The Last Thing He Told Me: A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

A pleasant read, she developes characters well and keeps you in suspense till the end.

I bought this book after watching the limited series of it on Apple TV+, for two reasons: the series received surprisingly mixed reviews for a novel hot enough to incite a bidding war over it – and I wanted to see if I could diagnose, if possible, how it ended up partially derailed – and, in an admittedly odd coincidence, I'm from Austin and have lived in NYC and the Bay Area, the three main settings in each iteration. I'll focus on that since plenty of others have covered its other elements. Given Dave's superlative plotting and prose, and the emphasis throughout the novel placed on divining the meaning of exceptionally specific details, I was frankly taken aback by the lack of detail specific to Austin – or, rather, the lack of *accurate* detail. Her description of the University of Texas campus is accurate, as is one for an renowned 24-hour cafe. (Well, formerly 24 hours: they started closed at 10pm after their post-Covid reopening due to a lack of staff, but I assume Dave finished the novel before the pandemic.) The rest is surprisingly sloppy, and almost made me think I'd somehow purchased an early, unfinished draft. (I was startled to see a mistaken reference to Ethan in the first part of the book, set in Sausalito, for starters.) After arriving in Austin, Hannah & Bailey check into a hotel near Lady Bird Lake, one which Dave places on the south side of the Congress Avenue Bridge (its correct name) – except she subsequently refers to it as the South Congress Bridge AND the Congress Street Bridge. (This for the same bridge, keep in mind.) She correctly cites its bats – it houses the largest urban bat colony on Earth – but mentions seeing "hundreds and hundreds" of them. The bat colony has 1.5 MILLION bats, not "hundreds." Nitpicky? Sure, but the entire *novel* is an exercise in a form of nitpicking: sorting through all the tiny clues to divine what happened to Owen, and as it turns out divining Bailey's past while they're at it. A few references make it sound like Dave's never been to Austin, period. She references "the lake muted outside the car windows" near the end, the problem being that the lake in question can't be seen from the road at all. (It's a manmade reservoir in the Hill Country – another Dave error btw (she refers to it as "Texas Hill Country," without the "the" – kinda the opposite of L.A. screenwriters who refers to freeways as "the 101" or "the 10," when in Texas I-35 is just called "35.") Hannah's hotel has a jampacked bar at 10am on a weekday; even the SXSW festival isn't *that* rowdy! And Downtown Austin is supposedly "lined with packed sidewalk cafes" – again, on weekdays: this wasn't true even *before* Covid, and isn't true today. Another road error: near the end, out near the lake, they drive onto "Ranch Road." Dave should've done more homework on Texas's admittedly unique road-naming conventions. Texas has Ranch Roads (RRs). It also has Farm-to-Market Roads (FMs) and Ranch-to-Market Roads (RMs). It does not have *a* "Ranch Road," sans number. (Texas has over 3,500 FM / RR / RM roadways.) The only RR near an Austin-area lake is Ranch Road 620, which everyone calls 620 and absolutely no one calls "Ranch Road" (or even "Ranch Road 620" - it's just "620"). Going briefly to New York: Hannah's studio and shop are in SoHo. If she was a trust-fund brat who could afford $50,000-a-month retail rents, that'd be one thing, but we know she's not. Unfortunately Laura Dave apparently doesn't know that the SoHo art scene peaked in the '80s and was largely gentrified out of existence 20+ years ago; the upscale galleries are in West Chelsea, but Hannah's studio would more realistically be somewhere like Bushwick or Bed-Stuy. (Almost no galleries rely on foot traffic for any real business nowadays; it's all online.) Switching back to the Bay Area: Dave admittedly does Sausalito justice. It's a gorgeous and slightly bizarre area – permanent houseboats aren't exactly commonplace in the US! – but Dave unfortunately derails a bit when the characters