The Setup
Okay, so I started this one on a Tuesday afternoon while working on a rebrand for a local coffee shop. Frida was draped across my keyboard like she owned the place (she does), and I figured a thriller would keep me focused. Wrong. So wrong. By chapter three I was pausing to stare at my ceiling because my heart was doing things.
Here's the thing about Last Thing He Told Me - it's marketed as this twisty thriller, and sure, there are FBI agents and mysteries and a husband who vanishes into thin air. But that's not what got me. What got me was Hannah and Bailey. This awkward, painful, beautiful thing that happens when a stepmother and a teenage girl who literally hates her guts have to figure out how to survive together. And honestly? That's the real story here.
Rebecca Lowman Is Doing the Lord's Work
I didn't know Rebecca Lowman before this, and now I'm kind of obsessed? Her voice has this quality - it's warm but there's an edge to it. Like she's holding something back. Which is perfect for Hannah, who spends the whole book trying to hold it together while her entire life unravels.
The way she handles Bailey though. Chef's kiss. Teenage contempt is hard to voice without making the character sound like a cartoon villain, but Lowman threads this needle where Bailey sounds angry and hurt and young all at once. There's this scene - I won't spoil it - where Bailey finally cracks, and Lowman's voice just... breaks a little. I had to pause. I was designing a logo and suddenly I'm wiping my eyes with my sleeve like a disaster.
Some people apparently find her delivery a bit flat? I read that somewhere and I genuinely don't get it. Maybe if you're expecting high drama every second. But the restraint works. It feels like how a real person would sound when they're trying not to fall apart.
This Book Felt Like a Hug From Someone Who Just Broke Your Heart
Look, the thriller elements are fine. They're serviceable. You'll figure out some of the twists before they happen - I definitely called one major reveal around the halfway point. But Laura Dave isn't really here for the gotcha moments. She's here for the feelings, and honestly, same.
The relationship between Hannah and Bailey is everything. It's messy and frustrating and neither of them handles it perfectly. Bailey is awful to Hannah in ways that made me want to shake her, but also - she's sixteen and her dad just disappeared and her stepmom is basically a stranger. Of course she's awful. And Hannah keeps trying anyway. She keeps showing up.
Abuela would have loved this one. She was a sucker for family drama, for women figuring out how to be there for each other even when it's hard. I could picture her watching the Apple TV+ adaptation (which exists, by the way - Jennifer Garner!) and yelling at the screen in Spanish when Bailey was being difficult.
I ugly-cried at chapter 28. And again somewhere in the last hour. The spreadsheet has been updated.
Fair Warning Though
If you need your thrillers to be airtight and full of shocking twists, this might frustrate you. The mystery is really more of a framework for the emotional stuff. Some of the plot mechanics don't hold up to intense scrutiny - like, there are moments where you're like "wait, wouldn't the FBI have checked that?" But I didn't care. I was too busy feeling things.
Also, this is very much a book about mothers and daughters and what family means. If you're not in the mood for that, if you want pure escapist suspense, maybe try something else. This one asks you to sit in the uncomfortable feelings.
The Verdict
This is a rainy Sunday book. Or a long design project book. Something where you can let it wash over you and don't need to pause every five minutes. At 1.0x speed (the only correct speed, fight me), it's just under nine hours of emotional investment that pays off.
Rebecca Lowman elevates material that could have been generic into something that actually lands. The pacing drags slightly in the middle when they're doing the detective work stuff, but once the emotional stakes kick back in, you're locked in.
If you liked The Wife Between Us or The Last Mrs. Parrish for the drama more than the twists, you'll probably love this. If you're here for pure thriller mechanics, sample first. But if you want a story about two people learning to be family when everything is falling apart? My heart. MY HEART.
I'm going to go hug my cats now.
