Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - The Night We Lost Him: A Novel

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Night We Lost Him: A Novel by Laura Dave

26 reviews

dishajetly_123's review against another edition

3.0

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

dblue236's review against another edition

4.0

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

eliza_beth_23's review against another edition

5.0

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

booksbytheglass's review against another edition

3.5

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I feel like I can’t avoid my honest opinion about this one without a few minor spoilers so watch out ahead y’all 🛑✋🏼

after being the only person in the world who enjoyed THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME, I was super invested in this story from the first chapter. it started out more of the same concept, marketed as a mystery but involved more family drama and lit fic elements more than anything.

after the death of their father (#1 trigger for us in the dead dad club heyyy), liam’s children are out to discover the truth behind who their dad was and what happened to him the night of his death. and while I loved the mystery air surrounding it, it was truly the bonding moments between nora and sam that made the story as raw and real as it was!!

what didn’t work for me were the flashbacks of liam growing up and his unique friendship with cory. it gave all of the emotional cheating vibes, and even a little bit of unrequited love, and that’s not the move for me 😅 I just didn’t understand the reasoning why these two, if they were so truly in love with one another, couldn’t be together? like genuinely besties I have no clue

and I’m also a firm believer that choosing to replace someone or something in your heart when you’re not ready to move on is never the solution and only hurts everyone in the process (and that’s the tea 🍵)

I really do love laura dave’s writing style, and I flew through this one in a day to find out how the conflict resolved! thank you to netgalley and simon & schuster for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

rating: 3.5 stars
wine pairing: napa valley cabernet sauvignon

Content Warnings

oceanwriter's review against another edition

3.0

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

amateur_bookworm's review against another edition

3.5

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

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