After being kidnapped along with her best friend, Norah managed to escape the serial killer nicknamed “Hansel”. Now a decade later she finds herself back in her home town, a place she’s managed to avoid and all the painful memories of that night. Soon Norah begins to feel like she’s being followed and watched as well as receiving strange messages. Someone out there knows what really happened that night and refuses to let her forget. And why does it seem like Hansel might be back?

I think it’s safe to say that Jessica Payne knows how to write an entertaining and fast paced thriller while constantly throwing you off the scent with plenty of red herrings and more questions than answers. I’m always here for a good mystery with plenty of secrets and suspects. 3.5⭐️

The Lucky One is a mystery by Jessica Payne. In it Norah has tried to move on from her traumatic past when she escaped a serial killer called Hansel. As she felt so powerless that night, she became a mixed martial arts fighter. When her father dies she comes back to her small town that still haunts her nightmares. And in her father's death's wake comes Hansel who has come back to torment her. Now Norah must figure out his identity before her and her friends are killed.

The thing that always ties up a good mystery is the killer. No one wants to spend time and effort on an unsatisfying killer. An unsatisfying killer can be one who is too predictable or one that comes out of left field. The identity of Hansel is satisfying for a few reasons. One that is a spoiler to his identity so I won't talk about that one. Hansel's identity is one that makes sense with all the evidence presented. While he is predictable, I'm glad there were some very satisfying red herrings along the way.

I never liked the relationship between Norah and Owen. Something about the two being together seemed forced and therefore off. Owen was the boyfriend of August who was murdered by Hansel the same night Norah was able to escape. Then there's the fact that Owen is very possessive of Norah which is not a turn on for me. Plus I was expecting to go into a mystery without a romance and so that threw me off. As the book went on I was glad that they were a couple as it ended up adding to the plot.

Norah is shown to be a competent person with an ability to think even when terrified to the core. What is annoying is that throughout the book she will point out something and then, for some reason, act against that knowledge. She'll point something out and then seem to throw herself off the metaphorical ledge. One big moment is when she allows herself to be captured by Hansel near the end of the book. Well she doesn't consciously allow herself to be captured but she ignores the knowledge about how to avoid capture.

Guy and Elaine are two true crime people that were too enduring to me. This is probably because they reminded me of Freddie Lounds from the Hannibal television series. Like her they are not pleasant characters and for all the good they do, they do a lot more harm. Guy lied to Norah about the topic of his book while Elaine continually hounds Norah for more information about the night she was captured. I do like neither one is Hansel by the end and they're allowed to just be pests.

The fate of Norah's mother is not answered by the end of the novel. Her mother must be important as it keeps popping up throughout the book and different characters theorize about her fate. It could be that she is still alive or maybe Hansel murdered her. I wouldn't mind reading a sequel or prequel where that question is answered.

I would recommend The Lucky One by Jessica Payne to those looking for a good murder mystery.

This is the second time I read from Jessica Payne and it certainly won't be the last.
The story hooked me in and if I wasn't so busy on the weekend I would have finished it faster.

The short chapters, the small breadcrumbs throughout the story and suspicious characters keeps me engaged and it's making me so hard to turn my face off from my kindle.

I had fun trying to guess the serial killer, I set my eyes on one person but this book keeps making me question myself and changes my opinion so many times.

Even though I love most of the things in this book, I felt slightly annoyed with how the way the police and the detective acted with the investigation.
The ending was wrapped up pretty nicely although, I wish there's more explanation to some of the shocking twist that was revealed in the last few chapters.

Overall, this is a well written thriller story. It's such a page turner!
Nevertheless, I'll be keeping an eye out for future books from this author!

Actual rating: 4.5⭐

Thank you to Netgalley, Jessica Payne and Bookouture for granting this e-ARC to me. I'm leaving this honest review voluntarily!

