I requested The Night We Lost Him because I enjoyed The Last Thing He Told Me. While there were aspects that I enjoyed, there were also some that didn’t work for me.

I liked Dave’s writing and found I moved through it quickly. I liked the multiple timelines and how the past really provided some good context on the deceased.

The chapters were too long, the overarching love story didn’t do it for me, and there were some loose ends that needed tying up. I can’t say more without spoilers, so I’ll leave it at that.

If you’re looking for a thriller, this won’t hit that mark. I would classify this a family drama.

3.5⭐️

🌪️ T W I S T E D T H U R S D A Y review 🌪️ featuring “The Night We Lost Him” by Laura Dave!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

Liam Noone was a man of many secrets and worked hard to keep his finances and families separated the best he could. Liam was a well known hotel chain mogul, father and husband three times over. When Liam is found at the bottom of a cliff at his California Coast cottage oasis, his death is ruled as accidental.

However … his estranged children Sam and Nora don’t think their father’s fall was an accident. Together they dig into their father’s past and come across a 50 year old secret that changes EVERYTHING. And could also be the catalyst in their father’s death …

🚨 If you are looking for a bingeable beach read, then this is it! I loved the mix of a juicy family drama and a suspenseful thriller! This book is emotional and heartbreaking as the adult children learn about an entire lifetime of their father’s that they knew nothing about while also grieving! Throw in a mysterious death, shocking twists, unreliable characters and 50 years of secrets and you won’t want to put this book down!

Thank you kindly to @lauradaveauthor @marysueruccibooks @simonschusterca @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on September 17, 2024!

The Night We Lost Him is a combination of family saga/drama and mystery which draws the reader in slowly but surely.

Liam Noone a wealthy entrepreneur that has died suddenly in suspicious circumstances.

When his son Sam approaches his sister Nora that their Dad's death may have not been an accident she reluctantly agrees to accompany him to their Dad's home Windbreak House, to see for herself.

Nora and Sam start asking questions and start to delve into their Dad's life and they question their relationship with him

When someone dies suddenly there is always a lot of unanswered questions, so many things you could have and should have said and done . They are both hoping for answers .

Laura Dave takes us back through Liam's life and the reader is left asking who is this mysterious woman that fascinates their father.

Secrets, betrayal, heartbreak and loss and this well written story had me turning the pages to find out what really happened.

The Night We Lost Him will stay with me for a very long time and I highly recommend you sit down with your copy and get lost in the story.

THanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada | S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books for the opportunity to read and review The Night We Lost Him.

3.5 stars

From the author of The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave has written another story that sends estranged siblings on a journey. The recent passing of their father has them questioning whether it was a fall or was he met by foul play.

I’m conflicted with my feelings on this one. On one hand I found it a captivating read and one that I read in a matter of days. My curiosity was peeked and the number of players keep me wondering. On the other hand I found it slow paced and not as suspenseful, but the author does take her time unravelling this mystery to its satisfying conclusion.

The Night We Lost Him is told from the POV of daughter Nora along with her father‘s past playing out over the past 50 years. It is more a family drama with some romance.

As much as I enjoyed this book, I think I enjoyed The Last Thing He Told me more in the sense that there was more suspense, mystery, and danger.

My thanks to the publisher (via Netgalley) for a digital arc.
This book is available for pre-order now and publishes in September 2024.

I feel like Laura Dave is the Emily Henry of the drama/thriller. Her writing is wonderful and she creates characters with a lot of depth. This one was not as good as The Last Thing He Told Me, but it was still intriguing and gripping and I liked the jumps in timeline. I wouldn't realllllly call it a love story either, but the love between the father and Cory is still very special. Def a good follow up from TLTHTM!

I’ve only read one Laura Dave book before so I wasn’t really sure what tot expect from this one but I was excited to find out. Though this book is touted as a thriller I would categorize it more as an emotional mystery. There isn’t a lot of suspense like you’d expect from a thriller. Instead, there is a death tinged with mystery, estranged siblings who are getting to know each other while grieving, years of secrets slowly being revealed, and a love story from the past.

There isn’t a lot of action or twists and turns in this book. It is more of a slow burn but it is an interesting novel. I enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to reading Laura Dave’s next book.

Siblings investigating the death of their father. Was it an innocent accidental fall or was he pushed? This book presents as a mystery but also has a love story woven in.

Tackling the topics of extended family, legacies, friendship and love this thriller will not give you goosebumps or scare you but will have you turning the pages rapidly. For me it was a very quick read taking me only a few hours to read cover to cover.
If you’re the type to fall in love with the characters and their back stories you also might find yourselves searching for the tissue box at times.

