REVIEW:

The thing is, I like mysteries that aren’t about someone being murdered or sexually assaulted once in awhile. Unraveling the “what happened” thread in a novel doesn’t always have to be tied to figuring out who did the stabbing or the grabbing.

In The Last Thing He Told Me, Hannah’s new husband vanishes right after he has a note delivered to her asking that she protect his teenage daughter, Bailey. Here the “what happened” questions are: Where did he go? Protect her from what? Will he come back? Why has a US Marshal shown up on her doorstep if the FBI says that agency isn’t involved?

Over the course of the next 300 pages, we follow Hanna as she and her semi-hostile stepdaughter band together to find the answers. I liked their relationship and thought it felt very authentic. I found Hannah’s choices to be fairly reasonable under the extreme circumstances she was facing. I enjoyed the Sausalito, CA and Austin, TX settings. I found the ending to be plausible if not 100% satisfying.

Reese Witherspoon picked it as the May 2021 selection for her book club. You should pick it for yours. Ms. Witherspoon is already working on an limited series adaptation for Apple TV that will star Julia Roberts, and you know you want to read the book beforehand.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

We all have stories we never tell. Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note 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 US Marshal and FBI 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, together. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they are also building a new future. One neither Hannah nor Bailey could have anticipated.