This was my first Lori Rader-Day book and I was quite impressed with most of it. The character development was good, and the flow of the storyline was excellent.
We first meet Alice, a young woman working in a man’s world of construction in the family business. She has been haunted by the memory of being kidnapped as a small child and works with other friends, such as Lillian and Juby, in a volunteer group of “The Doe’s or the Doe Pages”. This is a group investigating lost or missing persons. They use whatever means they have to research and possibly track down information concerning these situations.
Then enters Merrily and her mother. Took me a little bit to figure out what type of work Merrily does. The chapters switch back and forth between Merrily and Alice. There was really two developing mysteries, one at work and one missing person and they always left you with a thought that something wasn’t stacking up, but it is just out of reach to try and figure it out. The only downside I found to the story was the lead up to the ending. There was so much happening with so many different characters I had to re-read it to get it all straight. Other than that, it was a quick enjoyable read. Comes in with 4 stars.
I was given an advance copy from Harper Collins Publishers through Net Galley for my honest review, this one gets 4 stars.

This had a lot going on and I had a hard time staying with everything but in the end it all came together. If you like trying to connect the dots on your own, you will enjoy this one!!

In Lori Rader-Day's newest, she's taken the current fascination with true crime and citizen detectives and crafted an of-this-moment, creative story. There's a great element of tension and suspense in Alice's story in particular, as she pieces together her past and present to come to the thunderous conclusions. There are a lot of characters to keep straight in this one, but the overall push of the plot made up for it.

This was such an interesting mystery!

When she was three years old, Alice was abducted. Her police officer father found her in just a few hours, but the incident affected her for life, turning into an obsession over finding other missing girls and women. While scrolling through the Doe Pages (the amateur sleuth website), Alice stumbled upon a picture that would upend everything she knew about her own life.

I really liked this mystery and the entangled narratives of Alice and Merrily, another woman looking for her missing stepfather. The characters were well-drawn, and there were a lot of surprises!
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Awesome, thrilling book that kept me interested from page 1. Would definitely recommend to other thriller lovers. The pace was good and the characters were well written.

Lori Rader-Day was an author I had heard of but wasn’t big on my radar. Then I realized she’s won a few awards and was born in a small town right next to mine, so I decided to check her out. I am glad I did.

The book caught my attention from the very beginning.

As a toddler, Alice was abducted from her yard in the small Indiana town where she lived. Her father was a policeman and fortunately was able to recover her pretty quickly. Although Alice’s father found her, the incident motivated her father to leave the police force and move the family to Chicago. He started a construction business, and now adult Alice somewhat reluctantly works there. Although she remembers snapshots from that day, she doesn’t remember everything and continues to be haunted by the experience. Alice works with a group of other volunteers on the internet through a website called the Doe Pages to try to locate missing persons or identify unidentified bodies to give peace to the family members left behind. Her life changes when she is scanning the Doe Pages one day and sees a picture of the man who abducted her.
I would say this book is both a mystery and a thriller. There is the mystery surrounding the events of Alice’s kidnapping, and there is also the thriller element of foreboding, anticipating danger around the corner. This book does not have the fast-paced aspect of most thrillers, though. The pace gradually builds throughout the book and becomes much faster as everything starts coming together. A lot is going on in this book. The storyline is detailed and well-plotted with some interesting side characters like the two women from the Doe Pages who decide to help Alice look for her kidnapper. I found the idea of a group of people looking for missing people fascinating, and since I live in Indiana, I loved that Rader-Day set some parts there. I would have rated this higher except that I found it was a little long. I think that part of it could have been removed to move it along more.

3 stars.

Merrily and Alice come from different worlds, but the story is told from both perspectives. Alice is an adult who was kidnapped as a child. She has an interest in the Doe Pages, which helps solve cases. Merrily is working, but cannot get off of the Chat X website that seems very similar to a sugardaddy/sugarbaby site. She has a unique relationship with "Searcher" who sends her decent money and expects virtually nothing but companionship from her. Merrily and Alice cross paths unexpectedly, and the story that unfolds is.... unlikely.

