“This might well be my favorite Rader-Day so far: a brilliant premise intriguingly developed, totally believable characters and a climax that took my breath away.” — Ann Cleeves, New York Times bestselling author of The Shetland and Vera Series
From the author of the Edgar Award®-nominated Under A Dark Sky comes an unforgettable, chilling novel about a young woman who recognizes the man who … novel about a young woman who recognizes the man who kidnapped her as a child, setting off a search for justice, and into danger.
Most people who go missing are never found. But Alice was the lucky one…
As a child, Alice was stolen from her backyard in a tiny Indiana community, but against the odds, her policeman father tracked her down within twenty-four hours and rescued her from harm. In the aftermath of the crime, her family decided to move to Chicago and close the door on that horrible day.
Yet Alice hasn’t forgotten. She devotes her spare time volunteering for a website called The Doe Pages scrolling through pages upon pages of unidentified people, searching for clues that could help reunite families with their missing loved ones. When a face appears on Alice’s screen that she recognizes, she’s stunned to realize it’s the same man who kidnapped her decades ago. The post is deleted as quickly as it appeared, leaving Alice with more questions than answers.
Embarking on a search for the truth, she enlists the help of friends from The Doe Pages to connect the dots and find her kidnapper before he hurts someone else. Then Alice crosses paths with Merrily Cruz, another woman who’s been hunting for answers of her own. Together, they begin to unravel a dark, painful web of lies that will change what they thought they knew—and could cost them everything.
Twisting and compulsively readable, The Lucky One explores the lies we tell ourselves to feel safe.
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I couldn’t put The Lucky One down. The twisted threads that finally come together, the search for the apparently lost, missing, or kidnapped, the suspense, the deeply drawn characters: Rader-Day had hooked me from page one through to the end.
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.
Lori Rader-Day is a master at suspense. I loved all the twists and turns, and just when I thought I had it figured out, it twisted again. I can’t wait to read more of Lori’s books!
This might well be my favorite Rader-Day so far: a brilliant premise intriguingly developed, totally believable characters and a climax that took my breath away.
I loved this psychological thriller about two very different young women who find themselves searching for the same man for different reasons. A read full of suspense.
I loved this psychological thriller about two very different young women who find themselves searching for the same man for different reasons. A read full of suspense.
Terrible – confusing – poorly written… nothing good. Slogged through to the end just to see if it got better (it didn’t). Don’t waste your time or $
Book was interesting, but kinda hard to keep up with. Kinda all over the place and sometimes hard to understand what’s going on!
I picked up this book to read because of the plot- Alice who is rescued after being kidnapped as a young child, spends her spare time as an adult working to help others find missing loved ones through a site called The Doe Pages. One day on the page, she sees a picture of the man who kidnapped her years ago- this sets Alice down the path of finding the truth about her kidnapper and it is a path that is just as dangerous as her kidnapping as a young child. Will Alice get the answers she seeks? Read this thriller to find out.
My review of The Lucky One by Lori Rader-Day
If you’re good at figuring out “whodunnit”, then this book is for you. The Lucky One was a great thriller full of twists and turns, some of which even the smartest may not see coming. Lori Rader-Day encapsulates the epitome of John Does in this story. There’s also a plethora of characters to empathize with, including an unsightly one or two. The Lucky One was a good thriller I recommend for all you “sleuths” out there.
Thank you to Hank Phillipi Ryan for gifting me Lori Rader-Day’s book from your personal reading stack.
My first listen for 2021 turned out to be absolutely fantastic! The Lucky One was a narrator motivated pick and I’m thrilled that searching for an audiobook performed by Leslie Howard brought me to discover Lori Rader-Day. This was my favorite kind of mystery/suspense novel. Lots of fascinating characters, complex yet compelling backstories, all melding into a completely unpredictable ending.
I liked and was annoyed by both Alice and Merrily – which I think is what made them truly human and relatable. The secondary characters were equally intriguing. I loved that Rader-Day dropped all these subtle hints about what was coming without ever tipping me off to the mysteries (plural!) that would be revealed. I’m looking forward to listening to this again to find the subtle clues that I likely missed the first time around.
I’ll definitely be adding more Lori Rader-Day to my TBL.
After discovering her through the Dr. Whyte Thriller series – I was already in love with Leslie Howard’s narration style. I think she was the perfect choice for this book. She gives Alice & Merrily, two unique women, separate voices and personalities. Howard also does a fantastic job of evoking emotion and tension which is absolutely necessary for this book.
