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A review by savvyrosereads
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Hannah begins to investigate when her husband of one year goes missing, leaving behind only his sixteen-year-old daughter and a cryptic note.
This was my first time listening to a thriller on audio (I’ve always avoided it out of worry about my ability to follow the story) and the good news is the audio format worked really well. The bad news is it was probably because this book isn’t a thriller. I’m not usually a stickler for genre labels (I think they should be really broad and fluid!) but I don’t think this one qualified as a thriller almost any definition. It was, at best, a mystery, and really read to me as “vaguely mysterious contemporary fiction.” That’s a valid genre and even one I read, but I truly think the inaccurate marketing for this one affected my reading experience/perspective in a big way.
That said, there were a lot of positives about the book—I thought the writing itself was really good, the characters were likable and I enjoyed the relationship between Hannah and her step-daughter Bailey, and I thought the audio narration was very well done. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the ending and ultimately had more frustration with this book than I did enjoyment.
All of this with a giant caveat, though: I read this as a buddy read and at least one of my fellow readers LOVED this book and gave it five stars. So it definitely is for some people, even though it largely was not for me.
Recommended if you like: contemporary fiction with a dark edge, reflections on parenthood, missing person stories
CW: Loss of parent; abandonment
Hannah begins to investigate when her husband of one year goes missing, leaving behind only his sixteen-year-old daughter and a cryptic note.
This was my first time listening to a thriller on audio (I’ve always avoided it out of worry about my ability to follow the story) and the good news is the audio format worked really well. The bad news is it was probably because this book isn’t a thriller. I’m not usually a stickler for genre labels (I think they should be really broad and fluid!) but I don’t think this one qualified as a thriller almost any definition. It was, at best, a mystery, and really read to me as “vaguely mysterious contemporary fiction.” That’s a valid genre and even one I read, but I truly think the inaccurate marketing for this one affected my reading experience/perspective in a big way.
That said, there were a lot of positives about the book—I thought the writing itself was really good, the characters were likable and I enjoyed the relationship between Hannah and her step-daughter Bailey, and I thought the audio narration was very well done. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the ending and ultimately had more frustration with this book than I did enjoyment.
All of this with a giant caveat, though: I read this as a buddy read and at least one of my fellow readers LOVED this book and gave it five stars. So it definitely is for some people, even though it largely was not for me.
Recommended if you like: contemporary fiction with a dark edge, reflections on parenthood, missing person stories
CW: Loss of parent; abandonment
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Abandonment