4.5 Stars!

Your husband is missing and leaves you with these final words: "protect her". The style of this book, the writing, the settings, and the slow-burn mystery/family drama kept me engaged from start to finish. I loved the unfolding of the characters as more was revealed, and Hannah's tenacity to protect Bailey at all costs even if it means sacrificing her own wants and needs. Hannah's deep devotion to Owen's lasting words only demonstrated how deep and true her love was despite the information that she learns about him. I loved this book through the last page and felt deeply satisfied by the way it ended and the conclusion of their stories. I know this is being adapted with Julia Roberts as the star, and I can't wait to see this story come to life!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was very excited to read this novel, mainly to see if it lived up to the great recommendations I had heard for many weeks. I had also previously read Laura Dave's previous work Eight Hundred Grapes and loved that book, so the bar was set very high. Overall this novel is enjoyable, and I would definitely recommend it to family and friends, etc. but I think in the end, this novel is a bit forgettable.

The Last Thing He Told Me starts very strong and brings the reader into the fold quickly. As with the best mysteries, you are trying to put a puzzle together knowing that you don't have all of the pieces. However as the plot progresses, I feel like it loses steam and the reader's interest with it. The ending was wrapped up nicely and gave closure to all of the main characters, which I appreciated.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy of this novel.

This one had me hooked. It was more suspense/domestic drama rather than a thriller, but it was edge of your seat kind of stuff. Owen, Hannah's husband and Bailey's dad, just goes missing - the only thing left behind is a note to Hannah telling her to protect Bailey, and a bag of money. Seems that Owen isn't who he says he is and Hannah and Bailey are left to figure out what happened and clean up the mess he left in his wake. Quite an impossible situation - and a rather heartbreaking one in the end.

Good story, lots of mystery to keep the reader interested, but the plot toot a downturn for me once it was solved and the conclusion was not what I expected or wanted.

This was an enjoyable read filled with suspense and family drama. It starts with Hannah receiving a message from her husband, Owen, who has suddenly disappeared. The message only says “Protect her.” Assuming the “her” is Owen’s daughter, Bailey, Hannah and Bailey try to uncover clues to find Owen’s whereabouts and why he’s in hiding.

The author does a great job of going between present day and the past when Owen first meets Hannah giving us a glimpse of who Owen is. What I really loved most was the relationship and growth between Hannah and step-daughter, Bailey.

Great book and will definitely read more from this author! Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC!

Every now and then I want to read a mystery and when I sat down to read this I quickly became immersed in Hannah's story. I read it in one afternoon and really couldn't put it down. I loved the twists and turns and how protective Hannah was of Bailey even though she really hadn't been in her life all that long. The ending was realistic and it unexpectedly brought me to tears!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Published 4 May 2021

The Last Thing He Told Me is a mystery... kind of. Hannah is given a note one morning that just says "Protect her." Her husband, Owen, has disappeared and her daughter finds a note and a bag of money in her locker at school. Clearly Owen is escaping from something (or someone), but what?

Hannah learns that her husband's company is involved in some shady dealings, but she denies that he was involved. However, once the police and FBI are involved in the investigation, it seems that Owen is not quite who he says he is.

This becomes a case of Hannah being an armchair detective, flying her and Owen's daughter halfway across the country to try to figure out who Owen is (not entirely sure what happened to the FBI as they seem to have disappeared). The book is interesting in that it did keep my attention, but it did go a little off the rails at times. I like Laura Dave's books and would definitely read more of them in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley for a chance to read and review this ARC. Seemed really promising and then just landed flat. Quick and easy read, but so predictable.

initial thoughts: overall a great, fast paced read! I necessarily wouldn’t classify this as a thriller so much as a “family drama,” with a few suspenseful turns.

I enjoyed seeing Bailey & Hannah’s relationship grow, and the flashbacks to Hannah & Owen’s relationship added to the story.

while this story started out strong and “unputdownable” for me, the second half seemed a little far fetched and a little like an episode of SVU where everything comes together just a bit too quickly.

the epilogue was just okay for me, but I do see how it brings us readers a bit of closure.

I wouldn’t turn anyone away from reading this one though, as I really did enjoy it.

a big thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC!

Good thriller in a not so creepy way. The characters are well developed., I actually could have had them be a bit more fleshed out. I also wanted the thrill to last a bit longer, all of the sudden the author was wrapping it up. Just wanted more of a bang finish, but I did enjoy this read!

A twisty mystery! The author grabbed ahold of me from the beginning and didn’t let go. Just when I thought I had figured out the secret it took a turn. It’s hard to figure out who the good guys and bad guys are, which I liked. The novel is written at a good pace to keep the reader engaged. I have thought about this ending several times since finishing the book and I know it will stick with me. Thank you for the excellent book!

