The Night We Lost Him
A Novel
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
“Drama, mystery, and intrigue” (PureWow) unfold in this instant New York Times bestseller about estranged siblings chasing a fifty-year-old secret that shaped their father’s mysterious life—and death—in this “emotionally charged and unforgettable story” (E!) from the author of The Last Thing He Told Me.
Liam Noone was many things to many people. To the public, he was an exacting, self-made hotel magnate fleeing his past. To his three ex-wives, he was a loving albeit distant family man who kept his finances flush and his families carefully separated. To Nora, he was a father who often loved her from afar—notably, a cliffside cottage perched on the California coast where he fell to his death.
The authorities rule the death accidental, but Nora and her estranged brother Sam have other ideas. As Nora and Sam form an uneasy alliance to unravel the mystery, they start putting together the pieces of their father’s past and uncover a family secret that changes everything.
With Laura Dave’s trademark blend of soulful suspense and evocative family drama, The Night We Lost Him is a riveting page-turner with a heartbreaking final twist that you will never see coming.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This novel hits the head and heart with equal power, blending a murder mystery and sensitive family drama. Liam Noone is a huge name in the hotel business, but his family is a hot mess—multiple divorces and half-siblings who hardly know each other are the least of it. When he dies in a fall, police find no foul play. But his son Sam is sure enough that something’s rotten that he reaches out to his half-sister Nora, whose bond with him is tenuous at best. Their amateur sleuthing provides some pulse-boosting moments, but watching their relationship evolve in the process gets downright touching. Especially since the more secrets they unearth, the clearer it becomes that nobody in this family ever really knew each other. Best-selling author Laura Dave’s unique combo of dark mystery chops and emotional storytelling makes The Night We Lost Him a whodunit that can tug at your heartstrings while it’s rattling your brain.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Estranged half-siblings reunite to investigate the death of their father, self-made hotel magnate Liam Noone, in this soapy family saga from Dave (The Last Thing He Told Me). Brooklyn-based architect Nora is surprised, after years of fighting to maintain her independence from her father, by the depth of her grief following his fatal fall from the cliff outside his California home. Nora is further blindsided when Sam, the younger half-brother she barely knows from the second of Liam's three marriages, reaches out to share his suspicion that the tragedy was no accident. Nora and Sam—who began working at the family firm after an accident derailed his promising baseball career—start squabbling almost instantly, but stonewalling from Liam's cousin and business partner, Joe, and from the California cops whose probe of Liam's death was perfunctory at best, convince the pair there's a mystery to solve. Whether Liam was murdered is a question Dave dangles tantalizingly as the siblings press for answers from the family and friends who he kept almost compulsively compartmentalized. Unfortunately, save for Nora, the inconsistent characters often feel less considered than Dave's descriptions of decor and dining. It's a mixed bag.
Customer Reviews
Great Read!
I enjoyed every minute of this well written love story with so many nuances and well represented characters …. Highly recommend!
Sooooo good!
Probably the best book I’ve ever read and definitely the best book I’ve read this year. Excuse me as I wipe my eyes and blow my nose.
Laura Dave, I can’t wait for your next novel. I waited, not so patiently, for this one after binge reading everything you’ve written before it.
Very relatable
Some young loves will forever hold that torch and their love supersedes all other love. Their timing is usually off in their attempt to get back together and to come out to the world about their profound and decades long love yet as life goes, it rarely happens: I have a very similar experience to this specific decades long love for someone who was my very best half my everything and yet I still married another had kids and mo matter how long it would be until we would reunite those feelings were always there and so so hard to keep at bay