The book is so twisty-turny and keeps you hooked and guessing from page one. It kept me on the edge of my seat, and struggling to put it down despite needing to take care of my own life. A must read thriller!

If you like books involving serial killers, this would be a good pick! I enjoyed the short chapters and the flashbacks to the past 10 years ago. The story was a little predictable but it didn't take away from the exciting and fast paced ride.

First, I want to thank Jessica Payne, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I can bring you this review.

Jessica Payne’s The Lucky One is a storyline creatively written totally outside of the box! One aspect that made it so fascinating is she made the female lead character with a past become an MMA Fighter. Never have I read of a female lead with this occupation so that was very unique.

Instantly, Jessica pulls on your heart strings with the news that Norah’s father has passed.

My favorite storyline within the whole book was the true crime book Norah was a part of with Guy Stevenson. Ironically enough it would have been a book that if it were real I would be interested in reading it. This storyline was oh so twisted and full of secrets and shocking revelations.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5!

After reading and absolutely devouring Jessica Payne's debut, Make Me Disappear, I was so dang excited when she sent me an ARC of her next release. After waiting far too long to finally pick it up, I am so excited to confirm that she put out yet another amazingly twisty psychological thriller. I can not wait to see how far she will go in this genre!

The main character, Norah, was such a badass woman and I loved her character ARC throughout. Surviving a serial killer once by convincing him to let her go was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but will Norah be put back into a similar situation once again when another one of her friends shows up dead-killed by the same MO? While I did suspect who the serial killer was revealed to be, Payne definitely threw me off throughout and had me questioning it at various times. Overall I absolutely love serial killer thrillers and this one was no different!

Thank you so much to the author for directly sending me a copy, as well as NetGalley and Bookouture. Highly recommend picking this one up when it publishes on 9/14!

Starting off this review I want to say I think the concept of this book is very interesting and various elements of the plot were captivating, unfortunately they didn't gel together in a satisfying way for me.
The first problem I had with this book came early on with a traumatic event that occurs to the main character after she returns home to bury her father. She stubbles upon a scene that should not only trigger PTSD from her past, but also fill her with a million emotions of grief and guilt. Instead, she has mild thoughts about how sad the situation is, but quickly goes into logical mode, thinking her next steps out to find who did this. Furthermore, throughout the book there is never a moment where she shows that this scene emotionally impacted her at all like a similar scene in her past did. I found this odd and it made it very hard to connect with the character.
The other problem I had was the big shocking plot twist ending. It was not big, shocking, or even that realistic. Even after the big reveal is explained I still felt like it was unrealistic and anti-climatic. I will not be convinced that she wouldn't have figured out the serial killers identity given her relationship with him.
Again, I think the concept of this book couldn't been great, but the story was sacrificed for a not so shocking twist.

Ten years ago Norah survived a serial killer and is now returning to her hometown after the death of her father. She is forced to confront that night when she and her best friend August were attacked but is she truly the lucky one to have survived with the serial killer still on the loose?

This felt like a very LONG book to me and while I did enjoy the story overall parts absolutely felt like filler and incredibly repetitive. Norah is a likeable character as are the people she is surrounded with but we were reminded over and over and over again that Norah is now a professional MMA trainer and is an amateur fighter herself it just felt so redundant to constantly mention it. Norah was a strong woman who wanted to face her past head on but at times it was confusing with some of the decisions that were made and where the book went. We never got a full back story on characters that proved to be important as the book developed. Without giving anything away I felt like the ending was predictable.

Overall I give this book 3 stars because it held my interest but I was looking at how much of the book I had left to read and was constantly hoping to be further along. I would like to thank Jessica Payne, Bookouture and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

First, thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of "The Lucky One." This book will be published tomorrow and I was so fortunate to read it before the official release!

I had previously read "Make Me Disappear" by Jessica Payne and found it to be an average thriller. Exciting books typically take me only a few days to finish but this felt slow. I was ready to write off this author but decided to give her a second chance with "The Lucky One," and I am so glad that I did!

