I normally rave over this author's work. But, this one was just, in my opinion, not up to par. I had a hard time keeping up, and came to realize it was because I not only disliked the characters, I didn't really care what happened. There were, however, some moments so well written that it reminded me that yes, Ms. Rader-Day is an excellent writer. I'll look forward to her next.

I received an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review

Not my favorite from this author- definitely not her best. Hope the next one is up to snuff

Incredibly good! An intensely slow burning story, Told from the point of view of two women with very different perspectives, but the story brings them together in a really interesting way.

*2.5 stars. An odd and twisted thriller. I enjoyed the persistent sense that nothing and no one was quite who they seemed to be, that something just wasn't right. All of the characters seemed just a little bit off, but in a good way. But the story felt overly long, which I think was due to the fact that the pacing tended to slow down when it should have sped up. There were many different threads to this story that needed to come together, and I'm not sure they all did. I still had unanswered questions at the end, but I didn't feel invested enough in the story to go back and see if there was something that I'd missed. Overall, it was entertaining while it lasted, but it didn't have enough substance to warrant a higher rating from me.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed Lori Rader-Day's novel "The Day I Died," so I was excited to see this available on NetGalley. I like the structure of the narrative--alternating points of view/narration between Alice and Merrily, but the storyline fell flat for me. I never felt invested in any of the characters, and that's one of the qualities that make books like the most enjoyable to me. The links between characters that were slowly unveiled were pretty convoluted and stretched the limits of believably, and I didn't find myself caring much about the characters at the conclusion of the book--another sign to me that the character development just wasn't there.

Mystery and crime fiction readers are “the lucky ones” when it comes to Lori Rader-Day’s latest book, “The Lucky One” - out 2/18/2019. Alice devotes her time free time to a website that tries to uncover information that could reconnect missing persons with their loved ones. This cause is important to her because she had been the brief victim of a kidnapping at a very young age only to be recovered by her police office father. Alice is brought to obsession about her case when she recognizes the man who kidnapped her on the website. In the meantime, another woman, Merrily, is disturbed by a vague text she received from a father figure from her childhood before he seemingly disappears. Their separate searches cause the two women to cross paths. They each hold cards that could solve their mysteries, but do they really trust each other and what they really know about the past?

The story unfolds by alternating between Alice and Merrily’s perspectives. The mystery comes along as the characters and the reader gain new information about the mystery, but it’s the reader who has the advantage because they know what each woman is keeping to themselves. Nonetheless, each new clue takes the story in a different direction. Readers will most likely find themselves toward the end of the book with a pocketful of theories before all the characters’ motivations are revealed.

She was only gone for 24 hours, but her kidnapping changed Alice’s life forever. Only a child when she was taken, her police officer father found her quickly and moved his family far away from their old neighborhood. But Alice remembers and years later, volunteers for The Doe Pages, a website that seeks to find missing people. And then it happens. it’s so quick, Alice wonders at first if she’s mistaken, but in her core she knows she’s not. The face of the man who took her appears on her screen and then abruptly vanishes. Together with her friends from The Doe Pages, including a woman on a desperate search of her own, she becomes the hunter, determined to track down the man who took her before he can hurt anyone else. This is an intense, gut wrenching read. Don’t plan to do anything else once you start this book, because you won’t be putting it down