What Have We Done Summary, Characters and Themes | Alex Finlay

What Have We Done is a thriller by Alex Finlay that explores the enduring scars of childhood trauma and the terrifying lengths people will go to hide dark secrets. 

The novel follows three former foster children—Jenna, Donnie, and Nico—who are thrust back into danger when someone from their past starts hunting them down. Tied together by a harrowing crime committed decades earlier at Savior House, a corrupt and abusive group home, they must now outwit professional killers and expose a powerful conspiracy to survive. Finlay masterfully combines relentless action with emotional depth, creating a story that’s both heart-pounding and haunting.

Summary

What Have We Done opens with a chilling flashback: five teenagers, covered in blood, burying a body in the woods, whispering, “What have we done?” 

Fast-forward to the present day, and three of those teenagers—Jenna, Donnie, and Nico—are now adults living vastly different lives, but they are suddenly and violently pulled back together by a series of assassination attempts.

Jenna, now a suburban stepmother trying to leave her past as a government assassin behind, is forced to take on a mysterious kill assignment. 

However, the job turns out to be a setup, designed not only for her to fail but also for her to be eliminated afterward. She barely escapes with her life, setting off a chain of events that force her to confront the secrets she buried long ago.

Donnie, once a famous rock star whose career has crumbled under the weight of addiction, is attacked by a seemingly adoring fan aboard a cruise ship. The fan tries to kill him, pushing him overboard, but he miraculously survives. Meanwhile, Nico, a successful producer of a mining reality show, is lured into an abandoned mine and trapped by a deliberate explosion. 

All three realize someone from their shared past wants them dead—and it all traces back to their time at Savior House.

As the story progresses, Jenna, Donnie, and Nico reconnect, though mistrust and old wounds linger.

They uncover that Ben, another of their Savior House cohort, now a respected federal judge, has been murdered. His death is not random; it’s another piece of the puzzle. 

Flashbacks reveal the horror they faced at Savior House: a place riddled with abuse, exploitation, and dark secrets. In desperation, the teenagers had committed a violent act of self-defense—one that powerful figures later manipulated for their own gain.

The trio discovers that Artemis, one of their fellow survivors, is now a wealthy and ruthless corporate magnate. 

Artemis, scarred by their shared past but driven by ambition, plays a significant role in the attempts on their lives.

Alongside him are the “Twins,” deadly assassins relentlessly hunting Jenna, Donnie, and Nico. Sabine, another figure from their past, adds an unpredictable and dangerous element, working against them with her own secret motives.

Their personal struggles mirror their external battles. Jenna must protect her family—her husband Simon and stepdaughters Willow and Lulu—who become pawns in the deadly game. 

Donnie wrestles with addiction and guilt, while Nico fights through injury and emotional scars. Despite betrayals from supposed allies and horrifying truths unearthed about their exploitation by a shadowy Corporation, the three refuse to surrender.

In a climactic series of battles, Jenna orchestrates a daring rescue of her kidnapped family. Sabine and Artemis meet their ends in brutal, emotional showdowns. 

Yet the ultimate victory feels hollow: while they expose the Corporation’s abuses and Savior House’s crimes, true justice remains elusive, with only partial accountability.

The novel closes on a bittersweet note. Jenna, Donnie, and Nico survive, forever changed by what they endured. 

Their bond, forged in trauma and tested through blood, stands strong. They vow to protect one another, finally stepping out from the shadows of their childhood horrors. While the wounds of their past will never fully heal, they have reclaimed their lives—and their futures.

Characters

Jenna

Jenna is a multifaceted character who navigates between her violent past and her present life as a suburban stepmother. Once a highly trained government assassin, she struggles to reconcile with her darker history while trying to protect her loved ones.

Her reactivation into the world of assassination begins with a mysterious assignment that forces her to confront her past. Throughout the narrative, Jenna showcases immense resourcefulness and survival skills, surviving multiple assassination attempts and evading death with calculated precision.

