DNF - Not reviewing this. Pretty sure this was accidentally auto-approved via a marketing email where 'find out more here' led to an automatic acceptance of a request. However the genre is not something I would choose to read, and although I tried, I only managed a few pages. I am definitely 100% not the target audience.

I did not like this book. If it wasn’t for the first 15% I would be giving it a 1 star.

The premise is just boring to be blunt. We follow a family through their issues, which is not worth 70% of the book, only to come out the other end of the novel with:
1. Predictably
2. A plot twist so ridiculous that it shouldn’t even be there.

I’m trying to be constructive here but I can’t even wrap my head around what I’ve just read to even provide that. Disappointed

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

For more than 150 years, a grand house known as Alden Castle has stood proudly in the rolling hills of California's wine country, home to a family weighed down by secrets and debt.
When the castle is sold, billionaire developers move in, only to discover one skeleton after another - including a fresh corpse - rotting in the old family cemetery.
As three generations of the well-respected Alden-Stowe family come under scrutiny, police unearth a twisted web of rivalries, alliances, deceit, and treachery.
A gold-digger wife, a demented patriarch, a daughter in the grip of first love ... Who has lied? Who will survive? And who, amidst all the horror and betrayal, is the lucky one?

*2.5 stars*

I have rounded up the overall score just because of who the author is. Her previous work proves to me that she has the chops to deliver a brilliant story - but for some reason, she decided to change the winning formula and, in the grand scheme of things, it just wasn't all that good.

On the positive side, the mystery story in this book was up to the usual standard. It was well-thought out and dragged me into the story quickly.

But from about the one-third mark, the story feels like it was written by someone else completely. The character development was minimal, the dialogue was choppy and awkward, and even the setting felt like America with a fair sprinkling of Australia thrown in - it was like the author couldn't quite keep her roots out of the story.

Will I read more of her books? Of course, she is a very good writer. This one will hopefully only be a blip on the radar as she gets back into her groove later on.


Paul
ARH

This book didn't captivate me. I read the one who got away and thoroughly enjoyed it, but this book wasn't at the same standard. I felt that I was being told a lot of information in the book that was assumed, which I didn't enjoy.

Totally Hated this book and did not finish it. Sorry

The Lucky One is a story of an old castle and long buried secrets and lies within the family that once lived there.

Once a body is dug up on a construction site connected to the family and castle. The family all comes back together and slowly but surely, everything comes to light.

There was something I couldn't really put my finger on - perhaps the wishy washy writing, the unlikeable characters or the 'shocking' twist that's marketed with this book - but I really didn't enjoy this one.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A compulsive read that will keep you up at night needing to know whodunit!!

Synopsis from Goodreads:


Keep your secrets. Tell your lies. The gripping new psychological thriller from the author of the bestselling The One Who Got Away.

An old castle …

For more than 150 years, a grand house known as Alden Castle has stood proudly in the hills above the historic town of Paso Robles, home to a family weighed down by secrets and debt.

A fresh body …

When, after much rancour, the castle is sold, billionaire developers move in, only to discover one skeleton after another, including a fresh corpse, rotting in the old family cemetery.

An unsolved mystery …


As three generations of the well-respected Alden-Stowe family come in for scrutiny, detectives will discover a twisted web of rivalries, alliances, deceit, and treachery. Set amidst the rolling hills of the California wine district, and featuring gold-digger wives, a frustrated housekeeper, a demented patriarch and forbidden love, police must decide: who has died? Who has survived? And who, amidst all this horror and betrayal, is the lucky one?

The Lucky One hooks you in straight away; a (new and burned) body is discovered in the family cemetery on the Alden-Stowe estate in Paso Robles and soon after, the remains of a missing boy, are found in the chimney of the family’s castle. Mack and his daughter Alexa are on the case; quickly interviewing the Alden-Stowe family but it is clear from the get-go that this is not going to be a straight-forward case: everyone is keeping secrets and one of them is a serial killer.

Overington authentically captures the dysfunctional dynamics of family life in her representation of the Alden-Stowe family (which, hopefully, are a lot more dysfunctional than the norm!): there’s the gold-digging wife (Jesalyn) of the patriarch’s son Jack whose death (falling from the roof of the castle) years prior to the story beginning is still very suspicious; the patriarch Owen Alden-Stowe who is suffering from dementia but adamant that he wants to be buried on the estate like all his predecessors; Owen’s daughter Fiona and her sons, Fletcher and Austin (for some reason Fletcher and Owen don’t get on at all); Eden is Jesalyn’s daughter (separated from her family and sent away to boarding school after her father’s death); and Penelope and her son Earl, hired caretakers of Owen and the grounds of the estate, respectively.

