"The Night We Lost Him" by Laura Dave offers a suspenseful journey through family secrets and relationships. The story starts with a wealthy businessman's death and follows his children, Nora and Sam, as they uncover the truth.

While Dave's storytelling and the sibling dynamics are compelling, the book is slow-paced, which can be frustrating. The relationship with Cory, intended to be an epic love story, is confusing and underdeveloped, detracting from the main plot.

The novel also has overly complex subplots and many characters, making it hard to follow at times. Despite these issues, fans of family dramas and mysteries may still find it engaging, but it might not stand out for those seeking more depth and originality.

I was a huge fan of The Last Thing He Told Me, so I was excited to read Laura Dave’s next book. But don’t go into this expecting a thriller like that one. This is a slow paced family drama with a heavy dose of “romance”.
Nora is the eldest daughter of Liam Noone, a hotel magnate. He divorced her mother decades ago, but stayed involved in his daughter’s life. She’s pretty much estranged from her two half brothers. When Liam dies under mysterious circumstances, her one brother reaches out to her. The siblings have never been given a chance to really get to know each other as Liam seemed determined to keep each of his families separate.
There are two storylines - the present day and one from years in the past, with Liam and an unknown woman. These chapters are meant to explore this big love story, but I just didn’t get it.
Each of the siblings is also having romantic issues and I couldn’t help but wonder if their poor parental example hasn’t rubbed off on them.
The book gets off to a slow start. It wasn’t until almost the ½ point that I felt I was getting a feel for the two main characters. I did enjoy watching Nora and Sam finally begin to develop a relationship. But I can’t say either character really resonated with me. And the pace never did pick up. It was just kind of dull. It is definitely not a “page turner”. I will admit to not figuring out who the mystery woman was, but once her identity was revealed, it was clear who the murderer was.
My thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this book.

The Night We Lost him was a very slow pace for me, but I usually prefer a fast pace, so I think it’s just a preference thing. The character work was quite good and I really loved the different timelines that gave us a peek behind the curtain. I started the book really into the mystery aspect, but very quickly pivoted to the identity question and the romance subplot. I liked the ending and thought it was truly well done. I’m taking off a star because I don’t like repetitive writing and I read “drilled him/her/them with a look” entirely too many times in this title. I think authors find a line they like and don’t realize they’re using it so much, but there is really no reason to have so many drilling looks in a single story.

Overall, it’s a 3.5/5 for me. I know many readers that would enjoy this title, even if it missed the mark a little for me. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review The Night We Lost Him! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave coming out September 17 refers to Liam Noone who either fell, jumped, or was pushed off the side of a cliff at his most beloved cottage on the California coast.

When two of his three children by different marriages, Nora and Sam, decide to do their own investigation after determining the police review lacking, they will finally discover their father’s secret he had kept hidden for 50 years.

The novel has a fairly large cast of characters, some of whom seemed entirely superfluous, making it a little tough to keep track of who was who and to whom. Many of their interpersonal relationships are strange and complicated, while lacking either depth or complexity. This is also true of the individual characters. None of them were developed enough to feel like real, authentic, whole people. Also, guessing about whether it was a murder, accident, or suicide was interesting, but the end result on that storyline wasn't as rewarding as I'd expected. This is most definitely a slow burn setup.

Overall, I do recommend this one. Just be prepared for a slower storyline than Dave’s last. If you like Laura Dave, you'll like this one too. I look forward to her future books.

Thank You to S&S/Marysue Rucci Books for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley. These are my candid thoughts!

I liked this book well enough but found it incredibly slow and hard to get through for a thriller. Some of the relationships did not even make sense to me. This story fell flat for me and not like my previous read by this author.

Nora's mother passed away some months ago, and now, her father, Liam, has died in a freak accident. In the weeks following her father's death, she is confronted by one of her estranged brothers (from her father's 2nd marriage) with news of things in the will, as well as the thought that maybe their father's death was not an accident, Nora and her brother, Sam start bi-costal inquiry into the night their father died, and the things in his life he kept just to and for himself.

Told from Nora's present day point of view alternating chapters with her father's perspective starting 51 years ago, author Laura Dave strings together a beautiful life of love and loyalty, and what they mean to different people.

At under 250 pages, this is an easy read that moves along at a great pace. The time/narration jumps were well documented by chapter titles. Though I did find Nora's chapter titles to be odd and not always "on topic" which left me wondering at times if I was missing something important. (But then I got swept up in the story and stopped thinking so much about them.)

Thank you, NetGalley and Simon Element of Simon & Schuster for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Element for the ARC of The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave. I am such a huge fan of Laura Dave's writing, and this book is no exception. The book is written beautifully, with rich characters, a flair for mystery, a touch of a love story, and so much more. It also has the added elements of estranged siblings, family drama, and hidden (or not-so-hidden) secrets. This is one I'd definitely reread, especially now that I know the twists. All in all, a fast, compelling read and one I thoroughly enjoyed and would definitely recommend!

Love Laura Dave! Really good. Held my interest the whole time and I never quite could figure out what was happening. Highly recommend for any thriller lover! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

I was sooo excited to get this! I have liked Laura Dave's previous books and had high hopes. This one really fell flat. The story seemed simple - did Nora's father die or did something more sinister happen? This book had soooo many characters who felt unnecessary. When the twist came at the end, I actually didn't even remember who the person who that was being mentioned. This was a terribly slow book and at about 60% I was ready for it be done. There's also multiple different story lines happening which felt unnecessary as well. The overall love story felt forced and Liam's lover mentions how much she doesn't want to be with him. It was overall weird and not at all a "riveting page-turner with a heartbreaking final twist you’ll never see coming."