Although this title wasn’t as gripping as her other book, it is an enjoyable , satisfying read you won’t regret picking up.

Laura Dave’s newest release is described as both thrilling and suspenseful; however, I felt like it was more of a story of grief interwoven with heart-wrenching family drama. I thoroughly enjoyed this work. It was nothing compared to her last novel I read “The Last Thing He Told Me” as I felt both works were entirely different. I love Dave’s writing, her descriptions and character development were excellent throughout the novel. I was constantly trying to figure out the mystery of her father’s tragic death and I never did solve it on my own. I felt she did an excellent job incorporating grief with the journey both Nora and Sam embark on whilst uncovering family secrets. I was both captivated and heartbroken for the characters through the entirety of the novel. Well done Laura Dave! Thank you to Simon & Schuester and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Thank you to Simon and Schuester Canada for an ARC of The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave.

I had read Laura Dave's previous book, The Last Thing He Told Me, and that was a three star read for me. It didn't do much, but I felt compelled enough by the plot to want to continue. I could say the exact same thing for this book. Unfortunately pretty early on, I realized I wasn't going to love this book. While the premise was interesting, even the main character I found somewhat interesting - it was every other side character's refusal to talk to Nora and Sam about their father that annoyed me. I understand wanting to keep his legacy alive, but as we all realize at the end what he was "hiding" it was never serious enough to keep from his kids. I don't think the plot was strong, and neither was the mystery aspect of the book. Nora was an okay main character but I found her lack of seriousness (in terms of her relationship with Jack and what she was going through with Elliot) to be boring. I don't think this was a great book and not sure if Laura Dave books are for me.

Love Laura Dern’s writing. A well written story about family drama and secrets. But, it is also a romance. I enjoyed it.

Nora is still grieving the loss of her mother from a tragic accident when she learns of her father's accidental death. Liam Noone was a strange and complex man, prone to compartmentalizing his life. When Nora was very young, her parents separated, and Liam had two other children, twins, Tommy and Sam. Nora has never been close to either of her half-brothers. Despite having a second family and owning a large hotel chain, Liam still managed to make time for her. It was only recently, right after her mother's death, that Nora felt the need to push her father away to make space for her grief. She never thought her father would fall off a cliff to his death, especially since he knew his home like the back of his hand.

The authorities believe Liam's death was an accident, as security cameras show that he was alone that night. But Sam, Nora's half-brother, suspects there might be more to the story. He enlists Nora's help in finding answers, but what they uncover is far more complicated. Liam had more secrets than they could have ever imagined.

When I first picked up this book, I thought it was going to be a thriller. After all, it was marketed as a mystery/thriller. However, I would say that this book is better categorized as a family drama with a touch of mystery. Every family has their secrets, but Liam Noone's secrets span nearly half a century, with many threads to unravel and numerous people who would prefer they remain hidden, even from his own children.

The pacing of this story was moderate. It started a bit slow, which might disappoint readers expecting the typical fast-paced structure of a thriller. This book deviates from that structure primarily because, throughout the story, it remains uncertain whether a murder actually took place. While there are hints at the beginning suggesting Liam's death might be suspicious, the book mainly focuses on Nora's connections with her family and her romantic relationship with her fiancé.

At times, Nora's interactions with others felt stereotypical and unrealistic, which disrupted the story's plausibility for me. When you're reading a book and you're constantly reminded that you're reading a book, it creates a distance between the text and the reader. This story would have been much stronger if it hadn't relied so heavily on stereotype and cliché. That said, when I reached the end of the book, I couldn't stop reading because I needed to uncover all the Noone family secrets.

Overall, this was an interesting novel. It is Laura Dave's second thriller/mystery, following her highly successful novel, The Last Thing He Told Me (which I also recommend).

It was an ok read. Not really suspenseful as advertised. Nonetheless, an interesting concept and enjoyable.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

Nora has lost her mother and then her father in quick succession and her grief is causing her to draw away from her boyfriend Jack. At this point her half-brother Sam, who she barely knows, contacts her to say he has suspicions that their father Liam's death was not an accident. Nora and Sam try to get to the bottom of things, and at the same time there are chapters from Liam's past which contribute to the solution to the mystery.

The novel is fairly slow and there is as much musing about love and loss and grief and identity as there is investigation. I liked Nora, who could be very funny, but the gradually revealed truth about Liam's life was not super romantic to me. Still, it kept me guessing to the end.