However, her emotional journey is equally significant, as she faces difficult choices between loyalty to her past friends and protecting her family. Her relationships with her stepchildren, Simon, Willow, and Lulu, add complexity to her character, showcasing her vulnerability when those she loves are threatened.

Jenna’s growth is evident as she learns to balance her deadly skills with the need for emotional connections and healing.

Donnie

Donnie is a character marked by self-doubt, addiction, and redemption. Once a rock star, his fall from grace is compounded by his struggles with alcoholism and a sense of purposelessness after being fired from his band.

Donnie’s journey is one of survival, both physically and emotionally. Throughout the story, he faces relentless attacks from those who want to kill him, forcing him to confront not only external dangers but also his inner demons.

His friendship with Jenna and Nico plays a crucial role in his redemption arc, as he finds strength and purpose in protecting them. His ongoing battle with addiction is mirrored in his desire to make amends for past mistakes, showing his willingness to fight for a second chance at life.

As the story progresses, Donnie moves toward personal growth, with his ultimate survival offering hope that even those with broken pasts can find some form of peace.

Nico

Nico is the emotionally complicated character who hides his past under the guise of a successful TV producer. His life as a producer on a mining reality show masks the pain and guilt he carries from his troubled youth at Savior House.

Nico’s past, marked by trauma, guilt, and a need for redemption, catches up with him as he becomes one of the primary targets of the mysterious assassins. His struggles with physical injuries after the mine collapse and his complex emotional state create a deeply layered character who must confront his own psychological scars.

Nico’s relationship with Donnie is key to his development, as their bond grows stronger despite the betrayals and emotional wounds from their past. Throughout the narrative, Nico gradually learns to open up to others, letting go of his isolation and accepting that his survival is tied to confronting the past he’s tried to outrun.

By the end of the book, Nico’s journey is one of emotional release and the potential for new beginnings.

Artemis

Artemis is both a tragic and horrifying figure in the story. Once a fellow survivor at Savior House, Artemis has transformed into a criminal mastermind who controls a vast empire.

His motivations, however, are not born from a desire for power but from a deep-seated fear and a need for survival. The revelation of Artemis’s role as the puppet master behind much of the conflict shifts him from a straightforward villain to a more complex character.

His actions are driven by a desire to protect himself and seek revenge on those who wronged him, and yet his decisions lead to more destruction. His tragic backstory makes him both a victim of his circumstances and a villain, making him one of the most intriguing characters in the story.

Despite his villainous actions, there’s a sense of empathy for Artemis as his motivations come to light—he is not inherently evil but is instead a product of the horrors at Savior House, mirroring the damage done to others.

Sabine

Sabine is initially presented as a mysterious and deadly woman chasing Jenna but later revealed to have deeper connections to the story’s central mystery. While initially aligned with Artemis, Sabine’s actions show that she has her own agenda, which complicates her character further.

Her betrayal of Artemis adds an additional layer to the narrative, as she is neither fully good nor evil but driven by her own personal motivations. Sabine’s relationship with Jenna is filled with tension, as she is both an antagonist and someone whose personal desires intertwine with the larger plot.

Her character arc culminates in a final confrontation, revealing her complex and ultimately tragic nature.

Themes

The Psychological Burden of Trauma and Guilt from Past Crimes

What Have We Done deals with the psychological weight carried by the main characters due to their shared traumatic experiences in their youth at Savior House. This theme delves into how a dark secret from their past—specifically a crime they committed in self-defense—shapes their present lives.

The guilt and unresolved trauma from this event are not just fleeting emotions but burdens that dictate their behavior, relationships, and decisions. Jenna, Donnie, and Nico are constantly haunted by their past actions, and this unresolved trauma is an ongoing battle, manifesting in their psychological struggles such as addiction, guilt, and fear of retribution.

As they are targeted by external forces, they must not only confront these internal demons but also face the harsh reality that their past crimes, buried for years, are now resurfacing with dangerous consequences. The theme explores how trauma, if left unchecked, can dictate the course of a person’s life, even leading to violence and extreme situations where survival becomes entangled with confronting past mistakes.

