
Member Reviews

I had a really hard time with this one grasping my attention and I felt like I was forcing myself to read it. I got about 20% in and decided that this was just not the book for me

Super fast read. A layered story about family and past lives all of this while Nora and Sam, estranged siblings, are trying to find out what happened to their father the night he died.

This was a heartfelt and emotional read. The story follows Anna, who is searching for her missing brother while uncovering family secrets along the way. The plot is filled with tension and twists as Anna tries to piece together what happened, while fighting with her feelings of guilt and loss. I really connected with the characters, especially Anna’s determination to find the truth. The book had a great balance of suspense and emotional depth, and I found it hard to put down. It’s a moving story about family, loss, and finding closure.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave. As a fan of Laura Dave’s work, I was eager to dive into her latest novel—this being the third book of hers I’ve read. While I appreciated certain elements, such as the sibling dynamic and their quest to uncover the truth behind their father's mysterious death, the story didn’t fully live up to my expectations. The plot felt a bit slower than I anticipated, and at times, I found it lacking the gripping suspense that made her previous books so engaging. Overall, while it was a solid read, it didn’t quite leave the same impact as her other works.

The Night We Lost Him is the second book I’ve read by Laura Dave. Overall, while I didn’t find this book quite as enjoyable as the first one, it still proved to be a compelling story and a good read.
After their father dies in a fall at his California cottage, siblings Luke and Nora come together to try and understand the night they lost him. They have never been very close, but this sense of purpose draws them together and causes them to not only examine their father’s life, but their own as well.
This is a mystery that is well-written. The characters are likable and the questions and introspections are well-conceived. The author addresses the issues of grief and grieving in a realistic manner and more than once I was close to tears as the characters described their journey of grief after losing someone they loved.
The Night We Lost Him is a satisfying book that is thoughtful, thought-provoking, and an entertaining and interesting mystery. NetGalley provided an advance reader copy.

3.5 stars!
I enjoyed this! I was intrigued right away and shocked by the ending, which is always a great sign. It did feel like more of a drama with a subtle mystery feel. Definitely not a thriller, so I wish it was marketed differently! The writing was easily digestible and easy to follow.
If you're a fan of slow burn mysterious dramas, this one is for you!

This was a slow, dramatic story that to me, doesn’t fit the bill for a thriller. It definitely fell flat for me. I think this book is perfect for someone who likes a slow burn and more of a domestic thriller than a fast paced page turner.

When I read 800 Grapes, the story stayed with me for a very long time. So much so that I still refer friends to that title. I thought the details of the writing made me feel as if I was experiencing every scene in person. When I saw this title, I knew it would be on my list. In this mysterious work, we find siblings trying to determine if their father's death was an accident or if there was something more sinister that caused his death. It is a great story and will keep the reader engaged. Looking forward to the next one by this author. The writing is easy to connect with and creates such a vision of the characters that they seem like real life people you know. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The suspenseful plot and well-developed characters make this a truly compelling read. As the story progresses, the reader is left guessing, eager to uncover the truth. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as The Last Thing He Told Me, but it was still an enjoyable mystery read.

If you enjoyed THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME, you will enjoy this one. You have to go into it with the right expectations -- this is not a thriller, this is a slow burn mystery + family drama. It's intriguing, it's layered, and it's a pageturner.

Laura Dave’s new book is less of a thriller and more of a family drama. While there was no suspense or threat of danger anywhere in the story, it was still fairly good. I read it in a day due to its shorter length, easy style, and straightforward plot. I could see the ending coming by about 80% of the way through.
I enjoyed her other book, The Last Thing He Told Me, more than this one, but I don’t regret reading this book. It was entertaining for a relaxing afternoon.

Honestly, this book just wasn't for me and it took me absolutely forever to read because I wasn't feeling it and didn't seem to care about the outcome. I should also preface this by saying I also didn't love The Last Thing He Told Me, though I did like it better than this one (I mainly just didn't care for the ending).
I was initially excited to see this was described by many as a slow-moving family drama more than a mystery/thriller because I love slow-moving family dramas. But then I realized my favorite thing about family drama and slow moving books is that they're often packed with character development. This book had none and didn't give me much of a reason to care about or connect with any of the characters.
That's OK; plenty of people loved this book. I think the author is probably just not for me and I'm glad I know that moving forward.

A lot of back and forth and characters to keep track of so it was a bit hard to follow, but it was good.

This one was not for me! I had high hopes cause i liked another book by this author, but this was a miss

We follow the book from the perspective of Liam in the past, and Nora in the present. I liked this storytelling style, it helped us get to know Liam more in an effort to understand his motivations. You might not agree with his actions, but it help gave clarity. I liked Nora as a protagonist. She’s already been in immense grief from losing her mother, and now her father is gone. While she was so close with her mother, her father wasn’t as present, although he tried to be. But he was married three times, and instead of trying to have the families blend, he kept them separate. So Nora was not around her brothers that often which created a lot of friction and misunderstanding between the three siblings. She did gain a love of architecture and design from seeing her father at work in developing new hotels. The same dynamic happened with her brother Sam. He and his brother are left the company after their father passed, and while his brother is all in—Sam is a little less sure if this is the right fit for him. When Sam reaches Nora because he suspects there was foul play involved with his dad, they immediately go into amateur investigation mode to find out what happened, but more so, figure out who their dad actually was. I found The Night We Lost Him to be an interesting story about a complicated family. Surprising choices are made, and there is a final twist that is quite unexpected. I really didn't like it and even though I like the pace of the book, I expected more from it.
Thank you Netgalley and S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books for the ARC in exchange of my honest review.

Interesting plotline but it couldn't hold my attention even as I was trying to figure out the mystery woman the whole way through. Good use of flashbacks and present day POV but I just didn't really like Liam, especially in regards to how he treated his children and wives. Like everything would have been so much simpler, if (view spoiler). That said, watching Nora and her half brother Sam try to forge a relationship was nice. Nora deserves all the good things poor girl!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

For starters, I would not categorize this book as a thriller. To me, this is a family drama with a suspense feel. If you go into this expecting a thriller, I think it’ll be disappointed. If you go into it expecting a family drama, I think you will enjoy it much more.
I personally really liked this one. I jumped between audio and ebook & enjoyed both formats. The plot was interesting, the pacing was steady, the story flowed well, the characters had depth & I thought it had some good plot twists.
If you are open to a family drama with heartbreak, loss and grief with a mystery aspect I would definitely recommend!
4⭐️

Took a while to get into this, and it was occasionally absurd, but it was a solid thriller. A tense mystery that expertly weaves together family secrets and mounting suspense.

I think if you have not read The Last Thing He Told Me, you will enjoy this more than I did. It didn't live up to the writing of her previous novel for me. That's not to say I didn't like the book, it's just one that probably won't stick with me for very long.
It was a very intriguing premise, and I did like the back and forth in the timelines of seeing Nora's struggles with her relationship and then her father's relationships. There's some correlation between the two I enjoyed, and I love how Nora's played out...not so much with Liam. The way Dave made it seem like Liam tried his best to show love to everyone in his life, and be there for them, fell short for me. He came across as a very selfish and narcissistic person instead, and I'm not entirely sure that was her goal.
Overall, it's a good read, but not one I will be recommending to every reader I come across like I do with other books.

Thank you for this ARC! I have enjoyed novels from Dave in the past, but I could not get into this one. I was a DNF for me. It may be a case of wrong book at the wrong time. I was having difficulty concentrating and the opening chapters did not grab me.