Dave offers unexpected twists and turns and complex relationships in this great mystery.
In The Last Thing He Told Me, Hannah has just celebrated her one-year anniversary of marriage to Owen, she may be making the slightest inroads with her teenaged stepdaughter Bailey--and she may finally be getting used to living on a houseboat too.
But then a stranger shows up at the door with a cryptic message for Hannah, the news says Owen's company was fudging its numbers, and Owen is suddenly nowhere to be found.
Laura Dave sets up a well-rounded, fascinating mystery; Hannah and Bailey are pushed to work together to try to find Owen; a US marshal and federal agents are eager to locate him and to pressure his family for information; and the only lawyer Hannah knows to turn to for help is her ex-fiancé, who she left at the altar years ago. The story is wonderfully interpersonally complicated.
The story offers unexpected twists and turns without manipulating the reader or relying on red herrings. The characters’ piecing together of the situation is realistically intricate, doesn’t feel too easy, and is never tedious. The relationship between stepmother Hannah and her stepdaughter Bailey, whose mother has died, is fraught and complex, yet Dave offers hard-fought, minor miracles of peace and joy amid the various tensions.
Dave explores powerful messages of loyalty, acts of true love and sacrifice, and bravery. I didn’t see where this was going and I loved the gutsy, smart power play toward the end. Great, great book.
Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book?
This is my first Laura Dave book. Have you read Hello, Sunshine, The First Husband, Eight Hundred Grapes, or any of her others? The Last Thing He Told Me has me ready for more from this author.
Another recent mystery I enjoyed was Who Is Maud Dixon? Click here for my review.
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You make is sound very intriguing! I want to read it!