The Lucky One by Lori Rader-Day

Good morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC blog tour for Lori Rader-Day's latest, The Lucky One.

Alice was three years old when she was kidnapped. Decades later, the event still plagues her memories. Which is why she devotes her spare time to a website that helps find missing people. But when she sees her own kidnapper on the site, she knows it's time to dig deeper into the story of her past. 

Merrily Cruz is shocked to learn that her one-time quasi stepfather has gone missing. Even more shocked when the police want to talk to her and her mother about it. But they aren't even family and she isn't sure who, other than the police, would care to look for the man. Which is why she turns to social media for help. This action leads to her meeting Alice and sends them both down a path neither could have expected. 

If you can count on one thing from Lori Rader-Day, it's a propulsive read. Driven by twisty plots and characters that feel all too read, each new release is guaranteed to keep you engaged to the final page.

The Lucky One is, of course, no exception to that rule. Alice, the lucky one (she even uses the moniker as her name on the Doe site), may have been found but the kidnapping still hangs heavy over her. She suffers from night terrors, migraines, and blackouts so bad that it cost her her marriage.

Meanwhile, Merrily Cruz is living a life that feels aimless. She's just turned thirty when the book begins, has few friends (she spent her birthday evening with her mother and only got a text from her mother's ex and a happy birthday from one coworker). Which makes it easy for her to walk away from the job with little thought.

For Alice, the discovery of her kidnappers face on the Doe site she follows sends her spiraling into a search for answers she never considered she needed.

For Merrily, it means much the same.

I love the human factor in Rader-Day's books. Her characters are, as mentioned above, fully fleshed and as real as any fictional character can be. Her time and attention to building those characters while still keeping the pace of the book moving along without hindrance is a true talent. As is her ability to make the reader truly care about said characters and their stories. They're hallmarks of my favorite kinds of thrillers, which is why any new release by Rader-Day is a must read for me!

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Lori Rader-Day and her work you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble