Lucky You

Lucky You

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79  ·  rating details  ·  5,959 ratings  ·  366 reviews
A Florida woman wins millions in the lottery only to have her ticket stolen.
Paperback, 464 pages
Published February 1st 2005 by Grand Central Publishing (first published December 12th 1991)
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Collette
Aug 23, 2008 Collette rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Lovers of humorous mysteries
Shelves: mystery, hiaasen
Rarely have I found an author that has made me laugh out loud so many times in one book. Hiaasen has done that for me in the books of his I have read. I love his wit and dry humor.
This is a great story about two lottery ticket winners in Florida. One is a young black woman that works in a vet's office and loves animals (keeps an aquarium full of 45 baby turtles that she saved) and the other is a redneck, white supremacist that doesn't feel like sharing the $28 mil., especially with a "negro". T...more
Jerry
True to a friend's billing as “irreverent, but funny”

We always enjoy “discovering” a new author, and when a friend lent us “Lucky You”, with the comment “irreverent, but funny”, we dove into it with pleasurable anticipation. It’s odd when you set out not even knowing a book’s genre, but the novel soon enough revealed itself to be sheer humor, with just enough of a light mystery to create a little suspense along the way. The plot was fairly original – two dumb, petty criminals named Chubb and Bo...more
Kevin Hobson
Jun 21, 2007 Kevin Hobson rated it 3 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: people looking to sit in a hammock and sip mai tais
I was thinking about Carl Hiassen/Elmore Leonard books, trying to remember which ones I'd read...it's proven challenging. The story descriptions don't help much because, let's face it, the plots are all primarily the same--some sort of mystery set in Florida involving a hard-luck hero and a zany cast of secondary characters, with just enough plot twists to keep you turning the pages. Don't get me wrong, these are great books for what they are--fun summer reading. If you're looking for complex ch...more
bookczuk
The perfect read for when you want to be entertained, but not think too much. Hiassen snagged me from the get-go with his usual blend of insane characters. I always look for the basic "Every Man" who is usually a reporter (check), someone passionate about the environment (check), a possible love interest for EveryMan (check), an ex-love for EveryMan (check and check), bad guy(s) who have some good in them (check), bad guys that are beyond redemption (check, check, check) and should be eaten by...more
Michael
With Carl Hiaasen, I've never had a bad experience, I thought that this was slightly weaker than the other ones I've read, because it swings very unevenly between some truly unpleasntly detailed racism and violence and racous comedy and religious satire, I was personally more engaged by the subplot involving the holy cooters(turtles) and road stain jesus than the main story line which involved two white supremicist thugs stealing a lotto ticket, the main storyline isn't bad or anything, it's jus...more
Mark Glover
This was my introduction to Carl Hiassen and I have since read all of his books and would rate him as one of my favorite authors. That said I recall this book being quite hard to get through and hardly the most entertaining book that I had read. Indeed I was kind of suprised that I picked up a second book by Hiaasen given that I am kind of a one book type of person when it comes to people with a huge back catalogue(sorry Ian Rankin and Michael Connelly). That said all the classic Hiassen signatu...more
Andrea Mullarkey
Lucky You is pure fun. The setup is simple: there are two winning tickets for a $28 million dollar Florida lottery jackpot. One is held by JoLayne Lucks, a reserved African-American woman who wants to use the money to buy a piece of undeveloped land for preservation. The other is held by Bodean Gazzer, a paranoid white supremacist who wants to use the money to start a militia to fight against (in his words) Negros, Cubans, and NATO. Gazzer decides that $28 million would be a better seed fund tha...more
Melissa Kyeyune
This hilarious book does not attempt to be more than what it is, which is a funny, quick read for a Sunday afternoon.

It's like taking a 'John Grisham' plot about white racists with black victims, and making a somewhat humorous parody of it. The humor is very intentional but it is often over-the-top.

JoLayne Lucks is a black woman who has just won the lottery. Unfortunately for her, there are two winners and the other half of the ticket just so happens to belong to two white supremacists.

