Day: September 14, 2022

The Lucky One by Jessica Payne is a psych thriller that the reader has to pretty much suspend disbelief in order to truly enjoy.

That’s not to say that there aren’t good parts of it, because there are several.

For one, I liked the uniqueness of Norah’s profession. A female who coaches MMA fighters is pretty badass. It also gives the reader insight into Norah’s toughness. That’s something she has had to develop over the years due to the tragedy in her past.

When she has to return home due to her father’s death, that tragedy rears its ugly head pretty quickly. She is thrust back into a cat-and-mouse game with a killer she once escaped (which is why she is “the lucky one.”)

There are moments of both elements of a psych thriller. The psych comes from the game she plays (mostly via text message) with Hansel (the killer). The thriller part comes from the moments where those around Norah are drawn into their twisted play.

Most of this is believable in the psych thriller realm of “reality.”

However, there are a few moments that almost derail the story. One, there are times that Norah is too trusting. For someone who has a chip on her shoulder and is paranoid, she seems to give a lot of information away very easily.

Secondly, and more unfortunately, there are so many clues as to who Hansel is that it truly seems unbelievable that Norah doesn’t figure it out.

I figure the author means to highlight that there is nothing that makes a person so blind as something that they absolutely do not want to see.

That makes sense in the context of the book, I promise.

At any rate, in spite of those moments, The Lucky One is still a decent psych thriller. I’ll continue to look forward to the next one by Jessica Payne.