"The Lucky One" focuses on Norah, who was targeted by a serial killer 10 years earlier. Her best friend, August, did not survive the attack but Norah managed to escape. The police never located Norah's attacker.

Norah returns to her hometown after 10 years of missing her best friend and still dreading the return of the killer. Signs appear that her attacker may be back and Norah vows to uncover his identity.

This book intrigued me from the beginning. Payne did an excellent job with character development and I felt very invested in Norah's outcome as the book progressed. Many red herrings made it difficult to guess the killer and I was surprised by the ultimate reveal. I would recommend this novel for anyone who enjoys mystery and suspense.

The main character had a traumatic experience when she was a senior in high school where she was kidnapped with her best friend, who ended up dead while she was able to escape her captor. Ten years later, she has been brought back to her hometown because her father died leaving her to tend to his death arrangements since her mother left them, no where to be found. The main character has been training as a MMA fighter ever since she left Kansas City and moved to Los Angeles. But going back to her hometown has made her question if she is still in danger as her captor was never arrested.

Jessica Payne's new book "The Lucky One" was an "ok" read for me. I knew who the captor was from the get-go even though I could see how some people are shocked. I felt the story dragged a bit but there were some twists throughout the book, not just the ending. It was hard for me to keep wanting to read this as I knew early on who the serial killer was but if I hadn't, then it might have ranked better for me. I do question some of the choices the main character had like "falling in love" with a high school friend after less than a week of being together. I also felt that some of the twists were never fully explained.. they were just out there and then about 50 pages later they were cleared up but nothing in between. I would recommend this to a friend that may not read read thrillers often but for those readers who only read them, this might not be enough of a "wow" book for them.

Oohhhh a serial killer novel! ⁣
⁣
10 years ago, Norah escaped Hansel. Everyone wanted to know how she did it but she never told. Now, Norah is home after her father died and someone is following her. Is it Hansel? Is it a copycat? "I've been waiting for you..."⁣
⁣
Yooooo this book had me gripped from page 1. Ngl, some of the characters were v sus at the beginning so I side-eyed them almost the whole time. As soon as I let my guard down...BOOM. Major reveal. And then another one. And another! ⁣
⁣
THE LUCKY ONE had so many of my favorite things.⁣
Dual timelines ✔️⁣
Passes the Bechdel test ✔️⁣
Serial killer ✔️⁣
A lil bit of romance ✔️⁣
⁣
THE LUCKY ONE is a fun psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. THE LUCKY ONE is available Wednesday.⁣
⁣
Thank you to the author, @jessicapayne.writer for my advance e-copy in exchange for an honest review!

Ten years ago, Norah and August leave their high school prom. On the way, their car breaks down and they end up being abducted by a serial killer, later to determined to "Hansel" - a serial killer who leaves "bread crumbs". August is was killed but Norah thinks fast and somehow convinces the killer that she has a romantic interest in him, but needs to go tend to her father. He ends up letting her go and is dubbed "The Lucky One."

Present day, Norah is living in California working as an MMA coach and occasionally an MMA fighter. She learns that her estranged father has passed away, so she heads home. But she gets more than she bargained for after she gets home. One friend turns up dead, then a second goes missing. Norah starts receiving message from who she believes to be Hansel and she is thrown back into the madness from ten years ago. She is stronger now and feels capable of defending herself, but you still feel her terror as things continue on.

She has recently been highlighted in a book, which just released. It was supposed to be about athletes surviving trauma, but she is duped and her portion tells all about Hansel and even goes to say that she used her "womanly wiles" to get away. Is the book what brings the killer back? The cat and mouse game between Norah and the killer was intriguing. It was all done through social media.

Besides her friends, two men play an important role. Guy, the author of said book, who Norah had a quick weekend fling with before he duped her, and Owen, who was August's boyfriend back in high school and he and Norah feel sparks and things heat up.

