What Have You Done (Adler and Dwyer, #0.5)

Shari Lapena, born in 1960, published her first novel, Things Go Flying, in 2008 at the age of 48. Since then, she has published nine more novels, including her most famous novel, The Couple Next Door (2016), which is an international bestseller. According to her website, she started her career as an English teacher and lawyer and now writes full time while living in Ontario (“About.” Shari Lapena).

The Couple Next Door brought Lapena fame, as it has sold over four million copies worldwide and was the number one selling adult fiction book in the United Kingdom, along with being named “Book of the Year” by WHSmith. As her first thriller, the novel led Lapena to stay in that genre with each of her subsequent novels. She is praised for her ability to build suspense and create mystery while exploring difficult topics like trauma, the effect of keeping secrets, and physical and emotional abuse.

In What Have You Done?, Lapena builds suspense surrounding the murder of Diana. She presents three possible suspects—Cameron, Joe, and Brad—and then slowly reveals aspects of their lives that make their guilt even more likely. With Cameron, he repeatedly lies to the police, immaturely trying to protect his self-image at the expense of incriminating himself. With Joe and Brad, the fact that they are predators who emotionally and physically abuse women puts them at the forefront of the suspect list. As a result, Lapena can not only build suspense around the circumstances of Diana’s death but also encourage her audience to attempt to solve the mystery for themselves. This style is prevalent throughout Lapena’s work, as she slowly presents the facts of the mystery, using a limited third-person point of view to keep information hidden until key moments in the text.

Additionally, in her exploration of the characters’ actions, thoughts, and secrets, Lapena also examines common themes in her works. In The Couple Next Door, a man works with his father-in-law to kidnap his child to help with his financial troubles, leading to a mystery filled with lies and murder. However, her work also examines the question of morality, as the missing child’s mother is willing to do anything necessary to get her child back. Similarly, in What Have You Done? Cameron’s parents decide to potentially destroy evidence and lie for their son, with Cameron’s father even encouraging him to withhold information from the police. Through the characters in both novels, Lapena places characters in a morally complex situation—exploring what people will do to protect and defend their families.

Lapena’s novel Everyone Here Is Lying (2023) tells the story of a child who is kidnapped and the secrets of the people in the town of Stanhope impacted by that kidnapping. As child abuse, affairs, and possible murder come to light, the community goes into turmoil as people realize that their small, peaceful town is full of deception and lies. Similarly, in What Have You Done?, Lapena centers on the small, quiet life in the town of Fairhill, from the opening line where she describes it as a place where “nothing ever happens” (1). However, Diana’s murder leads to the revelation of Joe’s history of stalking and murdering women, Brad’s sexual harassment of several teenagers and abuse of Diana, and Principal Kelly’s negligence in protecting his students. In this way, Lapena uses both novels to examine the dangers that can lie everywhere, even in a small, close-knit community.