The book shifts character perspectives and has a unique structure that allows parts of the narrative to be told by different characters. I really liked this and found myself particularly drawn to Eden. Overington really nails her teenage protagonist’s perspective and I enjoyed entering into Eden’s world: her yearning for connection again with her extended family; her struggles to understand her mother Jesalyn (they are such different people); her crush on Earl and developing relationship with the boy she had played with on the estate as a child. The dialogue was so well done: my favourite scene was the dining room scene where you have multiple characters talking over a meal and Overington’s skill is such that even without the dialogue tags you know who is saying what as each character has a distinct way of speaking.

This book looks at the darker side of family life and of human nature; examining vices like greed, selfishness, pride, ruthlessness. There aren’t many “likeable” characters as such but I don’t think that’s what draws us to psychological thrillers like The Lucky One and The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl. We want to see what makes people tick, what drives them and sometimes drive and ambition are not always for the betterment of society; sometimes peoples’ sights are only set on the betterment of themselves. Everyone in the Alden-Stowe clan has a desire to secure the inheritance they will get when Owen passes away. Which one, though, will go to horrifying lengths to see his early demise? You’ll just have to read to find out!

Once I got to the last third of this book I could not put it down. Overington handles the pace so well – she has us going along bit by bit, we think we know what’s going on and then bam! She pulls the rug out from under us and everything we thought we knew is turned on its head. You won’t see the identity of the killer coming and the ending will leave you reeling!

This is a must read and one that you will want to discuss with all your friends. It would also be a great book club read.

I love a Caroline Overington novel – they are always fast-paced, gripping and are full of interesting, intriguing and off the wall characters usually in a great setting. Plus she also delivers a twist that we never see coming. Loved it.

I would have given this book 3 stars had it not been for that ending. I've taken off a whole star for that last chapter, which was disturbing and creepy.
I didn't enjoy this book. The writing style was so simplistic, like things I wrote in high school that I find it hard to believe that the author Caroline Overington is a journalist. A well known Australian one at that who has broken some extraordinary stories.
The characters were all appalling and one dimensional. Overall the book was weird and odd.

2.5★s

Well that was weird!

When the new owners of Alden Castle dug up a body in the old cemetery away from the residence, Sergeant Mack Helber was unconcerned – after all it would be normal to find a body in a cemetery wouldn’t it! But the fact that this body had only been there a matter of months, not decades, began an intense investigation that uncovered secrets, lies and a family embroiled in greed, deceit and betrayal.

Alden Castle had been in the Alden-Stowe family for decades. But they were deep in debt and desperate to sell the old castle to get their hands on their share of the millions it would bring. But Owen Alden-Stowe, patriarch of the family – in ill health – refused to leave his home, demanding he be buried in the old cemetery when he passed on.

Would the police uncover the web of secrets and lies involving the family, and discover the identity of the bodies which were turning up?

The Lucky One by Aussie author Caroline Overington was steeped in mystery – but it was also convoluted in the extreme. And the ending?! Where did that come from? I’m really not sure what to make of this one, making it difficult to rate and review…

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital copy to read and review.

While I enjoyed this book, some parts were a little strange for me e.g. the burial etc of Owen Alden-Stowe, and it did seem to drag at times. I found the vernacular within which it was written was off-putting at times.

I was immediately sold at the mention of a "castle". My friends all know that I have this weird obsession with castles and mansions - perhaps it's from watching too many Disney princess movies when I was younger, but I think the haunting aesthetics and historical value have something to do with it too. So a book about a family living on a 150 year old castle?

Now that's a book I cannot miss.

The Lucky One was certainly a satisfying read. Divided into 4 parts, my feelings jumped from intrigue, to understanding, to skepticism and then finally, jaw-dropping surprise. The ending was unsettling - but the best kind of unsettling.

Part 1 set the scene. Two corpses had been dug up on the land that was formerly owned by the Alden-Stowes. One was of a burnt old man (Owen) and the other of a child from 6 years ago. While the two corpses seemed unrelated, the police are not ruling out a potential serial killer. We hear bits and pieces of this Alden-Stowe family, and the drama, and complicated family dynamics really piqued my interest. I wanted to know who these people were, why they hated each other, and did someone from this family kill the 2 people that were found? There was the perfect amount of mystery, suspense and anticipation on my part to read on and find out exactly what happened.

