The Lucky One by Lori Rader-Day ~ Book Review

Rader-Day, Lori. The Lucky One. 2019. New York, NY: William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0062938060. $27.99 USD.

The Lucky One, the newest mystery by Lori Rader-Day, started at a somewhat slower pace than I was used to, so I did not finish it as quickly as I have in reading other novels by this talented author. But I'm glad I did because, as one librarian colleague told me, it has a "boffo" ending!

The main character, Alice, was taken out of her yard as a toddler, but rescued by her policeman father very quickly. Alice remembers very little about it. Raised in a "cotton wool" environment by her protective parents, she has not had an opportunity to achieve much as an adult in terms of relationships or a career.

As the book begins, Alice is working in construction for her father, who retired from the force shortly after the kidnapping. She has a keen interest in an online community who attempts to locate missing persons in order to provide closure for their families, even if the news is tragic. One day, she sees a familiar face in a missing person listing - that of her kidnapper.

The book picks up pace after that, and the slow burn turns into a page-turner that I'm glad I raced through to finish. There are layers of different story-lines that are revealed in a well-crafted way, as well as realistic dialogue that flows seamlessly. It had an ending I didn't see coming - always the best kind for mysteries and thrillers! You will want to read this one to find out who really is "the lucky one."