The Last Thing He Told Me

As you may already know this book has been selected for the Reese Witherspoon's Book Club May Pick and is trending all over social media at the moment. Having just read it I can totally see why. This book is simply irresistible.

This was such a page-turner and a very addictive read. It begins with Hannah opening her door to find a young teenage girl standing there with a yellow note addressed to her in the handwriting of her husband. The note simply says Protect her! All kinds of questions are running through Hannah's mind as to why her husband is sending her a note rather than phoning her. She assumes the note is referring to her step-daughter Bailey, but why? It soon becomes very clear that Owen has disappeared leaving them with a bag full of cash and no further answers. Owen's boss is arrested for fraud and even though Hannah and Bailey know that Owen would have also been questioned by the police they cannot understand his urgency to disappear without any explanation. As they dig deeper into Owen's past they start to discover the unthinkable and know that in order to survive this nightmare they will need to become united.

This clever, intriguing novel draws you in with the mystery surrounding Owen's disappearance. How can a man just suddenly vanish without a trace leaving his only daughter with his new wife, especially when they haven't had time to fully adjust to this new family arrangement and secured their relationship? On the face of it this book focuses around Owen and his disappearance, however, it is so much more than a mystery thriller. There is something softer that runs through the novel: relationships, in many different forms. The relationship between Hannah and her own grandfather, who raised her, is a heartwarming tale and although we get snippets of their time together through flashbacks, it is what centres Hannah and brings out the best in her. Her own relationship with her mother was a rocky one and it is through her determination not to be like her mother that we see how much love and thought goes into protecting Bailey and putting her needs first. Their relationship is a complicated one, which made the story feel realistic; two people thrown together having to cope with the emotions of losing the one person that unites them. Although very much strained it is their growth that makes this book such a compelling read. And then there is the relationship between Hannah and Owen. I love the way the book goes back in time so that we see the two of them together from twenty-four hours earlier to two years and four months ago.

The story line with its unexpected twists and turns was shocking at times but such an enjoyable, unpredictable read. I thought the ending was very fitting and although not the outcome I had hoped for I definitely believe this was the right ending for the book. I can absolutely see why this book is being made into TV adaption featuring Julia Roberts, how exciting!! Completely recommend reading the book before this series begins. What are you waiting for? Grab a copy now or add it to your TBR piles, a must read this year.