The Last Thing He Told Me
**The "page-turning, exhilarating" (PopSugar) and "heartfelt thriller" (Real Simple) about a woman who thinks she's found the love of her life—until he disappears.** Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen's sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. As Hannah's increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen's boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn't who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen's true identity—and why he really disappeared. Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen's past, they soon realize they're also building a new future—one neither of them could have anticipated. With its breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a "page-turning, exhilarat
Books in conversation with The Last Thing He Told Me
A few of the closest reads from our full list.
What you might want to know about The Last Thing He Told Me
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Hannah Hall lives on a Sausalito houseboat with her woodturning shop and her stepdaughter Bailey when her tech executive husband Owen vanishes and a US Marshal knocks on the door. He has left her a duffel of cash, a single line in a note, and a name to take Bailey to in Austin.
Yes. Apple TV+ released a seven-episode series adaptation in 2023 starring Jennifer Garner. The show follows the novel's premise of a woman searching for the truth about her vanished husband.
Yes. Laura Dave wrote The Night We Lost Him (2024), a connected sequel. Both novels can be read as standalones, with The Night We Lost Him deepening some of the original's character work.
The Last Thing He Told Me was written by Laura Dave, published in 2021 by Scribner.
The Last Thing He Told Me is 320 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Last Thing He Told Me takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
The Last Thing He Told Me is a standalone novel by Laura Dave, not part of a series.
The Last Thing He Told Me is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.