Siblings overcome years of estrangement to investigate their beloved father's sudden death in Laura Dave's seventh novel, The Night We Lost Him. Dave (The Last Thing He Told Me; Eight Hundred Grapes) combines the mystery of a fatal fall with slowly revealed secrets from a family's past in this compelling drama narrated by Nora, a grieving daughter willing to take risks to discover the truth.
Liam Noone, affluent hotel magnate, was the father of three grown children from two of his three marriages. His plunge from a cliff at his secluded California beachside home was investigated and ruled accidental, but when Sam, the brother Nora barely knows, refutes the results of the investigation, he entreats her to join his search for details. They rule out suicide, and although Liam was respected and well-liked, Nora admits she "can't shake a lingering suspicion when something feels off." The two travel to Liam's beach house and follow hunches that confirm their original doubts but raise new ones. "Why are there so many secrets in this family?" Nora asks the brother she has come to appreciate.
Dave ratchets up the suspense by alternating the siblings' quest with chapters about Liam's life that begin 51 years ago and end shortly before his fatal fall. Understanding Liam better than his children ever did enhances readers' sympathy for him, but Dave still withholds critical details, sustaining the mystery until the novel's climax. A poignant relationship lies at the heart of this gripping and multilayered story of well-meaning characters who navigate secrets and find love down every path they follow. --Cheryl McKeon, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y.