venture beyond it. Again, it's the nitpicky details: instead of much-closer SFO or Oakland, Hannah & Bailey fly to Austin out of San Jose. (Even Santa Rosa would be closer than San Jose!) Almost every scene in San Francisco is set in or across from the Ferry Building, as if it's the only thing aside from cable cars that non-locals would know about. Onto a slightly more touchy subject: the characters in the book are EXTREMELY white. And heterosexual. In San Francisco. (The series wisely fixed this bit, turning Hannah's BFF Jules gay and Bailey's boyfriend Asian-American, plus Grady is Latino in it.) There's only a single person of color even referenced, but they don't have an active role in the plot and I can't say anything about said person without spoilers. Okay, screw it: I think I need to delve into the spoilers... ******************SPOILER ALERT! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!****************** When I started watching the TV series, it was obvious in the first episode that Owen left for reasons wholly separate from everything going on at work. I *literally* said to my family – jokingly, or so I thought – that the most totally cliche & ridiculous explanation would be him running from the mob. <facepalm> The mafia. IN TEXAS?!? I realize it's fiction, but the drug trade in the Southwest US has been entirely under Mexican-cartel control for a VERY long time, particularly in Texas itself. And speaking of fiction, the book's suggestion that Bailey's mom was killed because she was clerking for a "Texas Supreme Court judge" – another error (they're justices, not judges) – who was a far-leftist (!!) about to somehow singlehandedly issue a ruling that would ruin Big Oil (?!?), and she was murdered to "send a message." In a book that already requires substantial suspension of disbelief, this is the single most ridiculous notion proffered. Texas is the energy capital of the world. Its state supreme court is 100% Republican – and like the U.S. Supreme Court, it has nine justices, and no single one of them can do jack by themselves – and even when it wasn't, it never issued any rulings that negatively impacted the oil-and-gas-industry in any substantive way. The entire *point* of the so-called "Texas miracle" (its strong economy) is predicated on essentially *zero* oversight (or as close to it as possible) of the oil industry. I get that the point of this tale was to humanize Nicholas, despite Hannah already knowing he's a monster, and to further amplify the novel's core point about truly knowing people, but I thought it was extraneous & distracting, especially given its level of absurdity in the context of actual Texas life. (Also, Nicholas is the one who uses the term "Texas Supreme Court judges." A real Texas lawyer, and certainly one of his level of renown, would know they're justices.) And yet, despite all my complaining, I enjoyed the book and did a speed-read of it in under 48 hours. (Seriously!) As I'd expect from any novel optioned by Hello Sunshine, it has exceptionally strong, well-written female characters, all of whom readily pass the Bechdel test (despite the story, at least at the surface level, focusing on finding a man two women desperately miss). Even after seeing it shown on TV, I was surprised to see a reference as specific as UT's Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL); now THAT is the level of attention to detail I appreciate, and it's the real-life place where a former UT student would go to look up something like a yearbook. Dave even makes Hannah's astoundingly ballsy choice at the end – cutting Owen/Ethan out of her life, for Bailey's sake – believable, with the admittedly clever conceit of having the Big Bad be a mob lawyer, not a mafioso, and one who wanted to have a role in his granddaughter's life despite blaming Ethan for Kate's death. I did *not* see that coming on the series, but Jennifer Garner NAILED IT in that scene as well. (Also, the series allowed for scenes the book's structure – wholly from Hannah's POV – did not, e.g. Bailey meeting her extended family.) But maybe spend a few weeks in a city first before you decide to set two-thirds of your next novel there?

