Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

46 reviews

avocados_from_mexico's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME - where do i begin?

holy crap this was a wild ride!

read this at the insistence of my mother who was a huge fan of this book and read it over the span of one day.

it's a lot to digest for sure. a bit complicated at times, and a bit fast paced for my taste. i felt like everything was being hurled at me all at once. i felt as if i didn't spend as much time with the characters as was necessary, especially grady.

i thought it was very heartwarming at the end

when bailey finally calls hannah "mom"?? my heart melted aaa

but a bit fast paced. overall a good, fast read for those interested in a mysterious yet heartwarming book about the bonds we make, the bonds we break, and the secrets we keep, even from those we love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Car accident

Minor: Murder

jordan_uhden's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I couldn't put it down! 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

b00kish_lady's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Death of parent

saraavowlerr's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Grief

Minor: Murder, Car accident, Abandonment, and Infidelity

hollymileham's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

ive just read this in one 3 hour sitting so it definitely grabbed my intention and kept it which is impressive for me lately, it was really good but i just feel like it could have benefited from a bit more shock (although maybe im just too desensitised) but one thing i did really enjoy was the growth between bailey and hannah
the bloody trauma for bailey in this book. poor girl

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Death of parent

Moderate: Car accident and Murder

brookebatesratesbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder and Abandonment

becca_w_'s review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Infidelity

Moderate: Violence, Death, Car accident, and Cursing

Minor: Gaslighting and Child death

cherryrose's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The Last Thing He Told Me is a story about a woman named Hannah Hall whose husband, Owen Michaels, goes missing under mysterious circumstances. Before he leaves he writes a note to her that simply says, “protect her.” Over the course of the story Hannah tries to protect his teenage daughter, Bailey, and find answers to his disappearance.

It starts out kind of slow. But, once we learn who the characters are, the plot kept me entertained. I loved the twists and I really didn’t know where the story was going.

However, the characters are lacking. Numerous times, Bailey’s purple hair is mentioned to make up for her lack of actual personality. Hannah desperately wants to be liked by her and talks highly of her but, I don’t understand why. I can’t think of anything in the story that made her feel this way especially, when Bailey is an asshole to her most of the book.

Owen’s goodness is forced and unconvincing. When it’s revealed that he helped his father-in-law pass messages about hits, Grady justifies it by saying he was loyal to fault. He was just convinced by his wife and her brother’s love for their father.

When his FIL tells his side and points out that Owen was also complicit, Hannah says he only believes that because he was wronged. But it doesn’t matter to her because she loves him. I felt like the story was telling me because she loves him, he can’t be bad. You can’t even entertain that he’s bad because he is the love interest.

Overall, this was a fun read but, it could have been better.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Murder and Violence

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I only read this for a Storygraph reading challenge, and almost didn't finish. It starts out alright, and the female protagonist is strong, but by 80% I hated it. I didn't like the unnecessary misdirect of there only being 2 (bad) reasons to change your name, found Hannah's conclusions made less and less sense, dislike obligatory one-dimensional angry teen characters, and don't understand how you don't notice the piggy bank isn't full of coins. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Murder, Violence, Abandonment, and Grief

Minor: Gun violence

addyisnothere's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug use, Gaslighting, Murder, Grief, Alcohol, and Car accident