Review: The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave

Title: The First Time I Saw Him

Author: Laura Dave

Year published: 2026

Category: Adult nonfiction

Pages: 288

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Location: (my 2026 Google Reading map): USA (CA), New Zealand, and France

Summary: Laura Dave continues Hannah Hall’s pulse-pounding journey in the riveting and deeply moving sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling blockbuster and Apple TV+ show, The Last Thing He Told Me.

How far would you go for a second chance?

Five years after her husband, Owen, disappeared, Hannah Hall and her stepdaughter, Bailey, have settled into a new life in Southern California. Together, they’ve forged a relationship with Bailey’s grandfather Nicholas and are putting the past behind them.

But when Owen shows up at Hannah’s new exhibition, she knows that she and Bailey are in danger again.

Hannah and Bailey are forced to go on the run in a relentless race to keep their past from catching up with them. As a thrilling drama unfolds, Hannah risks everything to get Bailey to safety—and finds there just might be a way back to Owen and their long-awaited second chance.

Review: I read the first book in this series, The Last Thing He Told Me (link to my review), and was excited to see this one. I enjoyed the first book more than this one, but this novel still held my attention, and the read was a good one.

I do wish I'd read both of these books closer together so I'd remember the plot of the first novel better. This one is definitely a continuation, opening with the final scene of the previous. The characters are good--on both sides of the events. The "bad guys" and the "good guys" get a bit muddled (who really is on the "right" side?), which is a plot that I enjoy reading. Whose loyalties lie where, who can we trust? It keeps me glued to the story.

And there is travel: California, Florida, New Zealand, and France, which I also enjoy. How fun for the author to get to go to these places for research! I like it when locations are characters in a story.

Challenges for which this counts:

• Cover Lovers--something to do with pirates (ships)
• Literary Escapes--New Zealand