the first time i saw him by laura dave

I went into this with very high expectations, as I absolutely loved and tore through The Last Thing He Told Me. This one fell off just a bit, as Hannah was not the strong female lead I found her to be in the original. This story had much more back story about Owen, Nicholas and Frank, and what led to the doomed partnership and friendship that led to the downward spiral. Hannah somewhat takes a back seat to their stories.

First- do I need to read the first or does this work as a standalone? You need to read the first. You probably need to re-read it, unless you have recently watched the Apple TV series. It starts off exactly where the epilogue ends.

Some of the ambigious open questions are answered, and this is in NO way a slow burn, it is action packed from page one through the end. It was less surprising- less mystery more thriller. It was interesting to see the growth in Owen and Hannah the past 5 years. This is one of those books that I always wanted a sequel and here we are.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC. Book to be published January 6, 2026.