The Last Thing He Told Me
"Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a not to his beloved wife of one year. 'Protect her'. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers-Owen's sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. As Hannah's increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen's boss, as a U.S. marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn't who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen's true identity-and why he really disappeared. Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen's past, they soon realize they are also building a new future-one neither of them could have anticipated."
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave is spellbinding and captivating. This is a tale of the sudden and dramatic upheavel of a family from everything that they thought they knew. As Hannah strives to find the truth about Owen, she is met with unforeseen challenges.
Hannah, who loves Owen. Owen, who loves Hannah. And both of them, who love Bailey.
I always find it extra intriguing when I read from the perspective of one who s exceptional at reading people. Hannah is this person. She is a woodturner who grew up without a family, save for her grandfather. She grew up with parents who decided they did not want to be parents to her, and in this instilled a hyper-focus in her to read every intention coming her way. In addition to personally relating to this, it also commands respect. As the novel continues, the reader observes how this insecure woman with a bad taste in her mouth becomes someone who trusts herself and her instincts.
She becomes the type of person that can sense different frequencies in the air and act accordingly, with a determination and fearless wit about her.
She becomes someone who loves Bailey. She becomes reliable and grateful for the love she has experienced.
This novel is one with peaks that take you higher and ever higher, but never quite all the way back down. The end is concise and swift, leaving you wanting just a little bit more.
I love that the end of the novel is the end of the book itself. There is something poetic and mysterious about having the last page to a story, the acknowledgements, and then the other end of the cover.
No preludes to any other books, just what you have read and who helped bring it to you.
It felt definitive, and I loved that.
So here's to the could-have-been boys and how much we love them.