The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

What a banger to start this blog! But this did win Goodreads’ Mystery & Thriller book of 2022 so there’s no surprise there. I’ve committed myself to reading the top three books from from each category of Goodreads’ choice awards (though I will skip a few like Poetry and Middle Grade & Children’s, they’re just not quite up my alley) this year and am starting this blog to chronicle my progress. And record my thoughts. I read about 50 books last year but flipping through the titles, I remember maybe half. And last year was two weeks ago! I definitely enjoyed many – I reread some old favorites (The Fountainhead), learned some life changing information (Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams; You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters), shed some ugly tears (The Rose Code) and discovered a new favorite author (Keigo Higashino – I highly recommend The Devotion of Suspect X for a quick read and Journey Under the Midnight Sun if you’re ready to commit to a more engaging story).

The mind is for having ideas, not holding them – David Allen

If you take the time to read a book, then inevitably it makes you THINK and I learned something from each one, even the ones that I didn’t finish or absolutely hated reading. And this isn’t anything new, that’s why I’ve always loved reading – it’s experiencing a new perspective, a different life, a foreign world and seeing just how wonderful and creative the human imagination is. And all from the comfort of your own home! But more importantly, at your own pace. I consume consume and consume books and collectively by internalizing their ideas, they’ve in turn shaped my perspective, thoughts and personality. But I’ve never written a book review. It’s not so much the book review but I’ve never sat down and consciously worked through each book, to explore a little deeper into something that it’s creator spent months (and more often years) putting together. And worse, even if I did mentally do this, I never wrote it down and now I’ll never remember say that one fleeting epiphany I’m sure I had in 2008 when reading the last Harry Potter book for the first time.

The almost two years of Covid have led me (and I suspect quite a few others) back to books. I’ve even started a few book clubs with my friends virtually. And as we discussed, I realized the books I love, the characters I’ve gotten to know, they’re mine because of the way I interpret and see them but they’re also the author’s who wrote those words and also yours because of how you read and see them. And sharing those thoughts and learning other people’s makes everything a lot more colorful and the experience just a little richer. So let’s get started on this virtual book club together! Without further ado…

“You want to argue that someone is getting the story wrong. Someone is getting your story wrong. In your story, the one you know by heart, none of this makes sense.”

I’m starting off easy. Mysteries and thrillers are easily my favorite types of books. I’m a lazy adrenaline junkie so I need to get my fix with minimal physical effort. Luckily for me, there’s a never-ending list of new thrillers coming out, each (at least the good ones) blowing my mind with their mind-boggling turns and unexpected twists. I can’t say that The Last Thing He Told Me was absolutely the *chefs kiss* best thriller I’ve ever read but it does warrant a solid 4 star rating and is my favorite (but alas also my first) thriller of year! We start right away with our narrator and our QUEEN Hannah receiving a note from her husband Owen just saying “Protect her“. Hannah is newly-ish married to Owen who has a 16-year old daughter, Bailey. Owen suddenly disappears with nothing but this note to Hannah and thus begins their journey to find what’s happened to him. Without getting into any spoilers (okay maybe a little I can’t HELP IT), let’s start with

Why I LOVED it:

Hannah HANNAH she is our narrator and we really get to see exactly what’s going on in her head. There’s no twisty turny here with a shady narrator who surprise! is really the villain and the reader is getting played along in the novel (at risk of completely ruining this book, click at your own risk for a spicy example of this here). Hannah is just about 40 and if I had to use one word to describe her it would be SELFLESS. She’s known Owen for all about two years and his daughter Bailey, as one might imagine a teenager to be, does not like that she now has to share her beloved father and hasn’t accepted Hannah into her life yet. But that doesn’t stop Hannah at all. We get to know that Hannah’s own mom abandoned her at a young age and she was raised by her grandpa, who she absolutely loved and eventually followed into her career as a woodturner (think artist, interior designer, badass lady who knows how to handle her wood). So she empathizes with Bailey who lost her mom at a young age. As someone who’s right in middle in terms of age between these two I couldn’t quite relate to either but let’s just say Hannah’s no evil stepmother and Bailey’s no sweet Cinderella. But Hannah quite literally goes above and beyond to do just what Owen tasked her to do, protect Bailey. This woman who’s never been married before because she’s happy alone and hasn’t been able to let anyone in before is suddenly left with no husband and the sole guardian of an angry teenager. And Hannah is an absolute legend. She’s afraid, sad and feels completely lost as anyone would in this situation, but not even for a second does she let any of that stop her from making a plan, a plan to do whatever she needs to do to protect Bailey. When Hannah wants to cry, she pulls herself together to be strong for Bailey. When Bailey lashes out, Hannah gives her space. When Hannah has to choose between herself and Bailey, she without fail chooses Bailey. I can see what this rich tech nerd Owen saw in Hannah and why he was willing to bring her into his precious daughter’s life.

Maybe it’s because I’m in my mid-twenties and I can’t imagine doing what Hannah did (more on that in the spoiler section at the end because I JUST HAVE TO SAY). But our girl isn’t just an awesome person, she’s also a smartie. You won’t find yourself banging your head against the wall screaming WHYYY like I do at most horror movie heroines. By the way, if Hannah was in a horror movie she’d definitely be the one who made it out at the end. Hannah’s a wily one, she’s taking notes (literally) and making a plan. She has no idea what’s going on but she manages to take the very scarce breadcrumbs Owen’s left for them (mainly Bailey’s memories from when she was like 6) and piece together what’s happening. She doesn’t spend any time wallowing and she doesn’t let dead ends stop her from forging ahead. Of course this is a work of fiction so things more or less pan out but that’s not to say our girl didn’t put in the leg work! She’s a homie – intelligent, courageous and LOYAL.