Unfortunately this book did not work for me but I never gave up and finished. It took me almost 2 months to get through which is unheard of for me. It is very slow moving, it is not a thriller in any sense, some mystery but it is pretty easy to figure out - there is no jaw dropping reveal. It is also touted as a romance with a love story, which I hated since none of the characters were likable or relatable and it romanticized infidelity with every single character. I really dislike giving out such low ratings but I just wasn’t a fan of this book. The thing I did like were the various settings, my husband’s family is from central coast CA so that has a special place in my heart but that’s really all.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon Element for this advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

“The Night We Lost Him” has been described by the Publisher as a combination of soulful suspense and evocative family drama. (True) It’s also labeled as a thriller-a riveting page turner-but that it is NOT. I expect a FAST pace when I see the word THRILLER, but the pace of this story is extremely SLOW. It is also depicted as an EPIC love story. (Hmmm)

Hotel magnate Liam Noone was still friendly with his three ex-wives, and he was still an involved father with his three children-even though he kept his families carefully separated.

But he loves them all-the BEST that he is able to.

To his eldest child and only daughter, Nora, he was a father who loved her from afar – as he often spent his time at his cliffside cottage on the California coast-and she lived in Brooklyn with her mother.

Windbreak was the home where Liam would go to spend time alone, or with the mysterious HER.

It is also the place where he will end up falling to his death. The authorities rule the fall “accidental” but her half brother, Sam seems to believe otherwise.

And, we as readers know he is correct because the PUSH is revealed in the PROLOGUE-but we don’t know WHO pushed him.,

Sam convinces Nora to fly to California with him in an attempt to learn the truth. When they finally find their first clue as to what may have REALLY happened the night they lost their father (not until the midway mark of the book!) they begin to uncover their father’s secret-which he had kept hidden for 51 years.

It involves a woman named Cory. (not a spoiler-their chapters from the PAST start early in the narrative)

I wish I could say that THEIR relationship made sense to me-but it did NOT.

I also did NOT find it to be an EPIC love story-it didn’t move me EMOTIONALLY at all.

I do enjoy Laura Dave’s character driven stories, and I will be watching for her next book. She writes complicated, broken people very, very well.

But, THIS time the story fell flat for me.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded down

AVAILABLE September 17, 2024

Thank You to S&S/Marysue Rucci Books for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley. These are my candid thoughts!

I didn't feel especially drawn to any of the characters here. The mystery wasn't terribly mysterious, the thriller part wasn't very thrilling, if it was supposed to be a character study into a family, it wasn't very studious. This was not my favorite of hers, unfortunately.

My 2nd book by this author and again I didn’t connect with the story. Clearly this is on me since the first novel became a huge hit with a movie adaptation. For this novel, I just found the pace too slow - so slow that the reveal didn’t pack the punch it should have. The story felt very thin and the clues far-fetched. I see others enjoyed the book, so I clearly missed something.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I couldn’t put this down. There is something so captivating about Dave’s signature soulful suspense that wraps you up in a warm blanket that holds on tight until the end.

Baked into this story are troubled marriages, sibling rivalry, sketchy uncles- all to be expected in a family drama. The characters are full of depth and flaws that allow readers to see themselves on the page. In tandem, there is the story of a father, the hotel giant Liam Noone, who clearly loved his children but had some bad luck in romance with the failure of three marriages.

I thought I had it all figured out about halfway through, but pretty soon after that the rug of certainty was pulled out from under me only to realize that the clues were all there to begin with.

I liked it! It was a great “who-done-it” book that kept me on my toes.

Architect, Nora Noone, teams up with her estranged half brother, Sam, to get to the bottom of what happened the night their father, Liam, died. This book goes back and forth in time to capture Liam’s life throughout the ages, giving clues to who may have been involved in his life and who may or may not have killed him. Could it be a women who he has loved for many years (and no, I’m not talking about one of his three different wives), a cousin who he has always considered like a brother, or one of his many business partners along the way? Laura Dave does a great job of keeping you guessing throughout the whole book!

A suspense filled book about siblings, parents and secrets. A page turner that keeps you guessing! I enjoy family dramas and family dynamics. This book had it all. Laura Dave fans will not be disappointed!

I didn't like the authors last book and yet was curious to read her next. This book is less a mystery and more a serious family drama. There is a lot of suspense and the writing is atmospheric. The story has tremendous heartache but the book itself is not moving.

I received this book as an ARC from net galley. I’m surprised by the mixed reviews, I really liked this one. It is kind of a slow burn but in a good way.

The book starts out with the death of Liam Noone and his kids start investigating if the death was accidental or a murder. It’s got an interesting twist because Liam was married three times and liked to keep his worlds separate from one another. It was nice to see Nora and Sam working together to solve this one.

5 star for me!

Liam Noone has built a hotel empire that spans the world but nothing means more to him than his children and the one woman he loved his whole life. When Liam dies unexpectedly, his daughter teams up with one of his sons to try to get to the bottom of what really happened that night and who their dad really was at heart. This was a wonderful gnre-bending story of love stories immersed in a thriller.

Hats off to Laura Dave for another great family suspense story! Full of drama, trauma, and blindsiding plot twists. I really enjoyed this! There’s even a bit of romantic side stories buried in all the lines. All of the detailed descriptions of landscape and architecture really made you feel like you could imagine standing right where the characters were. I felt this book really gives you an inside look on how grief can take over your life in many different aspects.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an early release copy!