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mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
okay, so i wouldn't say that this is a thriller so much as a mystery with a good amount of family drama. i flew through this one, even though it was on audio. i kept going on runs and walks so i had more time to listen over christmas break, ha ha!
what i liked: the growing sibling relation between nora and sam as they collaborated (for the first time in their lives) to figure out what happened to their father, liam, and how he died. i also liked how they got to know their dad in a new way in death - as a person - and not just a parental figure. the setting, especially the family home on the california coast sounded amazing too!! i really liked the themes of figuring out how you will be remembered in the future and by your family.
what i didn't like: the characters. they were just not likable! literally, i did not care about them or what happened to them. their grief seemed unbelievable. i also did not buy the detective investigating liam's death. seems weird that a rich man who died mysteriously would just be ignored like that. wouldn't he have life insurance too?!
all in all, super engaging book to get lost in. can't say i will think about it often, but i did enjoy it!
what i liked: the growing sibling relation between nora and sam as they collaborated (for the first time in their lives) to figure out what happened to their father, liam, and how he died. i also liked how they got to know their dad in a new way in death - as a person - and not just a parental figure. the setting, especially the family home on the california coast sounded amazing too!! i really liked the themes of figuring out how you will be remembered in the future and by your family.
what i didn't like: the characters. they were just not likable! literally, i did not care about them or what happened to them. their grief seemed unbelievable. i also did not buy the detective investigating liam's death. seems weird that a rich man who died mysteriously would just be ignored like that. wouldn't he have life insurance too?!
all in all, super engaging book to get lost in. can't say i will think about it often, but i did enjoy it!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pretty generic, boring thriller (though definitely light on the thrills) — somehow it got even less interesting as it went along for me and just felt so continuously slow and draggy in the pacing. I think the best part of the book itself was the relationship arc between the narrator and her brother, but the romantic storylines and the multiple timelines and the weird post-death reckoning with flawed parenting just all felt so heavy-handed and overdone. The “mystery” itself felt tedious and somehow without a lot of importance/investment. I liked Julia Whelan’s narration (as always), but will not read more by Laura Dave.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It helped to know that this book isn't a thriller like "The Last Thing He Told Me." It would be more accurately described as a contemporary story about grief and discovering the secret life of the person who has died. Knowing it wasn't a thriller, I could appreciate and enjoy the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
*Might be some spoilers* I had a love/hate relationship with this book. It was so infuriating to know that instead of marrying a person, it was better to drag out infidelity for 50 years. Hurt the hearts of other people that clearly were just pawns in the relationship between them. The romance is kind of lost to me in this. It's rather cruel. I enjoyed the mystery of it and honestly enjoyed that the person was absolved of their sin.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Title: The Night We Lost Him
Author: Laura Dave
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: September 17, 2024
I received a complimentary eARC from Simon & Schuster Canada via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted
T H R E E • W O R D S
Introspective • Thoughtful • Leisurely
📖 S Y N O P S I S
When the patriarch of a famed hotel empire dies under suspicious circumstances, his daughter and her estranged brother join forces to find out what happened, unraveling a larger mystery about who their father really was.
Liam Noone was many things to many people. To the public, he was an exacting, self-made hotel magnate fleeing his past. To his three ex-wives, he was a loving albeit distant family man who kept his finances flush and his families carefully separated. To Nora, he was a father who often loved her from afar—notably, a cliffside cottage perched on the California coast where he fell to his death.
The authorities rule the death accidental, but Nora and her estranged brother Sam have other ideas. As Nora and Sam form an uneasy alliance to unravel the mystery, they start putting together the pieces of their father’s past and uncover a family secret that changes everything.
💭 T H O U G H T S
I'd previously read Laura Dave's The Last Thing He Told Me, which I enjoyed, so it was easy to add The Night We Lost Him to my 2024 anticipated releases list. Honestly, I thought the synopsis for this one sounded more intriguing and more along my reading tastes than her previous novel. Unfortunately, it ended up falling a little flat.
Swapping between the present day where Sam and Nora are trying to piece together what really happened and flashbacks to Liam's past, this story felt like a very low stakes mystery. The plot slowly reveals Liam's long held secret. The strength for me was really in how it paints a picture of the life a parent has lived before a child came to know them. There was so much potential to develop that aspect, yet it isn't flushed out to its full capacity.
The writing is engaging and well constructed. As for the characters, they weren't very likeable and they're development felt surface level. In fact, I didn't feel as though I got to know they well enough to ever become fully invested. I continually questioning their motivations and decisions, and maybe that was the point, yet it had the opposite effect for me.
