The Day I Died: A Novel

by Lori Rader-Day Narrated by Hillary Huber

Overview

From the award-winning author of Little Pretty Things comes this gripping, unforgettable tale of a mother's desperate search for a lost boy.

Anna Winger can know people better than they know themselves with only a glance-at their handwriting. Hired out by companies wanting to land trustworthy employees and by the lovelorn hoping to find happiness, Anna likes to keep the real-life mess of other people at arm's length and on paper. But when she is called to use her expertise on a note left behind at a murder scene in the small town she and her son have recently moved to, the crime gets under Anna's skin and rips open her narrow life for all to see. To save her son-and herself-once and for all, Anna will face her every fear, her every mistake, and the past she thought she'd rewritten.

Editorial Reviews

Lou Berney

Lori Rader-Day is so ferociously talented that it kind of makes me mad. Not fair! The Day I Died is a terrific novel—gripping and twisty and beautifully layered. It kept me locked up and locked in from the very first word to the very last.

Susanna Calkins

Secrets lie behind every loop, slant, and swirl of The Day I Died, Lori Rader-Day’s compelling story of a handwriting analyst searching for a lost boy. Richly written, complex, and imaginative…this is a perfect read for fans of Mary Higgins Clark.

Sara Paretsky

An unusual protagonist, a timely crime, and outstanding writing make Lori Rader-Day’s The Black Hour a stand-out debut.

Terry Shames

A searing, psychological suspense novel about small-town dreams shattered by a deadly secret.

Kirkus Reviews

2017-01-23
A handwriting analyst is forced to face her own traumatic past in Rader-Day's (Little Pretty Things, 2015, etc.) latest.Anna Winger never stays in one place for too long. Ever since she fled her violent boyfriend in order to raise her son in safety, she's become an expert at avoiding intimacy and staying off the grid. Ironically, she lives her life by drawing conclusions about others based solely on their handwriting while distancing herself from human relationships. Working as a consultant for federal and local law enforcement, Anna gets drawn into the drama when she's referred to the sheriff of Parks, Indiana, to help with a missing child case. On top of this mystery and a reluctant attraction to the sheriff, she's dealing with her 13-year-old son, Joshua, who's begun to act out and hang around with a bad crowd responsible for painting angry graffiti around town. When Joshua disappears, Anna has to return to her hometown to face the ghosts of her past and the person she used to be before she staged her own disappearance. In a rather too convenient twist, the answer to the mystery of the missing boy also lies in Anna's hometown. Though the novel builds a deeply human story of fear, error, and redemption, it's incredibly slow to get there. Anna's paranoia and loneliness, while understandable, keep her isolated from the reader as well; it takes a long time to get invested in her voice because she's so stingy with the details in the beginning. By the end, however, Anna's story carries much more weight than the problem of the missing boy. This finely layered novel succeeds more as a human-interest story than as a mystery.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169731156
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/11/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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