When Chu...more
Book Concierge
Two redneck felons from Miami win the Florida Lotto, but so does a quiet black woman from a small town known for its religious shrines. The men figure they shouldn't have to share their prize, especially with a Negro, and so they set out to steal her ticket. But JoLayne Lucks isn’t taking this injustice lying down. She has a noble purpose in mind for her share of the winnings and she’s not about to let those scumbags destroy her dream. With the help of a reporter who has lost his interest in fea...more
Doug
JoLayne Lucks wins the lottery when the stakes are at 28-million. So do Chub and Bode, a pair of washed white-supremacist wannabes. The fact that JoLayne is black is not why they want to steal from her, but it helps. No, they want to form an Army to fight off the UN's imminent invasion. After taking her ticket, JoLayne gets Tom Krome, a cynical and mostly wasted reporter, to help her track them down. Eventually, a a Hooters waitress, a surly gas-station clerk, Tom's supervisor, a crack ATF agent...more
Chandler
What fun it would be to spend one day in Carol Hiaasen's brain!!! Where he comes up with his characters and the situations they put themselves in just makes my heart smile. His equation for a great book is Einstein-inspired.

JoLayne Lucks, a black veterinary assistant has won the big lotto--14 million dollars! With her winnings, she is going to buy swampland that is being courted by a money launderer to purchase, raze and build a strip mall on...

The other winners in the lottery are a couple of sh...more
Wendy
JoLayne Lucks lives in Grange, Florida, a town famous for its so-called miracles (the weeping fiberglass Madonna that cries "real" tears scented with Charlie perfume and the famous Road-Stain Jesus). Now there's Lady Luck, for JoLayne has just won the Florida Lotto and plans to save a rare piece of Florida wildlife from being bulldozed into another useless strip mall. Problem: there's a second winner to split the $28 million jackpot. Bodean Gazzer and his sidekick, known only as Chub, are eager...more
Sheri
So I read Hoot with my kids and thought this was another adolescent fiction book. I figured I'd read it and then suggest it to my 11 year old (if it was an okay read). This is not a kid's book; this is an adult novel and unlike his adolescent fiction (which was good), I found this to be just juvenile adult humor.

First, while I thought the premise of Hoot was good (kids trying to save the owls and the environment); I found the premise here (an adult also trying to save a piece of land from develo...more
Valerie
This is a book that I would not have probably ever read, but the library chose this book for book discussion this month. Nevertheless, it was a good read. It wasn't a book that I couldn't put down...even when I was 25 pages from the end. But, it was a book that kept me intrigued throughout and I wan't to see how it ended.

The story is about JoLayne Lucks who wins the lottery in Grange, Florida (a pilgrimage town filled with wacky born-again christians who make money off fake relics). She is not t...more
Casey
This was another book club selection. It was selected as a light read to follow "Tortilla Curtain" by T.C. Boyle. "Lucky You" follows two people/groups that win the lottery: a black woman (Jolayne Lucks) and two white bigots. The two men find Jolayne and take her winning ticket from her so they can have the whole jackpot. There wasn't a whole lot to discuss in the club. The book isn't very deep and doesn't pose too many questions. Some of my fellow book clubbers found it very difficult to read t...more
Lin
Two Florida redneck white supremacists win the lottery. Well, they win HALF of the lottery. Turns out, there were two winning tickets, and the other winner is, of all things, a black woman. They conspire to steal hers--thus righting the obvious injustice of the situation. She's no pushover, however, and though they do get away with the ticket, she, along with the help of a right-place-right-time reporter, chases them.

Drama/action, and a number of hilarious escapades (one in particular involving...more
Matthew S.
Carl Hiaasen is one of those rare geniuses who have the knack to blend the absurdity of everyday life with a Fellini-esque type of absurdity that reaches levels unheard of for a book that still stays grounded. "Lucky You" follow an epic twist of fate that may fall short in the hands of a less capable author, but works with Hiaasen. Who would have thought the grim story of two white supremacists lotto winners who beat an African American woman and steal her winning ticket would be filled with suc...more
Elizabeth
Carl Hiaasen is one of those you either like him or you don't authors. I've read several other books by him and continue to enjoy these crazy tales of south Florida. Like his other book, the story is inhabited by almost swamp like red neck creatures, the woman whose life hasn't been great but is a spunky survivor, a flawed but likeable male lead and a host of entertaining side characters including the requisite Hooters waitress (instead of a stripper), crazed soon-to-be ex wife and a mafia guy....more
Jeff Yoak
Lucky You traces the adventures of two Florida rednecks who win the lottery and, upon discovering that they have to split the jackpot with another winner, decide to try to steal the other winning ticket. What follows is a romp involving Hooters chicks, Jesus-shaped oil stains on highways, misadventures with the wildlife of the Florida Keys and shady real estate deals.

