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Laura Dave

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The Last Thing He Told Me

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The Last Thing He Told Me: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Laura Dave (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 151,852 ratings

Editors' pick Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

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Don’t miss the #1 New York Times bestselling blockbuster and Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick that’s sold 3 million copies strong—now an Apple TV+ limited series starring Jennifer Garner!

The “page-turning, exhilarating” (PopSugar) and “heartfelt thriller” (Real Simple) about a woman who thinks she’s found the love of her life—until he disappears.

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles 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 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’re also building a new future—one neither of them could have anticipated.

With its breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a “page-turning, exhilarating, and unforgettable” (PopSugar) suspense novel.

From the Publisher


	The Last Thing He Told Me	Eight Hundred Grapes	Hello, Sunshine

Customer Reviews	151,852	13,209	3,402
Price	$10.69	$10.44	$11.99
	✓	✓	✓

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of May 2021: The day the feds raid his high-tech firm, Owen disappears and leaves behind his new wife, Hannah, with $600,000 in cash, his sullen teenager Bailey, and a hand-scrawled note: “Protect her.” The rapid-fire pacing never lets up as Hannah delves into Owen’s past and excavates layer after layer of lies, discovering truths even Bailey never knew—as well as a lethal enemy. Interweaving the complex family relationships of Little Fires Everywhere with the suspenseful twists of Big Little Lies, The Last Thing He Told Me will trigger goosebumps and tears as you flip pages like mad to see how Hannah will handle the bombshells lurking in Bailey’s past. —Adrian Liang, Amazon Book Review

Review

#1 New York Times Bestseller

“What starts as an intimate meditation on found families deftly turns into a heart-pounding mystery reminiscent of the best true crime stories. But both work so beautifully in this gripping, perfectly-paced novel. I dare you to stop reading.”
—Susie Yang, New York Times bestselling author of White Ivy

“Laura Dave is a master story-teller. Gripping, big-hearted and twisty, The Last Thing He Told Me grabs readers from the very first page and never lets go.”
—Greer Hendricks,New York Times best-selling co-author of The Wife Between Us and You Are Not Alone

"With dizzying suspense and gorgeous prose, The Last Thing He Told Me tackles tough questions about trust, marriage and what it means to be a family. A page-turner of the highest order."
—Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of Home Before Dark

“Laura Dave's The Last Thing He Told Me is a thrilling roller coaster of a novel. This smart, intimate exploration of love and family is the foundation of a beautifully constructed mystery filled with twists and turns. A must-read.”
—Jean Kwok,New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee

“Dave pulls off something that feels both new and familiar: a novel of domestic suspense that unnerves, then reassures. This is the antithesis of the way novels like Gone Girl or My Lovely Wife are constructed; in The Last Thing He Told Me, the surface is ugly, the situation disturbing, but almost everyone involved is basically good underneath it all. Dave has given readers what many people crave right now—a thoroughly engrossing yet comforting distraction.”
—BookPage

“A page turner.”
—Associated Press

“The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave is a fast-moving, heartfelt thriller about the sacrifices we make for the people we love most.”
—Real Simple

“Light and bright, despite its edgy plot.”
—Vogue

“Gripping.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Page-turning, exhilarating, and unforgettable.”
—PopSugar

"Dave’s neat trick is to unveil revelations at a brisk clip that does not overwhelm character development. The novel’s richness comes from the way Hannah and Bailey realize they need each other in the face of staggering loss; the mutual trust that grows between them is genuinely moving. As both daughter and stepmother come to realize, “That’s how you fill in the blanks — with stories and memories from the people who love you.”
—The New York Times Book Review

"You will not think that this is Laura’s first suspense novel as it's so sharp and well done."
—Book Reporter

“Mysteries unspool at a steady pace… riveting.”
—Publisher’s Weekly

"A stunner with a heart and an ending you'll never see coming."
—AARP Bulletin

“Fast-paced ...but heartfelt."
—The New York Times, "Inside the Best-Seller List"

About the Author

Laura Dave is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me, Eight Hundred Grapes, and other novels. Her work has been published in thirty-eight countries. The Last Thing He Told Me has sold three million copies and is now a limited series on Apple TV+. She resides in Santa Monica, California.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1. If You Answer the Door for Strangers… If You Answer the Door for Strangers…
You see it all the time on television. There’s a knock at the front door. And, on the other side, someone is waiting to tell you the news that changes everything. On television, it’s usually a police chaplain or a firefighter, maybe a uniformed officer from the armed forces. But when I open the door—when I learn that everything is about to change for me—the messenger isn’t a cop or a federal investigator in starched pants. It’s a twelve-year-old girl, in a soccer uniform. Shin guards and all.

“Mrs. Michaels?” she says.

I hesitate before answering—the way I often do when someone asks me if that is who I am. I am and I’m not. I haven’t changed my name. I was Hannah Hall for the thirty-eight years before I met Owen, and I didn’t see a reason to become someone else after. But Owen and I have been married for a little over a year. And, in that time, I’ve learned not to correct people either way. Because what they really want to know is whether I’m Owen’s wife.

