The Night We Lost Him, by Laura Dave is definitely thrilling, but it reads mostly like a layered, emotional family drama. I absolutely loved every page, racing through the chapters and staying up way too late last night to finish. The massive vat of coffee I am inhaling now is well worth it. Nora and Sam were wonderful, half siblings getting to know each other after the death of their father. Highly recommend!!

Laura Dave is a must-read author favorite of mine. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of her latest title, I dove into this book with great anticipation. It did not disappoint. The dialogue moves quickly, and I enjoyed reading about the brother and sister working together. Complex family relationships are a favorite of mine, so this story was full of that! Four stars.

I’m a big fan of Laura Dave! Although The Last Thing He Told Me may be her most well known book, Eight Hundred Grapes is my fave of hers! Her latest, The Night We Lost Him, is a well-paced family drama slash mystery slash romance. I really enjoyed the writing and the witty banter between the main character and her brother. I did not guess the ending of the mystery, yet, I still felt a bit underwhelmed with that portion of the book. For overall, I’d recommend it for a satisfying quick read!

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Simon Element for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

3 stars out of 5.

I thought this book was just ok. The beginning was very slow and I almost put the book down. The last 20% of the book really picked up though and I really enjoyed the ending. Everything was tied up nicely. I didn't really connect with any of the characters and the plot was just ok. I found myself skimming along during the first 80% of the book because of the pacing. Maybe this book was just not for me.

In The Night We Lost Him, we meet Nora, who just lost her father. Her half brother Sam seems to think someone had killed their father even though his death was ruled an accident. Sam and Nora end up tracing down the people their father associated with to try and put the pieces of the puzzle together. They need to figure out what their father's secret life entailed and how it related to his death.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon Element | S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Night We Lost Him.

Nora is grieving the loss of both her parents when Sam, her estranged brother, comes to ask for her help to prove their father's death was no accident.

As the siblings retrace their father's last days, Nora comes to understand her father more, a man she loved but didn't really know, as well as facing the truths of her relationship with her fiance, Jack.

There is no urgency or suspense as we follow Nora and Sam's investigation, pursuing leads and speaking to reluctant family members and people in their social circle.

The mystery is a minor subplot to Nora and Sam's burgeoning relationship, dealing with their own personal issues, and coming to terms with grief and loss.

Minor flashbacks into Liam's past offer insight into the one and only relationship he maintained up until his death and the identity of his one true love is the key to his death.

This is my second book by the author and though I like her writing, her books aren't for me.

Her narratives are not thrillers or mysteries but more a domestic drama centered around character relationships, which is fine if you're into that.

Laura Dave's complex character crafting skills are in display in this dual timeline/dual pov mystery. I definitely felt for all the characters involved as they dealt with the loss of Liam Noone. I adored The Last Thing He Told Me because it was a wild ride from start to finish. This book was a much slower paced story. The character explorations were lovely but I felt a bit disappointed by the mystery aspect. I would have liked more tension there. One of the things The Last Thing He Told Me did well was having some high stakes secrets be revealed. I was genuinely thrown by all the new information the characters discovered and I wanted that from this book too. In The Night We Lost Him the author keeps hyping up that Liam has a secret past and questioning whether his children really knew him but unfortunately she didn't really deliver on that hype. We pretty much knew his singular secret about halfway through the book and I kept waiting for more to be revealed but there wasn't much left to be said. There was a piece held back till the end but since we already knew his secret it wasn't that surprising. That being said I did enjoy the relationship dynamic between Sam and Nora (the estranged half-siblings) and I finished the book in about a day. If you're looking for a quick, low stakes domestic mystery this could be the book for you!

Nora and Sam, half-siblings, travel to California together to investigate their father’s supposed fall from a cliff on his property resulting in his death was really an accident.

This book brought up interesting questions about how well you really know your parents, how people can compartmentalize their lives, and the different ways we can love the people around us. Well written and kept me engaged until the end. I love that Nora slowly learned more about her relationship as she uncovered more about her father’s.

The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I've read one of Laura's previous books and I so badly wanted to read this. I was thankful to chosen! This book was very fast paced, lots of twists and turns with a conclusion that my mouth hanging open!

Absolutely great 🫶🏼

Laura Dave’s highly anticipated new mystery is more of a heart-wrenching family drama than a suspenseful thriller. It delves into a father’s secret life, which prevents him from building healthy relationships with his children, who are also lost in their lives after his sudden death, dealing with their grief in their own ways.

