You know what I like about Lori Rader-Day’s suspense novels? She takes ordinary women, and puts them in unusual situations, but gives them the intelligence and abilities to solve their own problems. The Lucky One introduces two lost young women who find unexpected answers in the middle of lies.

Alice Fine was a victim, but she survived. She was kidnapped as a child, but her policeman father rescued her that same afternoon. He packed up the family, though, and moved them from the small Indiana town to Chicago, and he changed careers. Now, he’s co-owner of King & Fine, a construction company, and Alice works in the office. Her father has always been there for her, hovering over her, and protecting her. However, after her broken engagement, Alice is chafing under the restraints of her father’s watchfulness.

Alice spends her spare time browsing a website called The Doe Pages, looking for clues to missing people. She knows she was the lucky one, found and rescued while she was still alive. There are so many unidentified people out there. But, she recognizes one of them on the site. A missing man looks like the man she remembers as her kidnapper. So, she turns to her co-voluntteers on The Doe Pages to help her find answers.

Merrily Cruz is also looking for answers, after the police take her from her workplace to ask her about a missing man, one she only knows as Uncle Rick. She, too, has more questions than answers, and her mother won’t tell her anything about the one afternoon she remembers when they visited Uncle Rick in Indiana.

What do two young women actually know about their distant childhoods? When Alice and Merrily actually meet, both women are reluctant to accept the other’s reality as truth. What if everything you’ve ever believed about your own life is a lie? Who do you trust?

Rader-Day’s protagonists are always ordinary women. Neither of them have superpowers or strengths to extract themselves from unusual situations. They rely on their own skills and a great deal of questions to find answers. And, they’re unwilling to quit until they find satisfactory answers, even if the truth is uncomfortable. Once again, in her latest suspense novel, The Lucky One, Rader-Day has introduced unforgettable characters.

Lori Rader-Day’s website is https://loriraderday.com

The Lucky One by Lori Rader-Day. William Morrow, 2020. ISBN 9780062938077 (paperback), 400p.

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FTC Full Disclosure – I received the book to review for a journal.