Dark · Addictive · Twisty · Chilling · Domestic Suspense

“Lapena is a master of manipulation.” —USA Today

The new unputdownable 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593489970
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/30/2024
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Shari Lapena is the internationally bestselling author of eight thrillers, including The Couple Next Door, which have all been New York Times, Sunday Times, and Globe and Mail bestsellers. Lapena’s books have been sold in forty territories around the world. She lives on a farm outside Toronto. She Didn’t See It Coming, her ninth thriller, is forthcoming.

Editorial Reviews

05/06/2024

The murder of a teenage girl shakes up the sleepy town of Fairhill, Vt., in bestseller Lapena’s captivating latest (after Everyone Here Is Lying). After farmer Roy Ressler notices vultures circling his crops one morning, he discovers the naked corpse of 17-year-old Diana Brewer. Bright, pretty, and popular, Diana had no known enemies, leaving a glaring question at the center of the tragedy: who could possibly want Fairhill’s golden girl dead? Cycling through a laundry list of viewpoints—including multiple suspects, Diana’s family members, and the ghost of Diana herself—Lapena illustrates how the murder causes parents to cast suspicion on their children, teachers to come under fire, and decades-long relationships to fracture. Gym teacher Brad Turner fears Diana’s death will dredge up his own secrets; when construction worker Joe Prior gets called in for questioning, he worries his past might be catching up to him. 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. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for What Have You Done?:

“A brilliant thriller.”
—Cara Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of Murder in the Family
 
“I inhaled this book. Lapena can always be relied on for great plotting, characterization and structure, and What Have You Done? exceeded all expectations. Entertaining and enjoyable as ever, a total  pleasure.”
—Liz Nugent, 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, international bestselling author of No One Saw a Thing

“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

“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)

“Creepy masterpiece . . . A proper page-turner.”
—Daily Mail

“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

“Lapena rolls out a story unique and timely in its telling . . . astutely observed . . . 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 . . . The novel’s emotional heft will linger with readers. A tragic death and a slew of suspects ignite this incendiary tale.”
—Kirkus

“Captivating. . . What begins as a straightforward mystery gradually blooms into a portrait of a community coming apart at the seams.” 
–Publishers Weekly

“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

From the Publisher

★ 05/01/2024

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.—Cynthia Price

Library Journal

2024-05-17
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