We are along for the ride as the police try to figure things out (although they don't take things seriously at first) and while Norah and her friends go rogue and try to figure things out themselves.

I did NOT see that ending coming and I loved the twist!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

We were all there that prom night, but one of us didn’t make it home…

Ten years ago was prom night for Norah and her friends. Norah and August decide to leave early and on the way home they are kidnapped by the infamous serial killer Hansel. August is killed, somehow Norah persuades him to let her go and he disappears. Now, ten years later Norah is back in her home town, for the first time since it all happened, because her father has died and it's not long before history repeats itself and Norah is left wondering if Hansel is back or is this a copycat killing. One thing she does know is that someone won't let her forget the promise she made back then and this time she might not be the lucky one...

The Lucky One is is told across two timelines; ten years ago and the present day. It's a fast paced thriller that pulled me in from the first page and kept me intrigued right to the last one. The chapters are short and concise, with a cliffhanger in every one, the characters are very unreliable and it's easy to see why Norah couldn't really trust anyone. I actually thought I'd guessed who the perpetrator was at one point, but I was seemingly wrong when the author took a different direction, or was I??? Payne based the idea of this story on an abduction that happened in real life and they too had persuaded their captor to let them go, which was quite a surprise. This is the second book I've read by Payne and both are equally great reads. If you like a compelling read with a cat and mouse theme to it, then this is one for you.

I'd like to thank Bookouture and Netgalley for the auto approval, I will post my review on Goodreads now and Amazon on publication day.

This book was so slow to start - I couldn’t immediately invest in any one character, but luckily, this is a book that got better and better the farther you read. Quick synopsis: Norah’s father has died (murder or suicide?) and she leaves Los Angeles to go back to her hometown and handle the situation. Going back there was torture for her, as she is a “lucky one” … the one person who escaped from a serial killer.

Our cast of characters for this mystery/thriller are:

Norah, the “lucky one” who escaped a serial killer, and current MMA fighter…

August - Norah’s high school friend who didn’t make it when they were abducted by the serial killer

Hansel - The serial killer

Esme - Norah and Janie’s old friend from high school

Rob - Norah’s MMA coach and good friend

Janie - August’s twin sister, now Norah’s best friend

Chloe - Janie’s fiancée, who is quite jealous of Norah’s friendship with Janie

Owen - August’s boyfriend at the time of the serial killer run-in, and former Marine

Elaine - A woman who acts like paparazzi and is constantly lurking behind every corner

Guy - author of a serial killer tell-all that told way too much, after he and Norah had a brief fling

Detective Cron - The first time Norah met her was after watching her friend die at the hands of a serial killer, but she treated Norah as a suspect and hasn’t changed in 10 years

All were decent characters, and while I prefer books with a fast start, the ending was worth the wait. It wasn’t completely out of left field, but it was well-written. The chemistry between Owen and Norah - yow! I also loved that it is set in Kansas City (Missouri, the book doesn’t emphasize that) as that’s my hometown, too. I was going to give this 3.5 stars, but am raising it to a solid four after that good ending.

(Thank you to Bookouture, Jessica Payne, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

Happy Sunday! Last week I started reading @jessicapayne.writer’s newest thriller 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑦 𝑂𝑛𝑒 and I was hooked from page one. This was such an easy thrilling book to binge on and I definitely want to read more from this author.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑦 𝑂𝑛𝑒 storyline includes both serial killer and final girl vibes- which allowed for a fast paced, cat and mouse, whodunnit plot. This thriller kept me on my toes the whole time and although I had a feeling about who the villain was I was still invested in the story!

✨PUB DATE is this Wednesday SEPTEMBER 14th! Special thanks to @netgalley and @bookouture for the early arc✨

This was the first book I’ve read by this author but it won’t be the last. Super excited to read her previous thriller- 𝑀𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑀𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟

✨✨✨✨

SYNOPSIS: “ Ten years ago: We laughed together on the dance floor that night, our dresses glittering in the swirling lights. One final night of fun before the rest of our lives. We couldn’t have known that for one of us, it would be our last…

Now: They say that I’m the lucky one, the survivor. But no one knows the truth—the thing I’ve been running from all this time. How I escaped.

