THE LAST THING I TOLD YOU is a fascinating journey into the mind of a young woman who is grappling with the fallout of a traumatic childhood event and her subsequent plunge into violence. I enjoyed the alternating viewpoints that switched between Nadine’s flashbacks to her therapy sessions with Dr. Mark Fabian, and the present-day narration of Detective Henry Peacher as he unravels the complicated mystery behind Fabian’s murder. I liked the humanity of the main characters, who are both flawed and haunted by events in their respective pasts. ( )

4.5 stars.

Written in two distinct points of view and alternating between past and present, The Last Thing I Told You by Emily Arsenault is a riveting murder mystery.

Detective Sergeant Henry Peacher is the lead detective investigating therapist Mark Fabian's murder. With scant evidence to go on, Henry's investigation leads him down a tangled path to former classmate Nadine Raines, Brookhaven nursing home, and convicted killer Johnny Streeter. Nadine is a former patient with a troubled past who has not lived in Campion for twenty years. However, Henry discovers Nadine is in town visiting her mother and stepfather, who interestingly enough works at Brookhaven, but tracking her down proves to be quite challenging. The connection to Brookhaven is tenuous at best but since Mark consulted with patients at Brookhaven the nursing home deserves a closer look. In another interesting twist, Henry turned into a local hero after he stopped Johnny Streeter's murderous rampage at Brookhaven. Johnny is still behind bars but could he have convinced someone on the outside to murder Dr. Fabian?

Henry is a methodical detective who is willing to put in long hours to identify Mark's killer. He is troubled by the case's unexpected connections to Johnny and Brookhaven. He is wracked with guilt that he did not save more of Brookhaven's residents during Johnny's shooting spree. However, Henry does not let this remorse stop him from following each lead he uncovers. He is quite thorough as he revisits seemingly disparate bits of information and does not hesitate to re-question witnesses when necessary. Once the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place, Henry does not let anything stop him from finding out the truth.

The chapters from Nadine's perspective are quite intriguing and offer fascinating insights into her life both in the past and present. Her inner thoughts are directed toward Dr. Fabian as she revisits her previous sessions with him from twenty years earlier. There is no doubt Nadine has some psychological issues but it is her actions in the present make her a prime suspect in her former therapist's murder.

With a clever plot and fascinating narrators, The Last Thing I Told You is an absolutely captivating mystery. The vibrantly and realistically developed characters are so life-like they leap off the pages. The storyline is intricately plotted with plenty of red herrings and plausible misdirects. Emily Arsenault does an outstanding job keeping the perpetrator's identity tightly under wraps until the novel's twist-filled conclusion. Fans of the genre will enjoy this fast-paced and compelling mystery. ( )

This was an ok book. I struggled to get through it at times. It was a page turner, but mostly because I wanted to finish the book. I could see this being a good tv movie. I kept thinking that Nadine's behavioral problems were going to be abuse at the hand of her "deadbeat" dad. It didn't turn out that that was the case, but the twist didn't feel that satisfying. I felt for the characters and yet the writing seemed a bit impersonal. I couldn't quite fall into the book as I'd hoped. ( )

Campion, Connecticut is a peaceful place. That's why Henry Peacher, promoted to detective after taking heroic action during the town's one notable act of violence, a mass shooting at a nursing home, is surprised when he gets the call. A psychotherapist nearing retirement has been murdered. As Henry enters the crime scene he thinks to himself "well, I'm finally seeing a shrink," something his wife has encouraged him to do.

He doesn't know that Nadine Raines had just left the office and is on her way out of town, running away from the girl she had been years ago when, out of the blue, she brought an X-Acto knife to school and stabbed a teacher in the arm. After a hospital stay, she'd spent time in therapy with the murdered psychologist, who never really uncovered what was going through her head when she attacked the teacher. Nadine is now a nurse who works overseas and has made a rare visit home to see her mother and stepfather - and talk to her former therapist. Henry has his work cut out for him, trying to interpret a cryptic patient list so he can question everyone who has recently been in that office and figure out a motive. Nadine has work to do too, addressing the dead therapist directly as she spends a night at a bed and breakfast and then visits a forest where, as a young child, she spent time with her father, trying to understand what he meant to her before he died of an overdose.

Henry and Nadine take turns as narrators in short chapters that gradually reveal the motive for the murder. Each one holds different pieces that we assemble bit by bit as we get to know the now-grown teenager who once drew comics about a half-blind doll and a dinosaur and Henry, whose young twins take a morbid interest in fairy tales. (Why were Hansel and Gretel sent into the woods instead of the mean stepmother who nobody liked? If the witch was so hungry, why didn't she eat her house?)

There is a crime to investigate here, and the clues and red herrings are deftly placed, but the deepest mysteries are found in the well-developed characters: a woman trying to understand herself and a seemingly simple man who has quiet, still depths. Just like the suburban and bucolic town, there's a lot more going on than at first appears.

reposted from Reviewing the Evidence.

In this psychological thriller, Dr. Mark Fabian is found murdered in his office. The case is handled by Detective Henry Peacher, lifelong resident of this quiet town in Maine. Henry discovers that shortly before his death Fabian, a psychologist, had pulled the files of two of his former clients - Nadine Raines and Johnny Streeter. The story alternates between Henry’s investigation in the present and Nadine “talking” to Fabian – in her head.

At sixteen, Nadine had committed a shocking, violent act upon a teacher. Henry remembers Nadine quite well – she was a former classmate of his. Streeter is now in prison serving a life sentence for a mass shooting five years earlier at Brookhaven Manor Retirement Community. Henry muses upon why these two files were pulled. Is there a connection between them? Why did Nadine recently return after having been away for many years? Why did Nadine see Fabian again after nearly twenty years? Henry zeroes in on one thread that seems to connect Nadine, Johnny, and Fabian.

Arsenault writes unflinchingly of the struggle Nadine, mentally ill, deals with on a daily basis. She had a difficult childhood and strives unsuccessfully to understand her dark impulses. After the incident with her teacher the entire town thinks she is crazy, a stigma she cannot escape. But does it mean she is killer?

Overall, the book is fast-paced but did begin to lag a little over halfway through. Some of the chapters seemed to repeat themselves, adding no new information. But by that point I was intrigued and wanted to know how it turned out. Arsenault’s skillful use of red herrings along the way kept me questioning the conclusion.

Thank you to William Morrow Books for the advance reading copy. ( )