The Last Thing I Told You: A Novel

Emily Arsenault

Jul 2018 · HarperCollins

About this ebook

From a New York Times notable author “another shape-shifting psychological mystery by . . . a writer who constantly surprises me” (Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review).

Therapist Dr. Mark Fabian is dead, bludgeoned in his office.

But that doesn’t stop former patient Nadine Raines from talking to him—in her head. Why did she come back to her hometown after so many years away? Everyone here thinks she’s crazy. She has to admit—they might have good reason to think so. She committed a violent act when she was sixteen and has never been able to explain that dark impulse, even to Fabian. Now he’s dead, so why is she still trying?

Detective Henry Peacher investigates Fabian’s death and discovers that shortly before he died, Fabian pulled the files of two former patients. One was for Nadine Raines, a former high school classmate of Henry’s. The other file was for Johnny Streeter, who is now serving a life sentence for a mass shooting he carried out five years ago. Maybe there is a connection between Nadine and Streeter. And maybe that connection somehow explains why Nadine was in Fabian’s office nearly twenty years after being his patient. Or how Fabian ended up dead two days after her return. Or why Nadine has fled town once again. . . .

“Thought-provoking.” —Booklist

“An original, unpredictable tale.” —Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Stranger

“A twist-filled page-turner.” —Wendy Corsi Staub, New York Times bestselling author

“A rich, finely-observed, character-driven psychological thriller.” —Hallie Ephron, New York Times bestselling author of You’ll Never Know, Dear

“A complex, absorbing, and satisfying read.” —William Landay, New York Times bestselling author of Defending Jacob

Ratings and reviews

Psychiatrist Dr. Mark Fabian is dead—bludgeoned in his office. Detective Henry Peacher investigates Fabian's death and finds that shortly before his death, he pulled the files of 2 former patients. One file is of Johnny Streeter, a man now serving a life sentence for a mass shooting. Ironically, Peacher is the cop who shot him before he could kill anyone else. The other file is of Nadine Raines. Again, there's a link between her and Peacher ... he was in the same classroom when she attacked the teacher with a box cutter. She's been gone many years ..so why has she come back now? And why would these files be pulled when neither of them had been patients for 20 years? As Nadine and Henry head toward a confrontation, both will discover that the secrets of people’s hearts are rarely simple, and—even in the hidden depths of a psychologist’s files—rarely as they appear. This is an amazing psychological thriller. The story kept me glued to the pages anxiously awaiting what would come next. This thread attaches to that thread that affixes itself to yet another thread. I love how this book is cleverly written. Alternating chapters are told in turn by Nadine and Peacher. Nadine is still talking to the doctor in her head ... but did she kill him? There were things she never told him ... Peacher tells the story of how he got to be the hero-cop, a moniker he doesn't really like. His personal life is also talked about .. mainly about his twin daughters. It's a police procedural in how investigations should be run and how the clues start coming together with a lot of door-knocking and asking the right questions. All in all, a terrific book that kept me guessing until the very end. Many thanks to the author / William Morrow Books / Edelweiss for the advanced copy of this psychological thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

About the author

Emily Arsenault is also the author of The Evening Spider, The Broken Teaglass, In Search of the Rose Notes, Miss Me When I’m Gone, What Strange Creatures, and the young adult novel The Leaf Reader. She lives in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, with her husband and daughter.