Kerry Hood was in publishing for many years, working in publicity for several publishers over the time, working on fiction and non-fiction titles. Crime and thrillers have always been those she turns to first, however, and the ones she reads late at night or when she has a quiet moment.
The First Time I Saw Him is the sequel to the million-copy selling The Last Thing He Told Me, which is now also an Apple TV+ series – but the first thing that should be said is that it can very easily be read as a stand-alone novel.
Dave is certainly a master at ratcheting up the excitement. Here she has written a story that is tensely contained to a relatively short number of pages, 268, so the reader can breathe again and sigh with contentment on reaching the end quicker than some … which is something that many readers will appreciate!
The novel is a get-away story. Escape, avoidance, wriggling through convoluted and carefully choreographed moves, a master class of almost chesslike psychology,
Hannah and her daughter, Bailey, are on the run from a vengeful crime syndicate. These guys want them caught and dealt with after Hannah’s husband helped jail one of the top dogs in the organisation – and until now the only thing keeping the pair safe, while Owen, her husband, has disappeared from their lives, is Nicholas, the mob’s lawyer. While he is alive the pair are safe, but then the unthinkable happens and Nicholas is found dead. Their safety is suddenly in jeopardy, and the escape plan that Hannah and Owen have carefully, so carefully, planned and rehearsed comes into play. Immediately.
The research that has gone into this thriller makes it strikingly realistic. Dave travelled from the south coast of France to Hawaii, via Paris and the south coast of California, and it shows in the detail, topography, history and just plain distance covered.
There are many twists and turns, reveals and secrets uncovered, which all help the book to race along, moving at the same breakneck speed as the characters – both those on the run and those searching for them.
There are many other Laura Dave books, so for those hooked on this one, there are many more to get stuck into. Happy reading to come.