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

A woman thinks she has found her loving mate. After they are married, he disappears when his company is in trouble. All he has left her is a note.

Protect. Her

This book kept me asking what is going on? Great characters. Good read. I recommend this book

Solid 4 Stars! I enjoyed this book so much. The mystery kept me really engaged but what I enjoyed the most was the relationship between the stepmother and her daughter. I will most definitely look in to more of the author's books.

Drama with a bit of suspense mixed in. This is a tale of a stepmother protecting her stepdaughter while looking for her husband and building a relationship with her stepdaughter. They will find out many things about the husband that they could have never dreamed of.

“Einstein said, So far as the theories of mathematics are about reality, they are not certain; so far as they are certain, they are not about reality.”

I loved everything about this book! Don’t miss it. I always loved Rebecca Lowman’s narration of ‘The Red Lotus’ and she did a great job with this book as well.

How well do you really ever know someone? That is the question at the heart of this fast-paced and very smart thriller. The book has already been optioned for Apple TV starring Julia Roberts, who will be perfect as the main protagonist Hannah.

Hannah is an artist who is happily married to the brilliant Owen Michaels. Their picture-perfect life in Sausalito has just a few prickly bumps including Hannah's strained relationship with her teenage stepdaughter Bailey. Hannah cares for Bailey and has tried to build a relationship with her but Bailey keeps pushing her away.

Their lives change in an instant when Hannah receives a note from Owen with the simple message "Protect her". These two words become the driving force of all of Hannah's actions from that moment on. Owen's start-up company The Shop is being investigated by the SEC and the FBI for fraud and soon the CEO and founder is taken into custody. Hannah and Owen's friends and colleagues turn against her and assume Owen is guilty, too, because of his sudden disappearance.

“Part of me still wants to hold on to this one last moment - the moment where you still get to believe this is a joke, an error, a big nothing; the moment before you know for sure that something has started that you can no longer stop.”

The book rushes forward at top speed as Hannah searches for clues to help her locate her husband. The FBI and a federal marshal are breathing down her neck so she must act fast. Hannah simply cannot believe that her loving husband and devoted father to Bailey would simply abandon them both. Hannah searches for anything from Owen's past that might shed light on his whereabouts and even turns to Bailey's childhood memories to help.

“This is the thing about good and evil. They aren’t so far apart—and they often start from the same valiant place of wanting something to be different.”

Besides being a top-notch thriller, this novel is also an enthralling domestic drama. The evolution of the relationship between Hannah and Bailey was riveting. The plot twists were unpredictable and the locales were well-researched and realistic. I enjoyed everything about this audiobook and could not stop listening! The ending was completely unexpected! Bravo to Laura Dave for this fantastic story.

“It’s a terrible thing to know everything about someone long after you want to.”

I enjoyed this best seller book so much! It kept me on the edge of my seat. I would recommend to anyone!

Thank you NetGalley for providing this book for an honest opinion. This book hooks you from the very beginning. I mean your husband disappears and only leaves you with a note to protect his daughter. Hannah soon figures out Owen isn’t who he told her was, and Bailey may be the key to figuring out the truth but they don't get along. The relationship between Hannah and Bailey is so realistic. It is good to follow them on their journey. This was a good book and very hard to put down. I heard they may make a movie out of it and I can't wait to see it!!

Thanks for the read #netgallery. I couldn't put this book down. This has been one of my favorite reads in a long time. The complex relationships within this family, the storyline, and the twists were excellent. Favorite book of the year or at least for the last month!

A quick page-turner, The Last Thing He Told Me is an excellent way to spend an afternoon. It reminded me of John Grisham’s The Fugitive or Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent, but without the murder-mystery part, and, like the aforementioned, would make a great movie.

Hannah, an artist living on a beautiful houseboat in the San Francisco area, opens the door one day to a young woman with a note in her husband Owen’s handwriting that reads simply, “Protect her”. Hannah instinctively knows that the only “her” being referred to is her stepdaughter Bailey, Owen’s teenager daughter who is not exactly Hannah’s biggest fan. But that is all Hannah knows. She begins to question who Owen really is and if she really knows him at all. And Hannah and Bailey embark on dangerous quest to dig into Owen’s past to find the answers they seek, as well as the man they both love.

A recommended read, The Last Thing He Told Me was also big hit with the book club circuit, being selected by such heavy-hitters as Book of the Month Club and Reese’s Book Club.

A big thank you to Laura Dave, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for providing an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for this review.

Want to give The Last Thing He Told Me a read? Toggle on over to www.Bookshop.org and support your indie bookstores while shopping. You can find it at https://bookshop.org/lists/best-fiction-of-2021.

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This was a very unique premise with an equally unique conclusion. The characters are immediately likable and I was quickly invested in the story. A great read!