2021
WISE Score
Amazon
Your husband vanishes and leaves a note: 'Protect her.' Now you and your prickly stepdaughter are on the run to find out why.
4.3
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This is a solid, upper-tier mystery that actually has a soul. It’s less about the 'whodunnit' and more about two women figuring out how to be a family when the person holding them together vanishes.
It’s not going to change your life, and the ending is a bit polarizing, but it’s a page-turner that respects the reader's intelligence. If your kid is aging out of YA mysteries and wants something more 'grown-up' without jumping into the deep end of gritty crime, this is a perfect bridge.
Perfect for ages 13 and up. It’s written for adults but the content is totally fine for high schoolers who want a mystery that isn't 'babyish' but also isn't full of gore.
The heart of the story is a stepmother choosing to protect a teenager who isn't even hers by blood. It's a refreshing take on the 'evil stepmother' trope, focusing on loyalty and showing up when things get messy.
It's a standard domestic thriller. It doesn't reinvent the wheel or build a new world, but it keeps the brain moving as you try to piece together the husband's double life.
Very safe for a thriller. You won't find graphic violence or explicit content here. It's more of a 'beach read' mystery that relies on tension rather than shock value.
Great for exploring the nuances of blended families. It asks hard questions about how well we actually know the people we live with and what it means to keep a promise.
If you have a teen who has burned through every Karen M. McManus book and is looking for something that feels more mature without being traumatizing, this is the pivot point. Laura Dave managed to write a book that sits in a very specific niche: it has the propulsive, high-stakes hook of an adult thriller, but the emotional core is rooted in a domestic setup that high schoolers can actually relate to.
It’s a mystery about a disappearing husband, sure, but the real story is about Hannah and her stepdaughter, Bailey. Most fiction treats the stepmother-stepdaughter dynamic as a battlefield. Here, it’s a partnership. Watching them navigate the fallout of a white-collar crime scandal—think less John Wick and more Enron—is actually a great way to talk about how people aren't always who they seem, especially when the FBI starts knocking.
While this won the Goodreads Choice Award for best mystery/thriller in 2021, calling it a "thriller" might be a stretch for some. If you’re expecting a high-octane chase with explosions, you’ll be disappointed. It’s a procedural of the heart. The friction comes from Hannah trying to earn the trust of a teenager who didn't want her there in the first place, all while the world they knew is dissolving.
The "white-collar" element is a refreshing change of pace from the usual gritty crime tropes. It feels smart. It deals with tech startups, corporate fraud, and the US Marshal service in a way that feels grounded. For a kid interested in how the world actually works—or how someone can technically "disappear" in the digital age—the logistics of the plot are genuinely interesting.
If your family is more into screens than pages, you’ve likely seen the adaptation floating around. There is a bit of a divide between the critics and the fans on this one. Some reviewers found the adaptation a bit dry, but viewers on Reddit and IMDb have been much kinder, largely because of the performances.
If you're considering the jump from the book to the screen, check out our The Last Thing He Told Me Parents Guide to see how the suspense levels and content shift in the later episodes. The show leans a bit harder into the "slow-burn" drama than the book does, which might test the patience of younger viewers used to TikTok-speed plotting.
The ending is the one part people tend to argue about. It doesn't tie everything up in a neat bow with a "happily ever after" for everyone involved. It chooses a realistic resolution over a cinematic one. For a cynical teen, that might actually make the story more credible; for a reader who wants total closure, it might feel a little abrupt. Either way, it’s the kind of ending that actually gives you something to talk about at dinner.
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