Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Expected publication: October 4 2016
Pages: 320
*Received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
Introduction
Nobody is happy when rain falls during a mandatory senior hiking trip. Everybody is even less impressed when a flash flood cuts the group in half, each stuck on one side of the overflowing river.
They all thought the rain was the largest of their worries, until Luke, Jude, Emily, and Sera wake up groggy and confused with words etched on the skin of their wrists. Luke got the word Dangerous. Jude got the word Deceptive. Emily got the word Damaged. Sera got the word Darling. They have no idea what these words mean, why they were drugged enough to sleep through the day, why their teacher won't wake up, or why all of their stuff is destroyed. What they do know is that they need to get out of the woods, although somebody in the forest with seems determined that they don't get out alive.
Cover
Interesting cover, different from what I usually see with Natalie D. Richards' covers.
Sera (and Luke, kind of)
I liked Sera mostly. I wasn't a huge fan of the backstory between her and Luke, or how she kept resisting everything because of her past with her mother. I'm struggling to explain what I mean, but I feel like if Sera was going to blame a lot of her trust issues on her mother, than more story should have been written in with the relationship between her and mother, instead of just continually mentioning that falling for someone like Luke is exactly what her mother would do.
Jude and Emily
I liked these characters a lot individually, but the close friendship/relationship seemed to develop really fast and abruptly I wasn't very much into it.
Mystery
I had my suspicions about who the psychopath was before the ending revealed it, but it was still very enjoyable to read, and the way that you are lead off course of the real person behind it was believable. Even though I say that I had my suspicions, I wasn't entirely sure, as I don't think it was that obvious, especially when thinking of the motive
Story progress
The story takes a while to really get going, but in the book's defense it was written to be a suspenseful thriller, so there is supposed to be a lot of buildup, and it's completely understandable for the style.
Conclusion
I had a few gripes with the relationships in this book, but nothing horrible or earth shattering. I enjoyed reading this book a lot. I would definitely read this book again. One Was Lost reminds me once again why Natalie D. Richards is my favourite author, and as always, I can not wait to read more from her.