The Night We Lost Him is one of those books I enjoyed reading at the time, yet it didn't wow me. It's a family saga with an underlying love story wrapped up in a mystery. What I really liked is how it asks the question 'how well can we really know the people we love?' Despite this, I felt it kept me at a distance throughout the entire narrative. If you're looking for a page-turning thriller, this isn't it. But if you enjoy slower paced mysteries motivated by grief this will be more your thing.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• family mysteries
• sibling relationships
• short chapters
⚠️ CW: death, death of parent, grief, murder, infidelity, injury/injury detail, medical content, cursing, alcohol, suicidal thoughts, estranged siblings
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"When you lost too much in quick succession, it feels unimageable to risk losing anything else."
"And when you are grieving, guilt lives inside your sadness, doesn’t it? The guilt lives there like an unfortunate side effect of what you haven’t done. You haven’t saved who matters most."
"We can love someone and they love someone else. We can spend a lifetime trying to understand them, without accepting they weren't really ours to understand. We can look someone straight in the eye and never bear witness to the most private part of them - the part they saved just for themselves."
"Pieces help. They help to make you whole. They strip away the shock. They strip it away until, slowly but surely, the shock isn't your entire story. Even when the thing you truly want - the thing my brother and I both still want - is the thing we can't have anymore. Our father standing here, with his mysteries intact. Closer, and farther, at the same time."
"He'll still be the person I recognize before I even know who I see."
Author: Laura Dave
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: September 17, 2024
I received a complimentary eARC from Simon & Schuster Canada via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted
T H R E E • W O R D S
Introspective • Thoughtful • Leisurely
📖 S Y N O P S I S
When the patriarch of a famed hotel empire dies under suspicious circumstances, his daughter and her estranged brother join forces to find out what happened, unraveling a larger mystery about who their father really was.
Liam Noone was many things to many people. To the public, he was an exacting, self-made hotel magnate fleeing his past. To his three ex-wives, he was a loving albeit distant family man who kept his finances flush and his families carefully separated. To Nora, he was a father who often loved her from afar—notably, a cliffside cottage perched on the California coast where he fell to his death.
The authorities rule the death accidental, but Nora and her estranged brother Sam have other ideas. As Nora and Sam form an uneasy alliance to unravel the mystery, they start putting together the pieces of their father’s past and uncover a family secret that changes everything.
💭 T H O U G H T S
I'd previously read Laura Dave's The Last Thing He Told Me, which I enjoyed, so it was easy to add The Night We Lost Him to my 2024 anticipated releases list. Honestly, I thought the synopsis for this one sounded more intriguing and more along my reading tastes than her previous novel. Unfortunately, it ended up falling a little flat.
Swapping between the present day where Sam and Nora are trying to piece together what really happened and flashbacks to Liam's past, this story felt like a very low stakes mystery. The plot slowly reveals Liam's long held secret. The strength for me was really in how it paints a picture of the life a parent has lived before a child came to know them. There was so much potential to develop that aspect, yet it isn't flushed out to its full capacity.
The writing is engaging and well constructed. As for the characters, they weren't very likeable and they're development felt surface level. In fact, I didn't feel as though I got to know they well enough to ever become fully invested. I continually questioning their motivations and decisions, and maybe that was the point, yet it had the opposite effect for me.
The Night We Lost Him is one of those books I enjoyed reading at the time, yet it didn't wow me. It's a family saga with an underlying love story wrapped up in a mystery. What I really liked is how it asks the question 'how well can we really know the people we love?' Despite this, I felt it kept me at a distance throughout the entire narrative. If you're looking for a page-turning thriller, this isn't it. But if you enjoy slower paced mysteries motivated by grief this will be more your thing.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• family mysteries
• sibling relationships
• short chapters
⚠️ CW: death, death of parent, grief, murder, infidelity, injury/injury detail, medical content, cursing, alcohol, suicidal thoughts, estranged siblings
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"When you lost too much in quick succession, it feels unimageable to risk losing anything else."
"And when you are grieving, guilt lives inside your sadness, doesn’t it? The guilt lives there like an unfortunate side effect of what you haven’t done. You haven’t saved who matters most."
"We can love someone and they love someone else. We can spend a lifetime trying to understand them, without accepting they weren't really ours to understand. We can look someone straight in the eye and never bear witness to the most private part of them - the part they saved just for themselves."
"Pieces help. They help to make you whole. They strip away the shock. They strip it away until, slowly but surely, the shock isn't your entire story. Even when the thing you truly want - the thing my brother and I both still want - is the thing we can't have anymore. Our father standing here, with his mysteries intact. Closer, and farther, at the same time."
"He'll still be the person I recognize before I even know who I see."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
estranged siblings
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Murder
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had high hopes for this book after enjoying The Last Thing He Told Me, and they were far exceeded. While this definitely had aspects of murder mystery like I was expecting, it was so much more than that and I'm still thinking about the underlying themes of family history and the concept of loving someone despite their flaws and imperfections as I type this review. I definitely feel like this is a book that will mean more to me as time goes on and I've had more time to really process it, but suffice it to say I really strongly recommend it, especially if you have enjoyed the author's past work.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent