The Lucky One

December 2, 2019
Alice Fine, one of the protagonists of this complex, intimate novel from Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner Rader-Day (Under a Dark Sky), works for her ex-cop father’s Chicago construction firm while also volunteering for a website that matches missing people with unidentified remains. After seeing the face of the man who kidnapped her when she was a toddler among the listings, Alice calls on two other volunteers to help follow that lead. Meanwhile, Merrily Cruz, alerted by the police that her not-quite-stepfather, with whom she only corresponds sporadically by text, is missing, tries to seek him out. As the two women’s searches—and lives—collide, decades-old secrets come to light. Rader-Day creates deeply believable, empathetic characters and puts the power in the hands of women, including older women. Pacing is fast but not frantic, and the story’s constant surprises and reveals evolve naturally and come together satisfyingly free of loose ends. The tightly crafted storytelling brings heat back into the familiar cold case plot, digging deep into those aches that never really fade. Agent: Sharon Bowers, Miller Bowers Griffin Literary Management.

December 1, 2019
An online project to trace the fates of missing persons and unidentified murder victims bears poisonous fruit for two women it brings together. Everyone involved in the Doe Pages has their reasons--civic-mindedness, moral outrage, obsessive curiosity--for the interest they share in gathering information about the anonymous parties whose photos they pore over. Alice Fine's reason sets her apart. Taken from her home when she was only 3, she was lucky enough to be rescued by her father, a police officer in Victorville, Indiana, apparently before anything terrible happened. In the generation that's passed since then, Harrison Fine has quit the force, moved to Chicago, been widowed, and become the can-do junior partner in the contracting firm of King and Fine, where Alice is working in a meaningless hanger-on position the day she's scanning the contents of the Doe Pages and spots the photograph of the man she's convinced was her kidnapper. By the time Alice catches up with Richard Miller, she and a pair of her online buddies have uncovered evidence that he lived many lives before the last one came to an end when he was stabbed 12 times. One of these lives, Rader-Day (Under a Dark Sky, 2018, etc.) begins hinting early on, involved Merrily Cruz, who knew Miller as Richard Kisel, the man so close to her mother for so long that he was practically her stepfather, the man who on her 30th birthday leaves her a text message--"Hey, kid, it's best if I don't bother you anymore. Have a good life"--that so interests state trooper Graciano "Gonzo" Vasquez that it pretty much guarantees that "Rick Kisel was going to ruin their lives, all over again." The ensuing developments send both heroines spinning down converging rabbit holes to their dimly remembered pasts until Alice concludes, "She was in Wonderland." It's not a pretty place. Another harrowing nightmare by a master of the sleepless night.

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December 1, 2019
Seeking a greater purpose, Alice Fine spends her free time volunteering with an online group that investigates missing-persons cases. When she lets it slip that she was kidnapped as a child, fellow desk-chair detectives Lillian and Juby drag the full story from her. Alice was taken when she was three, and she's still regaining memories of her kidnapper, who escaped after she was rescued. Suddenly, under Lillian and Juby's scrutiny, Alice's vaguely traumatic memories shift into a storm of unanswered questions, and, when her kidnapper's face appears in a missing-persons notice, she's hell-bent on finding answers. Meanwhile, Merrily Cruz is unsettled when police question her about the disappearance of Richard, her long-distance kind-of-stepdad. She's idealized Rick her whole life, and now her mom is being cagey about his disappearance. When Alice, Juby, and Lillian show up asking questions, Merrily decides that she, too, is ready for the truth. Rader-Day's compelling characters deserve a stronger resolution here, but her gifted storytelling makes this a fine read, nonetheless.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

January 10, 2020

Alice Fine was kidnapped as a child, but her policeman father tracked her down that same afternoon and rescued her. He moved the family from their small-town Indiana home to Chicago, and he changed careers. Now, he's part owner of a construction company, where Alice works in the office. Her father has always sheltered and protected her, but Alice is restless. She spends her spare time browsing the pages of a website called the Doe Pages, which matches photos of unidentified people to missing persons. One day, she recognizes the face of a missing man as her kidnapper. Alice enlists her fellow Doe Page volunteers to help her in her search. But, another young woman, Merrily Cruz, has questions after the police ask her about a missing man she knows as "Uncle Rick." When Alice's probe leads to Merrily, they discover their questions may stir up trouble, changing the truth they knew into lies.

VERDICT The award-winning author of Under a Dark Sky puts a new spin on unreliable narrators in a suspense novel with protagonists struggling to find answers. Fans of Rader-Day's other compelling stand-alones will savor this riveting mystery. [See Prepub Alert, 7/29/19.]--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2019

Kidnapped as a child from her backyard in Indiana but quickly rescued by her policeman father, Alice now volunteers for The Doe Pages, scrolling through image after image of unidentified individuals in an effort to reunite loved ones. There she spots her long-ago abductor, which sends her on a mission to find him before he strikes again. From the Edgar Award-nominated and Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark award-winning author; with a 100,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.