Review: What Have You Done

What Have You Done by Matthew Farrell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This novel is many things. Unfortunately, “good” isn’t one of them, and I find myself confounded at the more generous ratings. I tried to find some redeeming qualities to temper my disappointment but came up empty. What Have You Done manages to regurgitate every suspense-fiction cliche through the actions of unlikeable characters who spew tired dialogue that overflows with repetitive word choices. And if you think that sentence was bad, after reading this novel, you will find it literary genius by comparison.

The story is one of two brothers, Liam and Sean, who escape the murderous intentions of their mother, grow up with their grandparents, and then take separate paths to join the police force—one as an officer, the other as a forensics specialist. Liam awakens one morning and can’t recall what happened the night before. When he discovers his mistress was murdered during his black out, he becomes convinced he may have killed her. Together, he and Sean search for the truth that could destroy them both.

So let’s talk about those cliches—you know, the ones they tell writers to avoid in Writing Suspense Books 101? Law enforcement partners covering for each another and citing the thin, blue line? It’s here! Memory loss and black outs? Yep! A seedy hotel with a seedier hotel owner? Uh huh. An altruistic officer who is sacrificed to further the plot? You bet! A scorned wife and dead mistress? They both make an appearance. A geeky, greasy outcast who is a computer genius? He is here as well. The list just goes on and on ad nauseam.

If the cliches mentioned at least involved likable characters, it may have been palatable. Unfortunately, MC Liam is a cheating husband; his brother Sean, a sadist; his wife Vanessa, a self-absorbed whiny spouse. By the time the book hit the 50% mark, I was ready to toss the whole thing into that GR black hole known as the DNF shelf. I didn’t give a rat’s ass what became of any of them.

I did soldier through to the end and would be remiss if I didn’t mention what is presumably the author’s favorite word: scurry. People “scurried” down streets and characters “scurried” home with disturbing regularity. I kept hoping the author would “scurry” to a thesaurus. Yeah, nope.

This was my first, and last, experience with this author. Two stars for at least some semblance of structure. Beyond that, however, all hope was lost.







View all my reviews