It’s certainly what the twelve-year-old wants to know, which leads me to explain how I can be so certain that she is twelve, having spent most of my life seeing people in two broad categories: child and adult. This change is a result of the last year and a half, a result of my husband’s daughter, Bailey, being the stunningly disinviting age of sixteen. It’s a result of my mistake, upon first meeting the guarded Bailey, of telling her that she looked younger than she was. It was the worst thing I could have done.

Maybe it was the second worst. The worst thing was probably my attempt to make it better by cracking a joke about how I wished someone would age me down. Bailey has barely stomached me since, despite the fact that I now know better than to try to crack a joke of any kind with a sixteen-year-old. Or, really, to try and talk too much at all.

But back to my twelve-year-old friend standing in the doorway, shifting from dirty cleat to dirty cleat.

“Mr. Michaels wanted me to give you this,” she says.

Then she thrusts out her hand, a folded piece of yellow legal paper inside her palm. HANNAH is written on the front in Owen’s writing.

I take the folded note, hold her eyes. “I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m missing something. Are you a friend of Bailey’s?”

“Who’s Bailey?”

I didn’t expect the answer to be yes. There is an ocean between twelve and sixteen. But I can’t piece this together. Why hasn’t Owen just called me? Why is he involving this girl? My first guess would be that something has happened to Bailey, and Owen couldn’t break away. But Bailey is at home, avoiding me as she usually does, her blasting music (today’s selection: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) pulsing all the way down the stairs, its own looping reminder that I’m not welcome in her room.

“I’m sorry. I’m a little confused… where did you see him?”

“He ran past me in the hall,” she says.

For a minute I think she means our hall, the space right behind us. But that doesn’t make sense. We live in a floating home on the bay, a houseboat as they are commonly called, except here in Sausalito, where there’s a community of them. Four hundred of them. Here they are floating homes—all glass and views. Our sidewalk is a dock, our hallway is a living room.

“So you saw Mr. Michaels at school?”

“That’s what I just said.” She gives me a look, like where else? “Me and my friend Claire were on our way to practice. And he asked us to drop this off. I said I couldn’t come until after practice and he said, fine. He gave us your address.”

She holds up a second piece of paper, like proof.

“He also gave us twenty bucks,” she adds.

The money she doesn’t hold up. Maybe she thinks I’ll take it back.

“His phone was broken or something and he couldn’t reach you. I don’t know. He barely slowed down.”

“So… he said his phone was broken?”

“How else would I know?” she says.

Then her phone rings—or I think it’s a phone until she picks it off her waist and it looks more like a high-tech beeper. Are beepers back?

Carole King show tunes. High-tech beepers. Another reason Bailey probably doesn’t have patience for me. There’s a world of teen things I know absolutely nothing about.

The girl taps away on her device, already putting Owen and her twenty-dollar mission behind her. I’m reluctant to let her go, still unsure about what is going on. Maybe this is some kind of weird joke. Maybe Owen thinks this is funny. I don’t think it’s funny. Not yet, anyway.

“See you,” she says.

She starts walking away, heading down the docks. I watch her get smaller and smaller, the sun down over the bay, a handful of early evening stars lighting her way.

Then I step outside myself. I half expect Owen (my lovely and silly Owen) to jump out from the side of the dock, the rest of the soccer team giggling behind him, the lot of them letting me in on the prank I’m apparently not getting. But he isn’t there. No one is.

So I close our front door. And I look down at the piece of yellow legal paper still folded in my hand. I haven’t opened it yet.

It occurs to me, in the quiet, how much I don’t want to open it. I don’t want to know what the note says. Part of me still wants to hold on to this one last moment—the moment where you still get to believe this is a joke, an error, a big nothing; the moment before you know for sure that something has started that you can no longer stop.

I unfold the paper.

Owen’s note is short. One line, its own puzzle.

Protect her.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08LDY1MKW
Publisher ‏ : ‎ S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books (May 4, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 4, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 5141 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 316 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #5,647 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #15 in Women's Detective Fiction
- #28 in Women's New Adult & College Fiction
- #117 in Mothers & Children Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.3 151,852 ratings

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Laura Dave

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Laura Dave is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me, Eight Hundred Grapes and other novels. Her work has been published in thirty-eight countries and The Last Thing He Told Me is now a series on Apple TV+. She resides in Santa Monica.

You can follow her on Instagram @lauradaveauthor

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

151,852 global ratings

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Cheryl

Great story, well written

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2024

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Once you start this book, you'll have difficulty putting it down. The story flows smoothly with no hiccups. You can not wait to find out what will happen next. It's a mystery, suspense novel disguised as a love story. Very realistic. The characters are well developed and seem true to life. I can't wait to read more from this author.

