Anna's Reviews > The Last Thing He Told Me

I honestly thought this was really bad. The writing was poor and inconsistent, there were tons of grammatical errors, and the story demanded a huge suspension of disbelief.

Hannah’s husband Owen disappears amidst a scandal at his job, and he leaves behind a note that simply says “Protect her.” This note refers to his 16 year old daughter, Bailey. Hannah then spends the entire book on a fact finding mission to determine what happened, and uncovers secrets about his past. Secrets that, in my opinion, weren’t all that interesting. Along the way, she is rude and dismissive to multiple people that have the nerve to try and help her.

I felt that Hannah shouldn’t have been the main character of the story. Nothing really happens TO her - actually, nothing much happens in the present day at all. The majority of the “action” is Hannah finding out about the past. It may have been more interesting to have some chapters from Owen’s perspective, or even to read the entire story from Bailey’s perspective, as she is more closely tied to the main events.

Hannah as the narrator also tended to over explain everything that was going on. It was a lot of “tell, don’t show.”
One random example: “His face softens. “No, it’s fine,” he says. “She’s my sister. And it’s just a little sensitive ’cause she’s not with us anymore…”
His sister. He said she was his sister. And he said she isn’t with them anymore.” Umm yea... we know he said that, Hannah! We were all there.

Hannah also had a tendency to say (as the narrator) “that stops me” after people say something important to her. That stops you from what? She is never actively doing anything when the phrase is used, other than listening to someone else talk.

I could go on, but all in all, don’t understand the overwhelmingly positive reviews for this book. It was not for me at all.