The Lucky One

I just finished reading The Lucky one by Jessica Payne and here is my review.

Leaving the prom early was the biggest mistake they could ever have made. Norah was lucky to have escaped the serial killer with her life, her best friend August, wasn't so lucky.
Everyone calls her the lucky one for surviving but Norah feels anything but lucky. Never having caught the person who killed her best friend and was named Hansel by the tabloids, Norah spends her life in MMA as a measure of control and releasing the victim mantra she doesn't want to possess.
Having to return to her hometown after the passing of her father, Norah is thrown back into a world she never wanted to come back to. Everyone wants to know how she escaped a serial killer. Then the messages start and she realizes that Hansel has spent the last 10 years waiting for her to come home. Who can she trust where she can barely trust herself?
This is my second read by this author so my expectations were through the roof.... This book nailed it all!! Loved it. Loved every single second of the build up of brilliance. Getting a glimpse into the kind of serial killer that doesn't quite fit the mold was illuminating!
This book is set between two times, 10 years in the past and present day and that worked really well for giving us more to Norah's story. While Norah is a reliable narrator in my opinion, I always felt like we never really knew what was going on and the twists just didn't stop coming! I had no idea who it was... At all and I believe I blamed every single person close to her at least twice! I was foiled though! I bow down to greatness. The character development was on point and the whole atmosphere of the book had a slightly menacing feel to it and I always felt a little rattled for Norah. The unease was so tangible it was like I was living through it with her. My heart rate took a while to come down, that's for sure.
5 stars. I read a lot of thrillers so my expectations are always high but this one nailed it.
If you love feeling that little bead of terror running down your spine when you read, then you need to get this one ASAP!!
Thank you to @jessicapayneauthor for another nail biter, and to #netgalley and #bookouture for my review copy