Book review: The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave

The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave was the second book in a row I’d read about the death of a wealthy man, which might or might not (in fact) be murder. Here the patriarch of the family is at least likeable, unlike the previous book I read and – though Liam Noone has been tough in business – we learn the victim was a good father and not too ‘affected’ by his wealth.

Liam Noone was many things to many people. To the public, he was an exacting, self-made hotel magnate fleeing his past. To his three ex-wives, he was a loving albeit distant family man who kept his finances flush and his families carefully separated. To Nora, he was a father who loved her from afar – notably a cliffside cottage perched on the California coast from which he fell to his death.

The authorities rule the death accidental, but Nora and her estranged brother Sam have other ideas. As Nora and Sam form an uneasy alliance to unravel the mystery, they start putting together the pieces of their father’s past—and uncover a family secret that changes everything.

Our main narrator is Nora, the oldest of three children and the daughter from his first marriage, with twins Tommy and Sam from Liam’s second marriage. Although Liam stayed close to his children he kept his lives apart so Nora barely knows her half-brothers and is surprised when Sam reaches out with his suspicions that their father was killed. She’s cynical initially but comes around when she learns more about the circumstances of his death and the fact he’s been acting strangely over recent months.

We’re also taken back into Liam’s past and his teenage years with cousin (later trusted business associate) Joe and his early years in the hotel industry before starting his own empire. I found the trips to the past a bit disjointed at times as the visits weren’t consistently spaced and context a tad confusing. It’s there though we meet his first love and start to ponder the impact of that on his later life. And his death.

Dave offers a complex mystery here with several red herrings. There’s some rivalry between Tommy and Sam, secrets kept by Joe and Liam and the surprisingly discovery that Liam was considering selling the company to a rival despite vowing never to do so. Dave also sprinkles lots of texture into the narrative… Liam’s passion for the old clifftop house Windbreak (where he died) and his refusal to renovate it; his commitment to fatherhood – despite his philandering; his pride in Nora and her self-made career as an architect; and the fact that he shared his bounty with his cousin with no strings attached. Through Nora and Sam there’s also some reflection on grief, loss and regret.

I probably would have liked a bit more detail about Sam and Tommy’s relationship and more time spent getting to know Liam in the past which I think would have meant I better understood the bittersweet nature of his last few months and his death. So while this didn’t quite grab me and not let go, it’s certainly a solid whodunnit and enjoyable read.

The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave was published in Australia by Penguin Books.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.