Part 2 is where I got my answers. Told from the perspective of Eden, whose mother was married to Owen's son before he passed away several years ago, we learned the story about what happened in the weeks leading up to Owen's death and why he was buried unceremoniously in the cemetery on the estate.

To be completely honest, a good chunk of Part 2 felt unnecessary - there was too much dialogue and I would skim whole pages without missing anything important. The bickering between Jesalyn (Eden's mother) and practically every other Alden-Stowe was occasionally dry and other times too dramatic. But perhaps that's actually what happens within certain families? The story was very straight-forward: you have a bunch of money-hungry people who are buried under mountains of debt, whose eyes shine brighter than the stars at night when faced with the possibility of walking away with almost a million dollars. If murder was what caused Owen's death, then you certainly have a motive here.

Despite everyone's greediness, however, it was apparent that no one within the family was a murderer. They were selfish, disrespectful, condescending assholes, but they weren't evil. That was my impression of them anyway.

But the question remained: could they have been desperate and money-hungry enough to kill an old man with dementia in order to secure the money?

Part 3 wrapped up the mystery. Back in the present, the police are gathering evidence and deciding whether they have enough to arrest and prosecute the "conspirators". There's a trial, witnesses, everything seemed to add up but the case is still circumstantial. Throughout the whole trial, I thought "this can't be right. I don't believe this is true."

Then Part 4 caught me off guard. I was simultaneously dumbfounded and awestruck because everything made sense. Part 4 was so eerie, I got goosebumps just reading it. Especially the last paragraph - that's going to stay with me for a while.

Overall, i was immensely impressed with The Lucky One. It's a psychological thriller that is on par with some of my favourites - The Girl on the Train and Dark Places. Corrington will now officially be on my list of authors to look out for in the coming years.

I've read a few of Caroline Overington's books now, including No Place Like Home, Can You Keep a Secret and The One Who Got Away - all of which I've reviewed on my blog (debbish.com).

The thing I always find fascinating about Overington's books is that each one seems so very different. It's not quite as if she's changing genres, but it's almost as if they could be by different authors.

Having said that however, there are a few common themes throughout and she tends to focus on contemporary issues; and the online world, social media (blogging etc) has featured in a few of her books now - and not always in a good way.

I must admit I didn't enjoy this as much as I've enjoyed her earlier work.

The timing felt a little out. Even in the early stages, we're with Mack - the detective - and going through the investigation in detail, but then an entire day passes. I struggle when the timing isn't consistent in crime fiction / suspense novels as it feels as if I've missed entire parts of an investigation.

Similarly the point-of-view was a tad unusual. Other than an intro from Fiona's point of view, we spend a little while in Mack's head. All in third person. However when we switch to Eden's point of view it's in first person. And I enjoyed my time there and Overington keeps us with Eden for most of the book. She's likeable - unlike some of her family members - and very engaging.

Then we jump to the court case and I wasn't sure if we were viewing it from anyone's point of view. We're back in third person but it felt like an unknown narrator.

And then of course there was the ending. Now I usually love a good twist, but for some reason this one just felt wrong. I'm not sure if it was the lack of closure / justice or just plain weird (in a left-field kind of way), but it did leave a not-pleasant taste in my mouth. (Which of course, is part of the point.)

I didn't dislike this book, and I was intrigued enough to keep reading and understand the fate that befell our characters, but I didn't feel any satisfaction on finishing the story.

Thank you Caroline Overington and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have been a fan of Caroline since "Ghost Child" first came out, I was totally hooked by the rawness of her writing. I devoured every new novel as soon as they hit the shelves and I eagerly awaited the next one with baited breath. I loved her honesty in the telling of people caught in the system, the neglect of the children caught in hard times and divorce. Her writing showed me a side to society that I have been fortunate enough not to see.
I have to say that I did enjoy The Luck Ones, it was entertaining but I felt it didn't have the punch she once had, I understand that an authors writing style "evolves" over time but I truly miss the utter disbelief that her previous novels left me with.

Caroline has woven a chilling and gothic tale about family secrets and dead bodies, with shocking twists that you'll never see coming. I'm already anticipating her next book...