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A review by sharanyaaguha
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Hannah's has recently married Owen, who has a 16 year old daughter Bailey with his previous wife who has passed away. One day Owen suddenly disappears leaving Hannah a note and Bailey lots of Cash. Hannah starts to search for her husband and his world is shaken when he finds out Owen is not who he said he is. The book is fast paced with a lot of chapters ending in cliffhangers. It's the kind of book that makes you go "one more chapter". However the storyline instantly reminded me of Saul Goodman (Reference : Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul). It was as if Owen was Saul's son-in-law. The buildup was great which gave me an expectation that there will be a great back story but the ending didn't meet up with my expectation. There wasn't any twists as such, it's a plain one time read....
<spolier>Semi Detailed Plot : Hannah goes to Austin with Bailey to dig up the reason why Owen disappeared. It was prety clear why, because the tech firm in which Owen was working in promised to deliver something big and failed. The Police investigation led to the arrest of the CEO and t was clear that Owen was next. But Hannah did'nt understand why Owen would leave them alone and run away. In Austin he finds the reason why. Apparently, Owen's previous father in law was some lawyer who worked for some "bad guys" and owen had led their arrest by leaking all the details to the Police(which led to the death of Owen's first wife btw) and Owen had to protect Bailey at all cost (so, his pictures shouldnt be put on TV and hence he ran away because otherwise the bad guys will recognise him) and thus they changed cities, gave themselves new identities , started all over again and lied to Hannah about his past.
What I didnt like? Hmm. Have you watched The Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul? This story felt like Owen was Saul's son in law(if there would be any), it fit so perfectly. The entire story and buildup was excellent. I was hoping to read about a solid reason why Owen gave himself the new identity. But this lawyer working for bad guy thing umm no no a very weak reason.
However, throughout this search, the bond between Bailey and Hannah improved which was a plus point and evident in the last chapter.
<spolier>Semi Detailed Plot : Hannah goes to Austin with Bailey to dig up the reason why Owen disappeared. It was prety clear why, because the tech firm in which Owen was working in promised to deliver something big and failed. The Police investigation led to the arrest of the CEO and t was clear that Owen was next. But Hannah did'nt understand why Owen would leave them alone and run away. In Austin he finds the reason why. Apparently, Owen's previous father in law was some lawyer who worked for some "bad guys" and owen had led their arrest by leaking all the details to the Police(which led to the death of Owen's first wife btw) and Owen had to protect Bailey at all cost (so, his pictures shouldnt be put on TV and hence he ran away because otherwise the bad guys will recognise him) and thus they changed cities, gave themselves new identities , started all over again and lied to Hannah about his past.
What I didnt like? Hmm. Have you watched The Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul? This story felt like Owen was Saul's son in law(if there would be any), it fit so perfectly. The entire story and buildup was excellent. I was hoping to read about a solid reason why Owen gave himself the new identity. But this lawyer working for bad guy thing umm no no a very weak reason.
However, throughout this search, the bond between Bailey and Hannah improved which was a plus point and evident in the last chapter.
"it's a terrible thing to know everything about someone long after you want to."
"This is the terrible thing about tragedy. It isn't with you every minute. You forget it, and then you remember it again."