Hannah is unwaveringly loyal to Owen. And Owen isn’t actually ever in the novel (at least in the present). We only get to know Owen through Hannah so we kind of just assume he’s a stellar guy. I mean he’s the only one that’s ever managed to make Hannah settle down. And he’s definitely a fantastic dad who loves his daughter. But I don’t know if Owen really deserves Hannah. He’s kind of given her a crappy deal. It’s HIS past that’s catching up to him, HIS fuck up at the company, and HIS daughter that he’s left. And he just ups and disappears leaving Hannah to deal with it all. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I would have gone to the lengths Hannah did there. Don’t get me wrong, Owen’s in a pretty bad situation, but he kind of was carrying a lot of baggage and then just disappeared. And Hannah’s known the man for TWO years. The decisions that she’s forced to make and their implications affect the rest of her life. That’s wild. But that’s also why Hannah is the star of this novel. I guess if she reacted like I would have in the situation there wouldn’t be much of a story to tell… (it’d go along the lines of: Sabrina freaked out, cried for a day, pulled herself together to say fuck it this is above my pay grade, and let the authorities deal with the shit storm. The end.)

Okay, if it wasn’t obvious, Hannah kind of carried the novel for me. But now for the spoiler because it’s a thriller and I just have to get into the twist. So if you plan on reading this book, don’t read this section!

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Let’s be real now, really? Owen’s father-in-law is the lawyer of some big bad mafia? Okay that’s fine. It kind of came out of left field because we know that Owen’s secret has to be something so terrible that the man would lie about his whole life and identity, including to his own daughter. Whistleblowing on his own criminal(ish) father-in-law will do the trick. And yeah it makes sense that the grandfather will never forgive him so they can’t just work it out and have a happy ending as a big happy family. But the deal Hannah makes with the grandfather to resolve the situation is easy, like too easy. It just so happens that the whole maternal family is obsessed with Bailey. Like photos everywhere though they haven’t seen her in a decade obsessed. Which is fair considering Bailey’s mom, the daughter of this mafia lawyer, was killed so Bailey’s the only thing left. And I get it. It’s a novel so it panned out because the point isn’t about the mafia, the grandfather or even Bailey. It’s about Hannah making the ultimate sacrifice to give Bailey the opportunity to stay Bailey (as opposed to uprooting her, changing her identity and living the rest of their lives like hermits in witness protection. But hey at least they’d be together as a happy-ish hermit family!) and sacrificing her own happiness with Owen forever. Because *ahem* the mafia never forgets so Bailey can keep on being Bailey and sadly neither of them will ever see Owen again. And maybe the deal with the mafia didn’t quite resonate because I’ve never experienced loss like that so I can’t grasp the sentiment that drives people in these scenarios. But I can only give my perspective and I think that this climax, like the majority of other thriller mysteries I read, came up just a little short. If I were the mafia I’d definitely really consider kidnapping, maybe not Bailey because she’s kind of part of the fam, but definitely Hannah to bait Owen out. I mean these guys are murderers and they’re gonna let Owen get away just like that? But anyways that’s just me, maybe a little too realistic.

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Okay, end of spoiler section.

All in all, The Last Thing He Told Me is a relatively short work so thinking about it, there isn’t really much to say except to rave about Hannah. Her relationship with Bailey develops pretty much as expected. And Owen’s not really in the novel. His absence is more the focus. I mean I read this book in one day. It’s relatively short and it’s definitely interesting enough to have kept me engaged when I should have been doing other things (like working) but it’s now been a couple days since I finished it and I can’t say I remember too much about it. Maybe I read it too fast. I did try NOT to start a new book until I had finished this review to keep this one fresh in my mind. But alas, Hannah (no matter how cool I thought she was), Bailey and Owen are fading fast. This was quite the page turner but it’s not one of the books you think about after you’re finished. But that’s the price we pay for reading these relatively short, action-driven works. We didn’t come to confront deep thought-provoking questions, we came to be entertained! And entertained I was for the few hours I spent reading this novel and getting to know Hannah!

I would recommend this book if you’re in for a quick easy read with a smart main character and some good wholesome mother daughter bonding through life threatening adventures. I don’t know if this is the BEST thriller mystery of 2021 as per Goodreads’ ranking but let’s wait and see! Next on the list is the second most popular book The Maidens by Alex Michaelides. Just from the synopsis I know I’m in for a dark psychological ride and I can’t wait!

My last sentiment would be that Hannah truly is a bad bitch in the best possible way. And I’ll leave you with this quote that, in my opinion, exemplifies her character:

“In one way or another, this is the deal we all sign when we love someone. For better or worse. It’s the deal we have to sign again and again to keep that love. We don’t turn away from the parts of someone we don’t want to see. However quickly or long it takes to see them. We accept them if we are strong enough. Or we accept them enough to not let the bad parts become the entire story.”

P.S.: Did anyone else think Grady was shady af throughout the whole novel? Even after we find out his relationship with Owen, Hannah acts real sus around him and pulls quite the evasion 101 move on him at the police station. And after finishing and thinking about it, I still don’t get why Grady was cast in such a suspicious light… one day if anyone reads this, please let me know your thoughts!