"The First Time I Saw Him" | Reviewed by Diane Lick

Edge of your seat thriller, “The First Time I Saw Him,” by Laura Dave, is a sequel to her bestseller, “The Last Thing He Told Me,” published in 2021. In her first book, Dave introduces the reader to the Michaels Family.

Bailey is a typical 16-year-old, unhappy with her new stepmom, Hannah. Her father, Owen, seems like any other dad in Sausalito; that is until he disappears leaving behind a duffle bag of money and a cryptic note for Hannah to “protect her.”

The FBI comes knocking on their door and Hannah realizes that she really doesn’t know the man she married, but does know the “her” she must protect is Bailey. 

Hannah connects with Nicolas, the father of Owen’s first wife, and together they work hard to make a good, safe life for Bailey even though there does not seem to be an answer for Owen’s disappearance. Hannah and Bailey are always looking over their shoulders and have an escape plan in place should it be needed.

The newly released book finds Hannah, six years after Owen disappeared, at an exhibition hall displaying her furniture when she sees and has a brief encounter with him. Hannah doesn’t really know what this means. Is Owen finally coming back home? If so, how can she forgive him for leaving, and trust him after all that has gone unexplained? But Owen only has a few words to say and then is gone again. Hannah decides not to mention his “visit” to Bailey. 

Tension mounts when Hannah gets a mysterious text telling her to leave her house immediately. When Hannah looks out the window, she sees a man ringing her doorbell. Hannah soon finds out another man is trying to get into her daughter Bailey’s apartment building.

Putting their heads together, Hannah and Bailey know that it is time to execute their escape plan. As they begin to move through the plan Hannah has made, and walked Bailey through many times, she gets messages that cause her to change it up. Instead of sailing away, the messages direct them to a private plane and a new, unknown destination

  In “The First Time I Saw Him, the “thriller” chapters of the escape are interspersed with chapters that fill in the backstory of why it’s so important to keep Bailey safe and why Owen suddenly reappears. To share more will give away too much of the plot in this exciting follow-up.

Buy the book.