I found myself more intrigued by the identity of the mystery woman than the mystery surrounding the death of Liam Noone: was it an accident as the police officers ruled, or was someone there at the cliff to push him off?

The story revolves around Nora, the wealthy hotel mogul Liam Noone’s daughter from his first marriage. She is barely holding herself together emotionally after recently losing both her mother and her father to a sudden death. Nora reconnects with her ex while emotionally distancing herself from her fiancé, Jack, and burying herself in her development projects. Her stepbrother Sam appears with his fiancée, pretending to be customers to talk to Nora about an important matter: their father’s death may not have been accidental.

Nora gets drawn into the mystery of her father’s past as she finds out she has also inherited Windbreak House, his prideful resort property in California, where his father also fell down off the cliff under mysterious circumstances. Laura Dave takes us on a trip down memory lane of Liam as a high schooler, how he met his cousin Joe’s friend Cory, and their whirlwind relationship throughout 50 years. We witness Liam's three marriages, his three kids, and how he kept his personal life to himself, always chasing happiness with the only one he truly loved.

In the present, we witness heartbroken, grieving Nora and her estranged brother Sam’s investigation to gather the pieces of their father’s secret past. They reveal the truth that helps them question their own life choices and why they cannot build relationships with their loved ones, struggling like their father did for years, sacrificing lots for everyone’s well-being. Nora builds emotional barriers around her, while Sam finds himself in a love triangle that is doomed to break his heart. Could learning more about their past help them heal their wounds, and finding out what happened to their father may bring the closure they’re looking for?

Overall, this heart-wrenching romance and family drama blended with mystery is a book I devoured in one sitting. It’s easy to read and surely makes you cry. The conclusion of each storyline is satisfyingly wrapped up.

I absolutely recommend it to readers who are looking for a great historical fiction book, emblazoned with heartbreaking romance and mystery. Keep your napkins close because you’re gonna need them!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon Element/S&S/Marysue Rucci Books for sharing the digital reviewer copy of one of the most anticipated books of the year in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Thank you, #NetGalley for the ARC.
I loved this book. It is a murder mystery that included a beautiful romance and family drama. Liam Noone, a rich businessman, is murdered in the prologue. Pushed off of a cliff at his resort property in California. We follow POV of his daughter Nora and her half-brother Sam. Nora has nothing to do with the business, and is self-supporting as an architect in New York. She is shocked to learn her father has left her his favorite home in the will. Sam, an ex-baseball player, convinces Nora to come with him to California to find out what happened. This is despite their lack of a relationship. They get to know their father while getting to know each other, as they talk to his friends and business associates. Overall I loved the theme of rectifying incomplete endings.

I have read several books by Laura Dave and this one does not disappoint. Well written with realistic, likable characters, I couldn't recommend it more! Liam recently died falling off a cliff on his property that he knew very well. He had been married 3 times with children from those marriages. He kept them all close to him but separate from each other. When Sam, one of Nora's half-brothers comes to her with suspicion around the circumstances of his death, she doesn't want to get involved. But Sam convinces her to travel to where he died, and they keep finding more reasons to question what happened. Without giving the story away, I think that this is one of the most intriguing mysteries I have read. I highly recommend this book. I was given an advanced copy of this book, and this is my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Element for this Advanced Reader’s Copy of The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave due to be published September 17, 2024.
Liam Noone was a distant family man with three ex-wives and three children – Nora, and twins Sam and Tommy. When Liam falls from the cliff behind his beloved Windbreak, Nora allies with Sam to investigate. The police say he slipped, but Nora and Sam think someone pushed him. Are the police right, or will Nora and Sam find out they are correct and it wasn’t an accident.
I loved The Last Thing He Told Me and was hoping this would be as good and was not disappointed. I was worried that an entire book of two people trying to find out whether a fall was an accident or a murder would be boring, but not so with The Night We Lost Him. There were many more characters brought in, a few love stories, and lots of surprises. I loved this one – I definitely recommend it!
#NetGalley #LauraDave #SimonElement #TheNightWeLostHim

I love all books written by Laura Dave and this was no exception. The only tiny thing I had a problem with was Cece and Cory as I got mixed up at first thinking they were the same person. I like that there was a mystery to this novel but there was so much more. It was about grief, loss, family and finding out about family secrets. I am glad Nora and Sam got close. I just really enjoyed this book and finished it in two days.