The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

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Vanishing Husbands and Identity Whiplash: A Review of The Last Thing He Told Me

Spoiler Warning: Full plot details and the ending are discussed below. Proceed at your own risk.

Oof. Another one that started out strong and fizzled hard. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave sets up an intriguing mystery, but by the end, I was just hoping it would wrap up soon. Told from the perspective of Hannah Hall, a 40-year-old woodturner living on a houseboat in San Francisco Bay, the novel kicks off with a compelling premise: her husband, Owen Michaels, disappears after his tech company is raided by the feds.

At first, it seems like Owen might be involved in shady financial dealings. But thriller readers know better—if it seems like one thing early on, it’s definitely going to pivot. And it does... into a mystery more than a thriller. I was never on the edge of my seat, just passively curious about what actually happened.

One major issue for me: the final third of the book introduces a bunch of new characters to explain the backstory. That felt like a shortcut instead of a twist. And honestly, by that point, I had already checked out.

Here’s the basic plot:

Hannah met Owen through her high-end furniture showroom, while he was shopping with his boss’s wife. They fell in love, got married, and now live together with Bailey, Owen’s moody 16-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.

One day, a 12-year-old girl delivers a handwritten note to Hannah. It simply says: “Protect her.”

Soon after, Hannah sees on the news that Owen’s company is under investigation, and his boss, Avett Thompson, has been arrested for fraud. Owen is gone. Hannah believes he’s innocent—but then Bailey finds a duffle bag full of cash in her school locker with a note from Owen asking her to take care of Hannah.

Enter Grady Bradford, a U.S. Marshal, who tells Hannah that Owen isn’t who she thinks he is. Hannah doesn't know if she can trust him.

But a clue leads her and Bailey to Austin, Texas, where Hannah uncovers Owen’s true identity: Ethan Young. Years ago, Ethan’s wife was murdered by a crime syndicate after his father-in-law, Nicholas Bell—a mob attorney—was arrested. Ethan worked with the feds to put Nicholas and 18 other criminals behind bars.

When witness protection failed him, Ethan fled and changed both his and Bailey’s identities. Turns out, Bailey’s real name is Kristin, and Grady was their original handler in WITSEC. Now, with Owen’s tech company unraveling and his true identity at risk of exposure, he vanishes—believing the only way to keep Bailey safe is to disappear again and leave Hannah to raise her. (Let’s be honest: this logic is flimsy at best.)

Years later, Hannah is at a design showcase when she notices a man wearing a very familiar wedding ring—one she designed for Owen. He says something only Owen would say. She realizes it’s him. The book ends with Bailey calling Hannah “Mom.”

⭐ Final Thoughts & Rating

The first 1/3 of the book? Solid setup. Emotional and intriguing. The rest? Dragged. I never felt tension or urgency, and the payoff just didn’t deliver. For a book marketed as a thriller, there was very little thrill. And that “mystery solved” ending felt more like a shrug than a mic drop.

⭐ My Rating: ⭐⭐½ (2.5 out of 5 stars) (and honestly, that’s being generous)

If you like slower-paced mysteries with themes of family, identity, and sacrifice, you might still enjoy it. But for fans of high-stakes thrillers, this one might not hit the mark.

📚 If You Liked The Last Thing He Told Me, Try These Instead:

  • Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell – A more gripping mystery with emotional depth

  • Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson – Twisty psychological thriller with secrets and paranoia

  • The Night Swim by Megan Goldin – A tense blend of true crime podcast and courtroom suspense

  • The Nowhere Child by Christian White – Mystery with identity themes and past trauma

  • Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris – Fast-paced and edge-of-your-seat suspense done right

What did you think of the twist? Was the ending satisfying or did it miss the mark for you too? Let’s talk in the comments!

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