One Was Lost ~ Natalie D Richards (earc) review [@SourcebooksFire @NatDRichards]

One Was Lost
Sourcebooks Fire
October 04, 2016
320 pages
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Damaged. Deceptive. Dangerous. Darling. Are they labels or a warning? The answer could cost Sera everything.

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…

Well, here is one book you really don't want to take on a camping or hiking in the woods trip, that's for sure. The three previous books by Natalie D Richards were brilliant mystery thrillers and this one was, as well. Her novels are full of twists and turns they keep you guessing right up to the end and the premisses themselves are completely original and imaginative.

What still, somehow, surprised me about One Was Lost though (and that I also liked in the other books, hence the 'somehow') was how well the characters were written, how easy it was to relate to them and how much I came to care about them, their relationships and their lives. Even in the midst of this horror-thriller, all of the mystery and the danger, the author lets us get to know the characters.

Even as they are in fear for their lives, trying to piece together what's happened and who could possibly be doing all of this to them, we learn more about Sera and her fellow campers. There are things from their past that the others know about, or at least know of, then there are the secrets they're keeping.  The pieces we learn about them only add to the mystery - and to our desire to see them (or at least some of them) rescued.

One Was Lost is an incredibly compelling mystery with captivating characters full of the unexpected and unpredictable. This is the fourth book I have read by Natalie D Richards and I am absolutely anticipating her fifth (and more)!








review copy received thanks to publisher, via NetGalley