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emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity, Medical content, Alcohol
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt
emotional
mysterious
medium-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’ve enjoyed previous books by Laura Dave such as The Last Thing He Told Me and Eight Hundred Grapes so I was excited to see another book from this author. I’d categorize this one somewhere between the two I mentioned — part mystery, part family-oriented drama.
Liam Noone’s death is ruled accidental, but his daughter Nora is skeptical. Her stepbrother Sam shows up, and soon Nora finds herself pulled into uncovering her father’s illusive past. The story narrates in and out from past to present as we learn about Liam’s past.
Sadly I wasn’t as into this story as I was with Laura Dave’s previous books. It was enjoyable, but I think my reading tastes have changed in the couple of years since I’ve last read her work. I would have liked this to lean more on the side of thriller rather than romance/drama. Either way, the story itself was enjoyable, just not what I’d expected.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Element for providing a free digital ARC of the book to read and review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My summary:
Nora's father, a wealthy hotelier from New York, dies from a fall off of coastal cliffs at his house in California. Nora had a complicated relationship with her father and she has been trying to move on with her life while coping with the grief of losing him--all too soon after also losing her mother. Sam, her estranged half-brother, reaches out to Nora with concerns that their father's death was not an accident. As Nora and Sam form a tentative alliance to look into the circumstances surrounding their father's death, they begin to unravel pieces of their father's life that he had always kept hidden.
My thoughts:
This is a slow building mystery that delves into relationships, family drama, and coping with grief. It was not at all what I was expecting and feels very different from Laura Dave's other books that I have read. It makes me pause and wonder a bit about what she has experienced in her personal life to make such a marked change in writing styles.
I absolutely adored The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave and devoured it in a day. I loved it so much that I went on to read some of her back list books. When this book was announced, I was so excited. I preordered it and then was thrilled to receive an ARC copy. All of this led up to me having very high expectations for this upcoming book and, unfortunately, it fell pretty flat for me.
This book has a very melancholy tone. Overall, my feelings for this book seem to be as complicated as the point that Laura Dave seems to be trying to make with it. It is hard to grasp all of the characters and how they fit together. The points of contention between the characters is not well explained or developed so it makes the entire plot hard to follow since the strife between the characters is the bulk of the plot. Once I finished it, the whole thing felt like a very long justification of infidelity, and of that, I am not a fan.
What does it have going for it? I did not see the plot twist coming. It is enough that it makes me want to reread this when it is released to see how the pieces fit together now knowing the ending. I think that Laura Dave also makes some very poignant observations about grief and coping with loss. She captures that life is messy and it's a somewhat unwelcome reminder that we often don't really understand those people closest to us in life. If you go into this book expecting a story of grief and loss and exploring relationships of family and loved ones, instead of expecting a mystery or thriller, then it will likely increase your enjoyment of reading it.
I want to express my appreciation to Simon Element and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Murder