A dark, tense mystery with a masterfully crafted plot and brilliantly executed twist. ( )

The Lucky One is a slow burn suspense novel that shares the story of a woman who was previously kidnapped and is now looking for answers. While I enjoy a character-driven novel, I struggled to connect with these characters (I found them dislikable in general) which caused me to lose interest in the storyline.

I love a book with imperfect characters and some dysfunction but as much as I had hoped to, this one just didn't resonate with me. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. ( )

The Lucky One, the newest mystery by Lori Rader-Day, started at a somewhat slower pace than I was used to, so I did not finish it as quickly as I have in reading past novels by this talented author. But I'm glad I did because, as one librarian colleague said, it has a "boffo" ending!

The main character, Alice, was taken out of her yard as a toddler, but rescued by her policeman father very quickly. Alice remembers very little about it. Raised in "cotton wool" protection by her parents, she has not had an opportunity to achieve much as an adult. As the book begins, Alice is working for her father's construction company - he retired from the force shortly after the kidnapping. She has a keen interest in an online community who attempts to locate missing persons in order to provide closure for families, even if the news is tragic. One day, she sees a familiar face - that of her kidnapper. The book picks up pace after that, and the slow burn turns into a page-turner that I'm glad I raced through to finish. There are layers of different story-lines that are revealed in a well-crafted way, as well as realistic dialogue that flows seamlessly. It had an ending I didn't see coming - always the best kind for mysteries and thrillers! You will want to read this one to find out who is really "the lucky one." ( )

I found myself rushing through this to get to the end and be told what was going on. I was angry a LOT at all the parents keeping secrets and all the half-truths. ( )

This dark and twisted book is told by the two main characters. Alice and Merrily are totally different people in every way but they both hold clues to what happened to them early in their lives and they won't have any answers until they can work together.

Both Alice and Merrily are on a quest to find out something important to them about their earlier lives. It isn't until they start to work together that they begin to get answers but what they discover will totally change their lives and put them both in danger.

What could have been a exciting book was a little slow. For much of the story, there were two separate stories with nothing connecting them and no connection between the two women. It wasn't until they began to work together that the book got really interesting. I was bored with the book when the two women were working alone as I didn't much like either character, especially Alice who seems to just live her life without any involvement - she just went along with whatever happened. Merrily was a bit more energetic in her life but it didn't make sense to my why she was even looking for this man. However, once they both started working together, after their initial dislike of each other, the book took off for me and I really enjoyed it. ( )