From the award-winning author of Little Pretty Things comes this gripping, unforgettable tale of a mother’s desperate search for a lost boy. Anna Winger can know people better than they know themselves with only a glance—at their handwriting. Hired out by companies wanting to land trustworthy employees and by the lovelorn hoping to find happiness, Anna likes to keep the real-life mess of other … real-life mess of other people at arm’s length and on paper. But when she is called to use her expertise on a note left behind at a murder scene in the small town she and her son have recently moved to, the crime gets under Anna’s skin and rips open her narrow life for all to see. To save her son—and herself—once and for all, Anna will face her every fear, her every mistake, and the past she thought she’d rewritten.
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I loved the handwriting expert as heroine. The midwest setting was the perfect backdrop for a woman on the run. I always love a good HFN ending.
Such a shame, because the first half of this book is quite good. A handwriting analyst staged her own death and has lived off the grid for fifteen years so as to not be found. With her unknowing teenage son in tow. This makes for very contentious living.
She is extremely cautious, so has never set down roots in any of the tiny towns they’ve lived. She has no friends, and lives in crummy rented apartments. They live out of boxes as she never knows when she’ll need to pack up and hit the highway.
Of course she has a new name, new SSN.
I get it. She wants someone in her past to think she died fourteen years ago.
This is where both the author and I started to lose it. Her birth name was Leanna Winger – her new name, the one she has used to keep her safe all these years, is Anna Winger.
Wait, what? I must have misread this. Um, nope, that’s what it says. Leanna Winger has become Anna Winger.
It gets worse and worse, until every single open thread is wrapped up by book’s end. Poorly.
I know – I hurt my eyes from rolling them so much.
This is a very well written book with a good story line. The author can turn a phrase so well that some of her sentences are memorable. Beliveable character growth.
What happens when you die? Does the town you grew up in move on without you? Do the people in your life stop living? Does the world keep spinning?
Anna is a handwriting specialist living in the small town of Parks, Indiana. Hired to help with the case of a missing two-year-old, she fears her animosity may be at risk. She has been so careful, she has made all the right moves, she cannot expose herself and jeopardize all she has worked so hard to protect. Yet, when her thirteen-year-old son disappears, her worst fear comes to fruition.
Lori Rader-Day’s “The Day I Died” is an enticing thriller that will keep you questioning all the way to end. Although a little sluggish to start, Lori lures the reader in with little mysteries throughout her writing, leading to an inability to stop until the truth has been revealed.
Revolving around abduction, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and murder this book can be triggering. Please be wary if affected by any of these events, and as Lori Rader-Day mentions in her acknowledgements, reach out for help if needed.
With borderline profanity and some slow spots within the story, a rating of 4 out of 5 stars is given.
None the less, would recommend to those wanting to be wrapped up in a mystery thriller. “The Day I Died” is perfect for anyone who knows you do not mess with a mama bear.
Great title. Great opening page that hooks you in right from very start. And then a really great thriller all the rest of the way that really delivers. Lori Rader-Day is a terrific writer.
Lori Rader-Day introduces what might have been an intriguing new element for an overloaded genre in her latest novel The Day I Died. A handwriting expert with a traumatic history who consults with law enforcement, business and the private sector, Anna Winger can glean information from provided samples in a Sherlockian style. She is an eccentric, guarded and prickly character who over the past thirteen years been perpetually uprooting herself and her teenage son in order to escape a shadowy, menacing presence from her past. As her rebellious son struggles to adjust to their latest new town, Anna is enlisted to help a highly skeptical sheriff with the case of a missing toddler. Continually defensive about her abilities and what they can contribute to the case, Anna is begrudgingly drawn in by the community despite being distracted by her tendency to mistrust and avoid any entanglements. She is tempted to run away again when it seems that her true identity has been discovered and her son becomes increasingly insistent about learning about his origins. Soon events force Anna to return to her childhood home, and some incredible connections crop up between her current work and her own past. Rader-Day skillfully portrays the contentious mother-son relationship, and one is left feeling truly sorry for the teen whose mother is incapable of recognizing how detrimental her decisions have been to his life. The handwriting analysis angle is provided to give the novel a twist, but seems a bit dated given the our increasingly digitized world. So many current thrillers feature a damaged female protagonist armed with a rough exterior and similar issues or backstories that whole sections of bookstores could be devoted to them. So, any differentiators from the typical formula are refreshing—if they can be well-executed and avoid being too “gimmicky” in their deployment. Unfortunately, The Day I Died falls short in both areas. Anna’s feats of handwriting analysis abilities are not exciting enough to overcome the slow pace of the first section of the book, and the plot only starts getting interesting in the final third of the book when Anna returns to her hometown. The coincidences needed to combine Anna’s present and past strain plausibility, and Anna herself is such an alienating character that she is almost a caricature of unlikability. There is also a “romantic” subplot that contributes very little and becomes an add-on that appears forced and unnecessary. Ultimately, The Day I Died is relegated to a merely passable entry in a field that already provides too much rich competition for it to stand out successfully from the crowd.
Thanks to the author, Harper Collins/William Morrow and Library Thing for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
A great read. Anna and her son, Joshua, are hiding from an abusive ex-husband. But Josh is in his teen, and beginning to questions their lifestyle. Asking about family.
Anna is a hand-writing analysis and flies under the radar, But she’s asked to help the local sheriff in a child kidnapping case. The booster club is asking her to volunteer for her son’s football team. People are asking questions. Is it time to move again…
Then the unthinkable, Josh is gone, too.
A page turner, fast read, suspenseful story.
Omg! This book has more twists, turns, ups and downs than a roller coaster! Conclusion is NOT forgone! Fabulous story telling! Cudoes and applauses.
Great opening paragraph, but somehow didn’t follow thru for me. It was interesting in an odd way.
FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW, POOR CHARACTERS, WHINING ATTITUDES.
Premise of story seems too contrived. Couldn’t finish this one.
Great characters and a satisfying mystery.
Anna was an expert at creating a profile based on a person’s handwriting. She often works with the police but this latest case might just force her to face a past she’s spent years running from.
I’m almost finished and I haven’t figured it out yet. Very interesting.
I didn’t care for this book. It was boring and repetitive. I didn’t really like the characters either. I found myself having to reread things because I wasn’t sure what was being said. I eventually started skimmmg just to get through.