She Treads Softly: The First Time I Saw Him

Tuesday, November 25, 2025

The First Time I Saw Him

The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave
1/6/26; 288 pages
Scribner
Hannah Hall #2

The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave is a recommended thriller and the sequel to The Last Thing He Told Me (2021), which you will want to read first, or watch the TV show which has apparently been made based on The Last Thing He Told Me.

Almost 6 year ago (5 years, 10 months, 24 days) Hannah Hall's husband and her stepdaughter, Bailey's father Owen disappeared, leaving them with a bag of money and a note to keep her safe. Now it seems they may be in danger again. Owen shows up almost unrecognizable at Hannah's new exhibition and secretly slips her a flash drive. Almost immediately after that Hannah receives a message to get out of there now and she and Bailey are on the run again. They are following an intricate plan they have in place to keep them safe.

The pace is fast and the tension is high throughout this sequel about the power of forgiveness. The crime family of Frank Campano Pointe from the Organization are after Hannah and Bailey again. It also appears the Nicholas, Bailey's grandfather, has passed away, but that is later proven to be untrue and he has a plan. Between present day action are multiple points-of-view following the backstory of where Owen went along with other explanatory background information/stories.

Hannah and Bailey get along in this outing, which is a nice change from the teen with an attitude from the first book. All the interpersonal relationships between Hannah, Bailey and Nicholas are well done. This sequel is well written, but predictable and, again, uneven in parts. It also requires you to set a huge dose of disbelief aside. While I enjoyed this book, the first book was stronger, based on my review, and after all this time I clearly never felt a sequel was needed.

The First Time I Saw Him is recommended for those who have read The Last Thing He Told Me and have been waiting for a sequel. Thanks to Scribner for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.