In this period of home thrillers, a novel a couple of practical, loving household can really feel refreshing and downright sudden. Extraordinary circumstances severely take a look at the bonds of one such household in Laura Dave’s The Last Thing He Told Me.
Hannah Hall’s adoring husband, coding genius Owen Michaels, vanishes on the identical day that his firm is raided by the FBI for enormous securities fraud. He leaves behind a suspiciously massive duffel bag full of money for his 16-year-old daughter, Bailey. And for his bewildered spouse, who’s Bailey’s stepmother, he leaves a cryptic be aware with a single directive: “Protect her.”
Hannah desperately desires to meet his request, however she additionally desires solutions. As she searches for the reality about her lacking husband and contends with the authorized troubles prompted by his disappearance, she additionally tries to nurture a stepdaughter who barely desires something to do together with her.
As these occasions unfold within the current, flashbacks present how Hannah’s relationships have developed and provide clues about her husband’s story. Along the way in which, her personal historical past additionally comes into play. Deep-rooted abandonment points form her decisions within the current, and the legal professional she reaches out to for assist navigating these treacherous waters is her ex-fiancé.
The drama will get somewhat skinny in spots. The novel’s backdrop is a half-billion-dollar monetary catastrophe, however regardless of Owen’s high-profile function, there’s no press hounding Hannah and Bailey. They primarily encounter friction from authorities, Bailey’s classmates and Owen and Hannah’s pals. Beyond that, stepmother and stepdaughter are in a position to keep anonymity as a firestorm of drama unfolds across the firm’s CEO.
Downplaying the battle is perhaps a trade-off for the novel’s higher concentrate on character improvement and relationships. Hannah’s insights and epiphanies about find out how to guardian an untrusting teenager aren’t all that revelatory, however they definitely are reminders of what’s most essential.
As a outcome, Dave pulls off one thing that feels each new and acquainted: a novel of home suspense that unnerves, then reassures. This is the antithesis of the way in which novels like Gone Girl or My Lovely Wife are constructed; in The Last Thing He Told Me, the floor is ugly, the state of affairs disturbing, however nearly everybody concerned is mainly good beneath all of it. Dave has given readers what many individuals crave proper now—a totally engrossing but comforting distraction.
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