The Corruption of Institutions and Systemic Abuse

The book reveals a dark critique of institutions, particularly through the portrayal of Savior House and the Corporation. Savior House, presented as a supposed safe haven for troubled youth, is actually an abusive and corrupt environment that exploits vulnerable children.

The narrative explores how such institutions, under the guise of care and rehabilitation, perpetuate cycles of abuse and manipulation. This theme extends into the broader concept of systemic corruption, with the Corporation—a powerful, shadowy entity—pulling the strings.

The Corporation’s involvement in exploiting orphans and using them as tools for assassination and manipulation reflects the grotesque lengths to which institutions will go to maintain control and power. The characters’ struggle against this systemic evil is not just a fight for survival but a fight against an entrenched, corrupt system that has shaped their fates since childhood.

Through the character of Artemis and the actions of the Corporation, the novel critiques the way institutions exploit individuals for personal and political gain, raising questions about accountability and the ability of victims to overcome such pervasive forces.

The Complex Nature of Revenge and Redemption

Another key theme in the novel is the intertwining paths of revenge and redemption. Throughout the story, the characters grapple with their desires for vengeance against those who have wronged them, particularly the Corporation and those who manipulated their past.

However, the pursuit of revenge is never straightforward. Jenna, Donnie, and Nico each have their own complex relationship with the idea of vengeance.

For Jenna, her primary motivation is not revenge for its own sake but to protect her family and confront the dangerous forces from her past. As she comes to terms with the layers of betrayal and manipulation around her, she also has to reckon with her own actions during her violent past, realizing that redemption cannot be achieved by merely settling scores.

The novel explores how revenge can be a double-edged sword, where seeking justice or payback sometimes leads to further moral compromise or emotional destruction. Redemption, in contrast, is shown to be a far more complicated and painful journey—requiring self-reflection, sacrifice, and the painful acknowledgment that not all wrongs can be fully righted.

In this way, the novel presents a nuanced exploration of how revenge and redemption are often linked, with characters finding salvation not in their ability to strike back but in their willingness to confront their past and make difficult choices for the future.

The Bonds of Friendship and Survival in Extreme Circumstances

In What Have We Done, the characters’ survival depends not only on their individual resilience but also on their ability to reconnect and form bonds in extreme circumstances. The trio—Jenna, Donnie, and Nico—are bound by their shared history, and their survival hinges on their ability to put aside past betrayals and distrust in order to fight back against the powerful forces targeting them.

This theme highlights the idea that human connection and loyalty are vital to overcoming adversity, especially when facing life-threatening situations. The characters’ relationships are complicated, built on a foundation of both shared trauma and unspoken animosities.

Yet, as they are forced to reunite, they discover that only by working together can they uncover the truth and stop the machinations of those hunting them. The strength of their bond, though tested, becomes a key aspect of their survival.

The novel underscores the importance of friendship, loyalty, and mutual support when facing not just external threats but the inner turmoil that comes from facing one’s past. Ultimately, the theme demonstrates that survival is not just about evading death but about finding a sense of unity and purpose with others in the face of overwhelming odds.

The Moral Complexity of Justice and Revenge

What Have We Done delves into the murky waters of justice and vengeance, showing how these concepts can often be blurred in a world where the lines between right and wrong are not easily drawn. The novel challenges the simplistic notion of “good” versus “evil” by portraying characters who commit morally ambiguous acts in their pursuit of justice or survival.

While the characters seek to expose the wrongs committed against them and others, the methods they employ are often violent, and their actions do not always align with traditional ideas of justice. This theme is most evident in the characters’ quest to take down the Corporation and the individuals who caused them harm.

The novel complicates the idea of justice, suggesting that sometimes, the pursuit of righting wrongs may require actions that push the boundaries of morality. As Jenna, Donnie, and Nico struggle with their past actions and the choices they make in the present, they must come to terms with the fact that true justice is rarely achieved without significant moral cost.

In the end, the novel implies that justice is not a simple conclusion but a painful, often imperfect journey that is deeply personal and shaped by each character’s own understanding of right and wrong.