The Last Thing He Told Me

I listened to The last thing he told me by Laura Dave and here are my thoughts.

Hannah doesn't understand what happened. Her husband has disappeared, all that he left was a note saying protect her. The “her” in question is his 16 year old daughter Bailey. A girl who is not a fan of Hannah. Her mother died a long time ago but she has never warmed up.

Owen doesn't answer his phone and then his boss is arrested by the FBI. There is a lot going on with where Owen was working but his disappearance doesn't look good. When a U.S marshal arrives, she knows there is more to Owen and his disappearance than meets the eye and Bailey might just have the key to figuring out who Owen really is.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the book. The synopsis didn't give much away. I saw one big problem with this book.... All the excitement was with Owen and we didn't get his POV, we didn't even get his story from him. It felt a bit anticlimactic having the danger one step outside of Hannah. Don't get me wrong, the building relationship between Hannah and Bailey was great and I enjoyed the twists and turns but it was a bit predictable. The pace was decent enough and I was entertained but it was a bit monotonal. There wasn't any build up.

The audio was good. It was well done. I get the feeling it would have been 3.5 stars if I read it but the audio squeezed me to give it 4 stars.

I think if you like mysteries, you will love this one but if you are looking for a thriller.... I don't
think this is quite it.

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I felt like the first part of this story was really strong, but it because less and less believable. I didn't like Hannah's character (and also kept forgetting who the heck Hannah was), although I did like the daughter. I felt like this book got harder and harder to like as I went along. Solid premise but then went off the rails.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ – A most enjoyable read!

PRO
– Well written.
– Fast paced.
– Engaging plot (I actually finished this book in one day).
– Kept me guessing until the end.
– Interesting characters.
– 90% satisfying ending.

CONS
– The ending. I was satisfied with the ending the author gave us, however I couldn't help but wish for a different one.

ARC Via NetGalley

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.

It's rare I ever actually read my BOTM pick when it comes in the mail. With all the hype on Bookstagram and friends reading this and/or wanting to...why not?

Merged review:

It's rare I ever actually read my BOTM pick when it comes in the mail. With all the hype on Bookstagram and friends reading this and/or wanting to...why not?

A twisty turning mystery that never quite gets to a satisfying conclusion. I felt that the dynamic between the main character and her husband wasn't justified by their short marriage before everything went down. Particularly considering the way this book ends. Their love was never really shown to be that all encompassing kind that would drive a woman to keep pressing, to take on such responsibility, for a man that disappeared the way he did with literally no explanations. She just accepted it, and yet all the flashbacks show him repeatedly and consistently not prioritizing her (which, he prioritizes his daughter, that is fair, I'm just saying the intensity of their relationship seems unjustified). Overall the parts of this book that were good were very well done (the sleuthing, the reason he's hiding, etc) but the core relationship feels uneven and stilted to me, and as it's the crux of the whole kit n' caboodle the book didn't quite land as a result.

I think this book was a tad formulaic, but I don't think that was necessarily a bad thing! I really haven't read a lot of mysteries, and this was a pretty well written version of one. I want to watch some other folks and their opinion on it, especially those who are more into reading mysteries, because maybe they liked it less because it was less complicated? overall, though, I did enjoy my experience and I do not think it was a waste of time. That gives it at least 2.5 stars, in my opinion.