The plot was great and the description piqued my interest. However, this was a slow read for me, and did not keep my interest. I definitely skimmed here and there, and was just glad that it was finished. There were no questions at the end for me, but this is just "meh" to me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My Thoughts

This book had me from the moment Alice recognized her kidnapper.  First off, Alice is a rare statistic that a kidnapped child was found within hours of being taken.  Second, they never even had any leads on who took her.  That being said, it was a little suspicious to me that she was found so soon, and that there was hardly any media coverage.

This book has a lot of players, and I had problems keeping everyone straight.  To all the guys who worked at the construction site, to the man she almost married, to friends from The Doe Pages.  I will admit I liked the concept of The Doe Pages.

I got bored trying to keep up with everything.  Also, the more you read, the more you can figure out what's going on.

This was almost a DNF for me, but I really wanted to see if everything tied together in the end.

Thank you NegGalley and and William Morrow for the digital copy of this ARC.

This is my first Lori Rader-Day book and it won't be my last. The Lucky One started as a slow burn but quickly heated up to a complex mystery that surprised me at every turn. The author's characters were flawed but sympathetic, cowardly yet brave, cruel and at times conflicted. Towards the end of the story, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I highly recommend this book for mystery/suspense lovers!

4-5 stars, because it was fast paced, well written, and kept me enraged throughout, but somewhere towards the end it didn’t completely blow my mind! It definitely provided lots of twists and turns, and a few decent shocks. I loved how the characters were connected, but in order to find out you had to turn the pages. Recommend to my fellow thriller lovers!
Will make sure to buzz it up on different platforms!

I loved all the twists and turns in this book, of trying to unravel how all these people might be related. The Lucky One is like a complex maze where all the turns finally lead to one path.

We are THE LUCKY ONEs because we get a sneak preview of a book that will be hot enough to melt the February snow when it is released. One that keeps you guessing right up until the conclusion! A good choice for those who like a good mystery!

Oh my goodness, I feel like one lucky reader having read this novel. Layer by layer peeled back with every step of the journey, exposing the lies and the truths. I was intrigued with the style of writing, each chapter building toward a magnificent ending.

Alice and Merrily are both standout characters. Each struggling with lives that feel incomplete. One facing an impossible choice, the other feeling the effects of never really getting to choose. All of the characters in this The Lucky One are meticulously developed. They came to life on the pages. I felt I was a part of the book and could envision the goings on. Felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand as the mystery boiled over. Felt the anger, frustration and the shame. What a thrilling ride. This story was so much more than I expected.

This was the first book I’ve read by this author but I will be devouring her backlist very soon. Highly recommend.

Interesting but overused storyline. I wouldn’t mind that if the characters were stronger and developed. The pace was slow and I wish there was more punch to the storyline.

Looking at this from a standpoint of pure enjoyment I liked it and would rate it 3 stars.

The story felt a bit convoluted and I felt myself really confused about some of the plot points. Especially since it would go back and forth between Merrilly and Alice.

This novel featured a convoluted plot. It was a mystery involving a young woman who was kidnapped as a toddler. She senses that things were "off" with her family and is led to investigate.

Alice was abducted as a child but returned home. She joins an online group that tries to find what happened to missing children and there is a face there that she recognizes.
I had trouble connecting with this book and never did connect with the characters. The plot was slow moving and at times confusing. I would give this book 2 1/2 stars.
Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

This book took me by surprise. It kept me interested throughout its entirety. I wanted to see where it was going. The ending was not what I was expecting. Overall I did enjoy the writing and the pacing.

Arc provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Alice is told from the time she was really young age that she was the victim of an abduction.. She was told that she was recovered quickly and this became part of her narrative. When she discovers a group that seeks to find out what has happened to missing people, she feels right at home.. One day on the board, she discovers that she recognizes a familiar face as the one that was involved in her abduction. She ends up teaming up with a group of women from the board and finds out that nothing is what it seems and she is not who she thinks she is. I really liked the overall premise of this book and the way it went back and forth between characters to show different viewpoints of what was going on. I am definitely recommending this one to others and want to read more from this author.

The Lucky One was so good! Really enjoyed Lori Rader-Day's writing. Engrossing thriller with a great plot!