The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Dave, Laura. The Last Thing He Told Me. Simon & Schuster, 2021.

Dave’s novel is divided into three parts, each corresponding with a stage in the search for Hannah Hall’s husband, Owen Michaels. Hannah, a 38-year-old woodturner living in Sausalito, California, is the novel’s first-person narrator.

The novel begins when a teenage girl delivers a note to Hannah from her husband, Owen, that says simply: “Protect her” (7). Hannah is not sure where Owen is but hears a story on the radio about an SEC raid on his workplace, a tech company called The Stop. Owen’s daughter, Bailey, comes home with a duffel bag filled with about $600,000 in cash and a note telling her to remember “what matters” (23). Hannah does not know what to do.

Later that day, Grady Bradford, a U.S. marshal with questions about Owen, appears on their front porch. Hannah refuses to answer his questions and he leaves her his phone number. She goes to her workshop to search Owen’s laptop for clues when two FBI agents appear, also to ask questions about Owen. Hannah is surprised to learn that they did not know about Grady and refuses to answer their questions. She calls her ex-fiancé, Jake Anderson, a lawyer, for advice and he offers to answer any further questions from law enforcement.

Together, Hannah and Bailey realize that Owen was secretive about potential ties to Austin, Texas. Bailey, for example, remembers attending a wedding there when she was very young. Hannah resolves to take Bailey to Austin to see if they can find out the truth for themselves. They locate a church near the UT Austin stadium that Bailey finds familiar. As they are investigating the wedding that Bailey and Owen potentially attended there, Hannah receives a call from Jake, who tells her that much of Owen’s identity was fabricated.

Hannah and Bailey find a math professor at UT Austin that Owen often mentioned but told them taught at Princeton. As they search his class roster for Owen’s alias, the church calls Hannah back, giving her the names of the bride and groom in the wedding that Bailey likely attended with Owen. Hannah finds the groom, Charlie Smith, at a local bar, and he reacts with anger at a picture of Owen and shock at the sight of Bailey, whom he calls Kristin. Looking at family pictures, Hannah and Bailey realize that Charlie’s sister, Katherine, is likely Bailey’s mother. Moments later, Bailey disappears, only to resurface later at the U.S. marshal’s office.

Hannah discovers that Owen, whose real name is Ethan, acted as a witness in a case against his father-in-law, Nicholas, a lawyer for an enormous crime syndicate, and changed his identity to protect Bailey from them. Hannah meets Nicholas and convinces him to ask the syndicate to protect her and Bailey. However, he will not agree to protect Owen, so Hannah and Bailey must accept the reality that they likely will not see him again. Hannah and Bailey return home, where Bailey finally accepts Hannah as a mother figure. In the epilogue, Hannah briefly sees Owen one final time at an exhibition several years later.