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down! Best book I’ve read in ages! Read no further if you don’t wish to know the plot. It boils down to a father’s love for his child being so great he wants to keep her safe above and beyond everything, even his own happiness. It also reinforces the love and great trust he puts in his fairly new wife to help him do just that. And let’s not forget Hannah! She instinctively knows what he wants and how to pull it off, even eventually knowing they may never be together again as a family. I see now there is a sequel and I can’t wait to get started! And here’s hoping there is a possibility of a really happy ending!

The Last Thing He Told Me was an okay read for me. The premise was interesting, but the story didn’t fully keep my attention and felt a bit slow at times. Not a bad book, just not one that really grabbed me. Took me forever to finish it and usually I go through books quick.

I was looking for a sorbet book for the in-between, was hoping for a high-end but low-pressure novel. When I read that much of this story takes place in Austin, I sprung for it. After the first ten pages, I thought I made a mistake, but I continued, anyway. Glad I did, and allowed the story to build. I was delighted that the plot wasn’t trite or simplistic beyond the bare surface. This is largely a thematic story of love and trust. Hannah, a thirty-eight-year-old stepmother of a sixteen-year-old girl, Bailey, is forced to bond with her in ways that she desired, yet never achieved; Hannah was repeatedly rejected by the girl. Owen, Hanna’s husband of one year, always had faith that Bailey and Hannah would eventually connect. Hanna and Bailey remain the core relationship in the book. In the opening chapter, a middle-school messenger comes to the door with a note from Owen to Hannah. There are only two words written: “Protect her.” Owen, however, is gone, fled, run off, and Hannah has no clue to the whereabouts of her missing husband, or why he left. This forces the issue of Bailey and Hannah’s relationship to define and refine itself. Can they be a source of support to each other? Can they find Owen? Owen’s departure initially drives a further wedge between Hannah and Bailey. However, survival and the search for Owen depend on the two working together under baffling and dreadful circumstances. The FBI, a U.S. Marshal, and people at The Shop (where Owen works--a software start-up) pursue Hannah with questions and demands. Some at the Shop, like the owner, have been arrested for fraud and embezzlement. In quick time, it turns into a cat-and-mouse adventure, taking Hannah and Bailey from Sausalito (where they live) to Austin, Texas (where I live). The plot is exciting and packed with adventure, suspense, and thrills. Owen’s past, difficult to mine, reveals him as a cipher, with rumors of criminal behavior. All that Hannah can depend on is her faith in the two years that she’s known her husband. He walked into her woodturner business (like wood sculpting) and they fell in love soon after. Hannah has never doubted, not for a minute, Owen’s love and devotion to her and Bailey. Admittedly, the growth of Bailey and Hannah’s relationship is a bit twee, and the distance that is reported between them initially is not as edgy or intense as we are told. Bailey’s pseudo-hostility is transparent, too on-the-nose. We understand that Bailey has a big heart from the start--perhaps a more realistic animosity from Bailey would have been too offensive for some readers? The author seemed determined that we like Hannah and Bailey, unquestionably. Hannah never deters from excusing Bailey’s bratty behaviors, either, but she bent over backwards too frequently for belief. Despite plot holes and a big ask to suspend belief, THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME is entertaining and cinematic. I was never bored, and I was stirred by the closing scenes, too. Moreover, there's a polished delicacy to Dave's writing and a warm voice that appealed to me. It's a popcorn book, not literature. A movie is already in the works, starring Julia Roberts. 3.5 (even if 2.75 for believability)

The 2 of them did a great job

In this fast- paced thriller, her husband disappears suddenly after being indicted in a fraud investigation. She has only known Owen for a short time before they married. His daughter, Bailey is 16 and not happy with sharing her father. When he leaves, he leave Bailey with $600,000 dollars and a cryptic note saying “protect her.” But, how? A US Marshall shows up, and she learns that nothing she knew about Owen is true. As she struggles to figure out what to do, her single focus is to protect Bailey. A very exciting read.

It’s sad, it’s life and you want more! Such a beautiful story, that could be real, about substitutes of all kind!

I enjoyed this book but was not sure what to expect. Reading the blurb and reviews I really had no idea what type of book this would be. It kept me interested but I think it wasn't what I had in mind. It was a good book and worth a read just don't go in with any expectations and you'll enjoy.

The Last Thing He Told Me by @lauradaveauthor completely consumed me! When Owen Michaels disappears, he leaves behind just two words on a note to his wife: Protect her. What follows is a gripping search for the truth, as his wife tries to uncover where he’s gone and who he really was. This story unfolds with real urgency; I genuinely could not put it down and found myself racing through the pages desperate to know what would happen next. The characters are compelling, the emotional stakes feel real, and the twists keep coming without ever feeling forced. A brilliantly paced, addictive read with heart at its core. One of those books you will think about long after you’ve finished and the sequel is on its way and I can not wait!!

The characters lack believable motivation, their actions are not believable and border on insane, and the book is poorly paced. This reads like an unfinished screenplay, not a book.

I'm surprised at the negative reviews. This book was exactly as advertised: a thriller based on the sudden disappearance of a husband/father. It was compelling, as it dealt with the shock of the disappearance, the lead character's relationship with her stepdaughter, and her gradual search for answers. An excellent story.