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A review by shelfreflectionofficial
The Day He Never Came Home by Andrew DeYoung
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.0
“What was love, anyway, but the feeling of being tied up with someone, so deeply connected that it was impossible to root them out of your life without pulling out whole pieces of yourself? It didn’t have to be a good thing, a pleasant thing. Love could be terrible, too.”
I came across this book because it was recommended by an author I really enjoy: Nicole Baart. I was intrigued by the title and premise because it reminded me of The Last Thing He Told Me which I really liked. I gave it a shot.
It was a bit different than I was expecting but still an enjoyable read.
I thought it was funny that the main character, Regan (pronounced Ree-gan), was a graphic designer and her husband, John, was a financial advisor, because my husband is a financial advisor and I went to college for graphic design! And at the time I was reading this book, which is set in Minnesota, I was in Bloomington Minnesota and had visited Minnetonka Falls just a day before I read that scene in the book. Fun relatables.
The thing that disappointed me about the book was that there was more language and sexual content than I was expecting. Baart’s books are pretty clean so I assumed what she was recommending would largely be too. So I didn’t care for all of that, but the story itself was still good and worth reading.
The premise is this:
“The day before he went missing, Regan’s husband bought her a lake house.”
A very expensive lake house. Once she discovered he didn’t come home that night the FBI show up at her door to arrest her husband for fraud. A Ponzi scheme.
She doesn’t tell the FBI about the house but instead sneaks over there to find her husband. Instead she finds a bag with a million dollars in cash waiting for her.
Her life starts to unravel as she realizes her husband is not the man she thought he was and now she’s caught in the middle of his crimes with two children to still provide for and a narcissistic mother in the wings saying ‘I told you so.’
Regan will do whatever it takes to protect herself and her children, but is she just digging herself deeper into the fray?
The book starts from Regan’s POV. She gives us background into her and John’s relationship, how they met, and some red flags she noticed along the way but chose to ignore.
About halfway through the book shifts to John’s POV. He goes through some of the same events and encounters but from his perspective, filling in the blanks or ‘correcting’ for us readers what Regan thought was happening.
Part 3 changes to third person narration as it combines the characters for the climax of the book.
I’m not sure I ever really found the characters likeable. There were parts of each of them that were just dysfunctional or choices they made I found stupid. I mostly felt bad for their kids.
It did seem like John’s chapters were meant to earn him some sympathy and understanding as if he had no choice to do what he did or at least there were other things to blame, but there was no sympathy from me over here.
And the last few sentences wasn’t a huge surprise to me considering what I already thought about the characters.
So if you read books to really connect to the characters and invest in their lives, you might not find that here.
But the first line draws you in, the anticipation of finding out who John really is and how things got to this point, and how Regan will get out of it are the things that keep you reading.
Recommendation
For the most part I would recommend this book. It’s a pretty quick read and has good bones.
The only reason I would deter you from reading would be if the language and sexual content is something you would like to avoid.
[Content Advisory: 65 f-words, 35 s-words, 6 uses of God’s name in vain, several sexual scenes not super graphic but more than passing references, one of them infidelity]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley and the author in exchange for an honest review**
I came across this book because it was recommended by an author I really enjoy: Nicole Baart. I was intrigued by the title and premise because it reminded me of The Last Thing He Told Me which I really liked. I gave it a shot.
It was a bit different than I was expecting but still an enjoyable read.
I thought it was funny that the main character, Regan (pronounced Ree-gan), was a graphic designer and her husband, John, was a financial advisor, because my husband is a financial advisor and I went to college for graphic design! And at the time I was reading this book, which is set in Minnesota, I was in Bloomington Minnesota and had visited Minnetonka Falls just a day before I read that scene in the book. Fun relatables.
The thing that disappointed me about the book was that there was more language and sexual content than I was expecting. Baart’s books are pretty clean so I assumed what she was recommending would largely be too. So I didn’t care for all of that, but the story itself was still good and worth reading.
The premise is this:
“The day before he went missing, Regan’s husband bought her a lake house.”
A very expensive lake house. Once she discovered he didn’t come home that night the FBI show up at her door to arrest her husband for fraud. A Ponzi scheme.
She doesn’t tell the FBI about the house but instead sneaks over there to find her husband. Instead she finds a bag with a million dollars in cash waiting for her.
Her life starts to unravel as she realizes her husband is not the man she thought he was and now she’s caught in the middle of his crimes with two children to still provide for and a narcissistic mother in the wings saying ‘I told you so.’
Regan will do whatever it takes to protect herself and her children, but is she just digging herself deeper into the fray?
The book starts from Regan’s POV. She gives us background into her and John’s relationship, how they met, and some red flags she noticed along the way but chose to ignore.
About halfway through the book shifts to John’s POV. He goes through some of the same events and encounters but from his perspective, filling in the blanks or ‘correcting’ for us readers what Regan thought was happening.
Part 3 changes to third person narration as it combines the characters for the climax of the book.
I’m not sure I ever really found the characters likeable. There were parts of each of them that were just dysfunctional or choices they made I found stupid. I mostly felt bad for their kids.
It did seem like John’s chapters were meant to earn him some sympathy and understanding as if he had no choice to do what he did or at least there were other things to blame, but there was no sympathy from me over here.
And the last few sentences wasn’t a huge surprise to me considering what I already thought about the characters.
So if you read books to really connect to the characters and invest in their lives, you might not find that here.
But the first line draws you in, the anticipation of finding out who John really is and how things got to this point, and how Regan will get out of it are the things that keep you reading.
Recommendation
For the most part I would recommend this book. It’s a pretty quick read and has good bones.
The only reason I would deter you from reading would be if the language and sexual content is something you would like to avoid.
[Content Advisory: 65 f-words, 35 s-words, 6 uses of God’s name in vain, several sexual scenes not super graphic but more than passing references, one of them infidelity]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley and the author in exchange for an honest review**
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Sexual content