I spent a decade living in Florida. I spent most of that time operating businesses such as telemarketing companies and private arm...more
Frederick Bingham
I listened to this on cassette, read by George Wilson. He does a great job with the novel.Typical Carl Hiaasen fiction. This one is the story of a woman in a small town in Florida named JoLayne Lucks. She purchases the winning ticket in the Florida lottery and is entitled to $14 Million. Unfortunately, the same thing happens to two white supremacist losers from Miami. They need her ticket to make $28 Million, so they go to steal it. Most of the book describes JoLayne's quest to get her winning t...more
JoJo
I have never read Hiaasen before. I find his style of writing to be difficult to get used to, but overall enjoyable. His way of telling a story leaves much to fate and even more to chance, but it is wonderful to see him slowly thread the strings of his seemingly disorganized world into one amazingly strange tapestry.
Hiaasen transports you into the minds of his characters, and despite their sometimes odious and malicious thought and deeds, you cannot help but feel connected to them in some way....more
Janelle
Carl Hiaasen's works are usually very funny, intelligent, witty, creative, with a happy ending. What could you want more from an entertaining lite read? The imaginative characters, the adventure, the great use of irony and sarcasm, he keeps you guessing how things could possibly all work out for the best, and they do in his books which I like. I always find good qualities to admire in his heros, and can easily despise the villians, cheering when they meet their demise...in whatever creative fash...more
Jeremy
What a fabulous book. Two lottery tickets share the jackpot. One is owned by JoLayne, a vetanarian nurse in Grange, the other by a "red neck" in the wilds (both South Florida). The red neck wants both tickets and so sets out to acquire JoLaynes ticket (one way or another - well one way only actually). Meanwhile, newspaper man Tom Krome is sent to cover the JoLayne story but he catapultes himself into a crazy race around Florida with JoLayne trying to find Bo and Chub (the red necks) and recover...more
John
I was looking for something light to read on a series of trips in May, and pulled this off the shelves at my father-in-law's house. I'd never read Hiaasen before, but figured that if a family member and Dave Barry both recommended him, he'd be worth a shot. The story follows a burnt-out reporter and a lottery winner as they try to recover the latter's winning lottery ticket, which has been stolen by comically dumb white supremacists. It's all reasonably amusing but overly long, with at least two...more
Lynne
This was supposed to be a comedy thriller but didn't really think it was either. I didn't find it particularly funny and it wasn't an 'edge of your seat' book either. It dragged a little in parts and there were a few characters who's names sounded similar and it got a bit confusing as it jumped around a little bit. The story is about a black woman - Jolayne - who wins $14 million in the state lottery. Another man - Bode and his friend Chub also have the same numbers. They're white supremiscists...more
Stephanie Landers
Cool .

This is a brilliant comedy and crime fiction by the master of crime . It was fizzing with surreal escapades and the politics of a life in Florida's wetlands . Exploring the dangers of ignorant bigots and their insulting comeuppance , bringing all the sordid prejudices and primitive beliefs of everyday people to a social system that thrives on only one principal dollar is king and Hiaasen is king of comedy .Outrageous brilliant and bordering on hysteria read it and roar with laughter . The...more
Alan
After an unsuccessful slog through most of An Incident at the Fingerpost, I'm going with Mr. Hiaasen for my next read.

And I wasn't sorry. This relatively early (1997) one from Mr. Hiaasen delivered with everything I have come to enjoy from his work. Quirky characters, lots of action, pointed commentary leavened with an ultimately hopeful view that the good guys can win at least every once in a while. Tom Krome and JoLayne Lucks make an appealing hero/heroine team and the luckless/brainless duo o...more
Rose
When one of two winning lottery tickets ends up in the hands of a pair of hillbillies (Bodean & Chub) hell bent on finding the second ticket and claiming the whole prize as their own, a dangerous and wacky series of events is set into motion. After attacking the second winner (JoLayne) and stealing her ticket, the back-country pals think they've got things made. What they didn't count on was JoLayne being equally hell bent on exacting revenge on her attackers and reclaiming her share of the...more
Terry
I think that Carl Hiaasen is one of the most interesting modern writers
Chip
Pretty good overall, but there was room for a more 'surprise' ending. From Chapter 3 on I could see where the relationship between the two main characters was going (absolutely no suspense) and yawned to find in the end that I was right. I suppose it was the southern boy in the author, or some archaic notion of novelty which compelled him to stick with the obvious ending instead of creating a surprise one - whatever his thinking, interracial relationships are no longer appropriate for shock valu...more
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Lucky You (Mass Market Paperback)
Lucky You (Paperback)
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Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida, where he still lives with his family. After graduating from the University of Florida, he began writing for the Miami Herald. As a journalist and author, Carl has spend most of his life advocating the protection of the Florida Everglades. He and his family still live southern Florida.
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