Damaged. Deceptive. Dangerous. Darling. Are they labels or a warning? The answer could cost Sera everything.
Title: One Was Lost
Author: Natalie Richards
Series: Standalone
Publication: October 4th 2016 by Sourcebooks Fire
Pages: 320
Source: Netgalley
Summary from Goodreads:
Murder, justice, and revenge were so not a part of the plan when Sera set out on her senior camping trip. After all, hiking through the woods is supposed to be safe and uneventful.
Then one morning the group wakes up groggy, confused, and with words scrawled on their wrists: Damaged. Deceptive. Dangerous. Darling. Their supplies? Destroyed. Half their group? Gone. Their chaperone? Unconscious. Worst of all, they find four dolls acting out a murder—dolls dressed just like them.
Suddenly it’s clear; they’re being hunted. And with the only positive word on her wrist, Sera falls under suspicion…
My Thoughts:
Don’t you just love it when a book lives up to its expectations? Yea, me too. One Was Lost is one such book. I was sort of skeptical going into it. I usually have a difficult time with thrillers, especially when the author tries to include mystery and whatnot. Usually the story line gets jumbled. Usually I can see things coming from a mile away. Usually… usually…usually. Then we have One Was Lost.
One Was Lost is a special sort of book because it took me completely by surprise. When I thought something was going one way, it took a hard left into uncharted territory. When I thought I finally knew what was going on, the rug got pulled out from beneath my feet and I face planted into uncertainty. One Was Lost was one hell of a thrilling adventure. It is terrifying in the most fundamental of ways: it makes it physically impossible to trust yourself and your own thoughts.
The story itself is rather fast pace, leaving no room for guessing and trying to figure out what the hell is going on. It grabs you and rips you through a whirlwind. It leaves you breathless and wondering. The narration only adds to this effect. Sera is an interesting character. Not only because she is a suspect and we see the other characters suspicion through her own eyes, but because we, as readers, know next to nothing about her. It just adds to the overall sensation of uncertainty that looms over you while reading. Can we trust her? Is she leaving things out of the story that the other characters see and we don’t? WHAT KIND OF SORCERY IS THIS!?!
As a reader, we just get sort of thrown into it. There is no warning, nada. It’s just, BAM! Oh my goodness everything is going to hell in a hand basket. The characters are frantic, the reader is frantic. The emotions run wild and drive everyone and everything to the brink of insanity. The characters are individually difficult to connect with, but I think that sense of being an outsider looking in only benefits the book. Instead of being a first person viewer, it’s like watching a horror film unfold while you’re helpless to stop it – in that rubbernecking at a car accident sort of way.
One Was Lost is a terrifyingly fast paced thrill ride that will leave you with your heart in your throat. If you think you know what is going on, you are wrong. If you think everything is going to be fine, you are wrong. If you think for one second that anyone in the book is safe, you are wrong. One Was Lost is deliciously satisfying.
Reed's Reads & Reviews 