The Last Thing He Told Me

The Last Thing He Told Me starts out with a bang as a husband suddenly disappears from his wife and teenage daughter's lives. Owen's new wife, Hannah soon receives a note from him with two words - 'protect her'. That note begins Hannah's quest to find her missing husband and protect her stepdaughter, leading her down a road of secrets and lies.

I think this book is a domestic mystery that is just shy of a suspense read. But it also veers into the domestic drama realm with its focus on the growing relationship between stepmom Hannah and her teenage stepdaughter, Bailey as they band together to find out what happened to Owen. Hannah proves her resourcefulness in figuring out what happened to her husband, but I couldn't help feeling that some situations seemed too far-fetched and easily found for someone with no investigative experience. 

Hannah and Bailey's characters are well-developed, but this is more of a slower paced read. Flashbacks are provided to give readers more insight into Hannah and Owen's relationship, but I was hoping to gain a better understanding of Owen's motivations. I would have loved to have his POV. It was an interesting premise about Owen's whereabouts/past but while the ending was sweet, it was much too pat for my liking.

This story has tense situations, but this isn't an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Instead, Dave focuses on building her characters and their rocky relationships while telling an intriguing tale of secrets, lies and manipulations. This was a quick, enjoyable read that surprised me with its focus on relationships more than suspense. Look for this book in stores May 4, 2021!

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for my complimentary digital copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Laura Dave

Genre: Suspense

Type and Source: eBook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

First Published: May 4, 2021

Opening Lines: Owen used to like to tease me about how 

I lose everything, about how, in my own way, I have 

raised losing things to an art form.

Book Description from GoodReads: We all have stories we never tell.

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her.

Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers: Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered; as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss; as a US Marshal and FBI agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.

Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth, together. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they are also building a new future. One neither Hannah nor Bailey could have anticipated.