6 people found this helpful

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Anne W

More mystery/suspense than "thriller" as hyped pre-publication

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2021

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Straight up -- I didn't agree with the pre-publishing hype that promoted this book as a “thriller.” In my opinion, it falls more into the category of a domestic mystery/suspense. It was less thrilling than I anticipated with a slow-moving pace, but still an entertaining afternoon of reading from a new-to-me-author. I’m hearing bits and pieces of hoopla about an AppleTV series based upon Dave’s book and starring Julia Roberts as Hannah.

"PROTECT HER."

A husband suddenly vanishes – leaving behind a note asking his wife of only one year to take care of his sixteen-year-old daughter. The police, FBI and a “friendly” US Marshal are all involved. Hannah just wants to find her husband and get some answers. Along with Bailey, her step-daughter, with whom she shares a strained relationship, the two begin a cross-country journey on their own to find the truth and hopefully the missing person. Their search is suspenseful and a bit calamitous while exploring the growing bond between this unlikely pair. I’m hesitant to say more – I don’t want to give anything away.

For me, the ending was the major disappointment with too many remaining questions running wildly through my thoughts (a one-star reduction). I detest these types of endings – but a worthwhile read if you can deal with the lackluster ending!

I certainly don’t want to give the impression that this was a bad read for me because it wasn’t. I just think it had much more potential than was tapped. What I did find very appealing was the author’s writing that flowed effortlessly and was easy to read and absorb, the build-up moving the story forward was exciting and overall, the plot kept me involved. In a strongly character-driven storyline, these characters were remarkably intriguing and solidly developed. No grouchy remarks in this regard.

And it appears that hope might yet spring eternal with an added bit of info from the author, who told Popsugar, "As for the future of the book? I know exactly where I would pick up with Hannah, Owen, and Bailey—and I love the idea of imagining their next chapter." I certainly could get onboard with that thought. I would love to see a follow-up continuing this story to a complete resolution.

10 people found this helpful

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plant man

Easy reading, very interesting

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2024

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Nice book. Keeps you guessing. Love the book

One person found this helpful

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Jane C.

Entertaining in places. It not great

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2023

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The middle 30% was pretty good for a beach read. The beginning failed to introduce the characters. Hannah is pretty one-dimensional and I couldn’t figure out her career trajectory. How did she get from watching her grandfather to being featured in Architectural Digest and having repeat millionaire/billionaire clients? The only interesting thing about her was just skipped over.

Owen and Bailey were practically avatars. Not really even people. Bailey was obnoxious enough to qualify as the accepted definition of a teenager in 2022, but not obnoxious enough to be objectionable. We are told she is beautiful and special, but it’s definitely not shown. She was boring.

The story starts out with inadequate background and justification for Hannah moving across the county and marrying a guy with a kid she hasn’t known that long, but it’s not that bad. Then it gets sort of interesting and you really start to wonder where it’s going. The big mystery is Owen’s background. But it ends up being sorted out a little too quickly and in a way that relies on a very young child’s memory. Also, there wasn’t enough explanation of how Owen got away with concealing his identity and that could have been interesting. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone by giving too much away, but if you are going to lie about your background, wouldn’t you create details that people are less likely to be interested in or possibly check? Like maybe not say you went to Princeton? And why lie about the physical characteristics of a dead character? Maybe you don’t want a photos around because you are concealing their real identity, but is brown hair really going to give it away? First rule of lying is don’t lie if you don’t have to. Stay close to the truth.

Then, once the mystery is solved, it gets pretty bad. There is a lot of justification for really, really bad criminal behavior that the author tries to pass of as some sort of good and bad in everyone nonsense. And Hannah, who you really don’t care about, has to make a BIG DECISION that is tied into a whole motherhood and family thing in a very heavy-handed way.

But, honestly, the thing the bugged me the most was that a bad guy had two dogs that were supposed to be threatening and in the midst of Schutzhound training. They were Labrador retrievers. Why didn’t she also add in some cops doing a drug bust with a Maltese? Do publishing houses just not pay editors anymore or was this a laughable attempt to suggest ambiguity in the bad guy character? It was ridiculous either way, so I couldn’t tell.

71 people found this helpful

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HR

A Real Page Turner

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2024

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I could not put this book down. This was such a great story. So well written that it kept my interest all the way to the end.

One person found this helpful

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judy

Really good book

Reviewed in Canada on December 3, 2023

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Both sad and happy at the same time. It is a book that gets you thinking about your life. It also helps you rethink what is important.

Carla Guimarães

Love and courage

Reviewed in Brazil on July 12, 2023

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The book is easy to read.
The story is well told and the end is not the one you expect.

One person found this helpful

Diana

Excelente historia, la recomiendo

Reviewed in Mexico on April 24, 2023

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Buenísimo el libro, te atrapa desde el principio. Me encanto como se va desenvolviendo la historia, fácil de digerir, intrigante, los personajes muy bien descritos, los imaginas a la perfección, nunca te esperas que va a seguir. No esperaba ese final, me dio tristeza pero es como debía ser. La lección del libro “we always have a choice”. Muy recomendable

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Filian

Absolut spannend

Reviewed in Germany on March 20, 2024

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A definite read.