Favorite Quotes:
A cake of angels and beauty itself, chocolate on top of chocolate, like a last request before execution. Merrily had passed out in a food coma in her old room and had to borrow the twinset and skirt from her mom’s closet for work… Merrily looked like a giraffe dressed for church, but she still looked better than the women in the front office any day of the week. Fact.
“I turned thirty. Thirty.” … Thirty was a monster. She’d been pursued by it and now here it sat in her lap, breathing its stink on her. Her age would ruin everything, if not this year, then soon.
“There’s my Alice in Wonderland.” Alice got up and met him for a hug. He couldn’t swing her off her feet anymore, but the old nickname never failed to shrink her to fit the tiny door of childhood.
Every sweet thing about Uncle Jim, Jimmy could ruin like a funhouse mirror. She liked to think that Jimmy was adopted, some changeling JimBig and his ex-wife had found and taken home.
Merrily had always wished for a baby brother or sister, but she needn’t have bothered. Her own mother provided all the mischief she could handle… Why were the grown-ups in her life so damaged and needy?
My Review:
This gripping, tautly written, and twisty book had me in knots and frequently chewing on my lips and picking at my ragged cuticles, which were merely the early clues that this was going to be a 5-Star read. Each character was oddly compelling although deeply flawed and not all that admirable. Neither of the two main characters, Merrily and Alice, were among the sharpest tools in the shed and I frequently wanted to schedule each of them a colonoscopy to search for their misplaced craniums.
The storylines were shrewdly crafted, cunningly paced, and riveting with intrigue while fraught with tension, family secrets, and impending peril. This was my first experience with the diabolically clever storytelling of Lori Rader-Day and in my expert analysis – she may well be a high priestess of the word voodoo as I was totally sucked into her vortex, tumbled around, and spit back out hours later feeling rather stunned, dazed, and pleasantly amazed.
Dark, loaded with memorable twists, and featuring a complex, flawed, and unforgettable protagonist, The Lucky One cements Lori Rader-Day’s place as one of crime fiction’s strongest and most compelling voices. You will devour this timely, chilling novel and find yourself desperate for more.
Oh my gosh. I did not see this coming. Lori Rader-Day’s riveting novel is absolutely brilliant. She plays with reader expectations in a way I never saw coming–and her astute understanding of our psychology, loyalties, needs and assumptions is nothing short of breath-taking. Such a terrific book–and please, don’t even try to predict the ending. You will never succeed. LOVE this! If you love Mary Kubica and Megan Miranda and Sarah Pekkanen/Greer Hendricks–here’s an author to add to your wish list. Highly recommended.
Lori Rader-Day takes us on a twisting journey into a past riven by secrets and lies that challenges everything we think we know about the ties that bind us. The Lucky One is that rare thing, a nail-biting thriller full of heart and soul.
I was riveted from page one by this complex, psychologically astute tale of betrayal and hope with twists that keep coming up until the final breathtaking reveal.
The Lucky One is an irresistible read about two strangers on a quest to uncover the truth about their pasts. Simultaneously a dynamic character study and a riveting mystery, Lori Rader-Day’s latest offering is a brilliantly absorbing novel from one of my favorite new crime writers.
Loved this new release by Lori Rader Day! Loved this new release!!! This book kept me riveted from the start. Lori Rader Day is a master story teller. Her tale of missing people and abducted children had me riveted from the start when a group of amateur sleuths begins looking for a missing man. Alice was abducted as a child and she remembers almost everything about it. The event has shaped her life, even in adulthood, and she helps to find and identify missing people and John Doe’s in an online group forum called the Doe Pages. When she recognizes her captor in a new post, her desire to find him defies all reason.
Merrily Cruz grew up with her Hispanic mother and a missing step dad. His endearing connection to her was infrequent contact, texts and letters at best. But when the police come to the house asking if she’s seen him, she joins the search party to find him.
This story is full of twists and turns, attempted murder and betrayal. It will keep you guessing until the very end.
At first I thought premise sounded very interesting but as I started to read it I find the pace to be very slow and with the 2 pov’s just seemed sort of disjointed for me. Sadly, I couldn’t continue and it just wasn’t for me.
I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The story centers on Alice, a young woman that works in her father’s construction company and has lived a very protected life. Her hobby is working with a website that helps match unidentified bodies with missing persons. She meets a couple of people also involved with the website. They delve deeper into a case, complications ensue, the tension ratchets up, and there are some jaw-dropping twists. Highly recommended.