Back in my hometown a decade later—the place I’ve avoided—I can feel the questioning eyes on me, the whispers. The rumors.

I can’t shake the feeling that I am being followed, the shadow of a reflection in the glass storefronts, the murmur of footsteps before I turn to look. But no one’s ever there, and I tell myself it’s all in my head. Then the anonymous messages land in my inbox, overly familiar and insistent: I’m watching. I’ve been waiting for you.

I should have known I couldn’t run forever. I want to feel safe surrounded by my best friends. But everyone has something to hide, and I don’t know who I can trust.”

This is Jessica Payne’s sophomore novel and I couldn’t get enough of it! It is fast paced with quick characters you got attached to! Norah was kidnapped with her best friend as teens, some how she was able to survive but Hansel was never caught! I love a good story with a serial killer that comes back. The plot drove this as you try to figure out who he is and why he’s back now after all these years. It just had a little of everything I love in a thriller.

Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for my review copy

This is my first novel by this author, and wow I am a fan after reading The Lucky One, will definitely be reading her other books!. This was such a good fast paced pshycological thriller. It kept me guessing that whole time, who the serial killer was.


Pub Date 9-14-2022

Thank you to @netgalley, the publisher @bookouture and the author for providing me with an e-Arc

The Lucky One is told in multiple timelines. The first is Norah's memory of what happened 10 years ago, when she and her friend were kidnapped after leaving their high school prom. The second is told as it happens; Norah is called home after her father is found dead, and it looks like the kidnapper, nicknamed "Hansel", is back.

Payne did a good job of leaving her own breadcrumbs, giving us multiple suspects and theories. It was interesting to see true crime books and podcasts from the victim's point of view. She showed how a retelling, whether to sensationalize or to try to solve a crime, can throw a victim into the spotlight and traumatize them again.

But Norah's no ordinary victim. She has used the 10 years since her kidnapping to become a proficient MMA fighter. She's also gained a confidence that she would be able to face down Hansel, should he return. And then people start going missing.....

No spoilers here! You will find The Lucky One is a fast paced, intelligent thriller, that might just make you read into the night!

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for an advance reader's copy.

🩸BOOK REVIEW🩸

The Lucky One by Jessica Payne
Release Date: September 14, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Then: Prom night, best friends, the time of our lives. But Norah can’t wait to go home. She and her best friend August decide to leave that night to get ready for their girls night sleepover. But when Norah’s car breaks down on a dark, country road, their lives would change forever. A man appears and takes them to an abandoned cabin in the woods. A terrified Norah has to watch this man kill her best friend. She then has to make a choice, befriend the murderous man and survive or try to run and risk being killed.

Now: 10 years later, Norah has to go home. Her father has suddenly passed away and she has to go home and face the demons of her past. But when she gets home to the small town that haunts her dreams, she immediately feels like she is being watched. On her first day back, she finds one of her very best friends, murdered in the same way August was all those years ago. Is the killer back, after being radio silent for 10 years? Or is some crazy copycat who knows Norah is back home?

🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸

This book was INSANE! Bouncing back and forth between years, and trying to figure out who did what and when, I was wrong SO MANY TIMES. I loved this book so much. It kept me on my toes the entire time. The twists and turns were AMAZING. This is Jessica Payne’s second book, and my god, between her debut (Make Me Disappear) and this book, I CANNOT WAIT to see what she keeps coming up with. She has gotten me, twice, and I can’t wait for her next book! Book babes, please check this book out. It is TOO GOOD.

🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸🔪🩸

✨A huge thank you to the author, @jessicapayne.author, for the opportunity to read this before publishing!✨

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