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Lucky You
A Florida woman wins millions in the lottery only to have her ticket stolen.
464 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1997
983 people are currently reading
4512 people want to read
About the author
Carl Hiaasen
100 books9,916 followersCarl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida. After graduating from the University of Florida, he joined the Miami Herald as a general assignment reporter and went on to work for the newspaper’s weekly magazine and prize-winning investigations team. As a journalist and author, Carl has spent most of his life advocating for the protection of the Florida Everglades. He and his family live in southern Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,097 reviews
January 3, 2019
This is a great humor and my favorite Carl Hiaasen novel! This is a fabulous story for listening. 10 of 10 stars
August 24, 2008
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". Thus begins the story of his search for JoLayne and her ticket. Along the road we meet a sexy newspaper journalist, his wife that refuses to divorce him because she might look bad, the religious fanatics that relieve the tourists of their money with weeping Mary idols and oil stains in the form of Jesus Christ, a Hooters waitress and many more hilarious characters.
If you like a good laugh and a little mystery, give this one a shot.
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". Thus begins the story of his search for JoLayne and her ticket. Along the road we meet a sexy newspaper journalist, his wife that refuses to divorce him because she might look bad, the religious fanatics that relieve the tourists of their money with weeping Mary idols and oil stains in the form of Jesus Christ, a Hooters waitress and many more hilarious characters.
If you like a good laugh and a little mystery, give this one a shot.
April 12, 2024
This was a wild ride. The book is humorous and the plot is fast, but a little all over the place.
It felt like I was in a "Florida man" meme came to life.
It felt like I was in a "Florida man" meme came to life.
January 20, 2018
The criminals in 'Lucky You' have the combined intellectual power of a 5-watt battery. Bodean Gazzer and Onus 'Chub' Gillespie are also rapists, white supremacists, and murderers. But even pond scum can get lucky.
Bode discovers he has won half of a Florida $28,000,000 lottery jackpot! The other half of the prize has been won by a black woman, JoLayne Lucks, a veterinarian assistant. Bode feels no way a non-white should be getting that. Bode and Chub enlist the store clerk who sold the lottery ticket to Lucks into joining them in their new anti-immigrant militia. Shiner, the store clerk, is even more dim-witted than the two ex-cons although he doesn't have their vicious bent natures. Bode doesn't have to talk very long before he has convinced them to attack JoLayne and steal her ticket.
Meanwhile, Tom Krome, reporter, is falling for JoLayne. He knocked on her door hoping for an interview, but she refused. Regardless, he thinks she is something special and he likes her. She makes him want more than ever to find his wife! Mary Andrea has been hiding since he told her he wanted a divorce four years ago, which is an amazing feat since she is an off-Broadway actress! Then, JoLayne is brutally attacked and she comes to Tom for help that night. Will Tom use his resources to track down Bode and Chub and get her lottery ticket back? He will.
Then, Tom's brittle boss, Sinclair, Assistant Deputy Managing Editor of Features and Style, fires Tom because he won't give up the lottery news story. Sinclair only likes upbeat stories and JoLayne's story has turned bad. He hates Tom anyway because Tom is the best writer on the newspaper. Then he learns Tom has won a writing award! There is another slight problem - the managing editor loves Tom and if he finds out Sinclair fired Tom, it will be Sinclair who is out in the street. He decides to go to the Grange, where JoLayne lives, to see if he can't talk Tom into coming back. Instead, he runs into JoLayne's neighbors, a couple selling admission tickets to see a Madonna statue who cries bloody tears! They also have a backyard of turtles, and he loves them. He forgets all about Tom and the lottery. As it happens, the turtles are JoLayne's, and she needs the lottery money to buy and save their habitat next door to her house. JoLayne asked the couple to watch and feed the turtles while she is tracking down her stolen ticket, but Sinclair has not a clue of any of this. He simply adores the turtles.
JoLayne and Tom are closing in on Bode, Chub and Shiner because they are using JoLayne's credit cards as they hang out in a Hooter's restaurant everyday. Chub wants to kidnap a waitress working there, so he agrees to help Bode recruit more white supremacists if Bode helps kidnap the waitress.
Someone else is trying to follow Tom as well. Who? Well, it seems Tom had a little fling with a judge's wife, Katie, and now the judge has hired a hit man to kill Tom! The hit man, a law clerk called Champ Powell, is doing his best, but Tom is on the move and hardly ever home. He decides to mess up Tom's house, but the plan goes awry.
Humor is definitely behind every twist and turn in this crazy tale of fortune and love in Florida! The author, Carl Hiaasen, barely has to make anything up, as usual, as the real life people of Florida give him plenty of material to use for his fiction. Lucky us!
Bode discovers he has won half of a Florida $28,000,000 lottery jackpot! The other half of the prize has been won by a black woman, JoLayne Lucks, a veterinarian assistant. Bode feels no way a non-white should be getting that. Bode and Chub enlist the store clerk who sold the lottery ticket to Lucks into joining them in their new anti-immigrant militia. Shiner, the store clerk, is even more dim-witted than the two ex-cons although he doesn't have their vicious bent natures. Bode doesn't have to talk very long before he has convinced them to attack JoLayne and steal her ticket.
Meanwhile, Tom Krome, reporter, is falling for JoLayne. He knocked on her door hoping for an interview, but she refused. Regardless, he thinks she is something special and he likes her. She makes him want more than ever to find his wife! Mary Andrea has been hiding since he told her he wanted a divorce four years ago, which is an amazing feat since she is an off-Broadway actress! Then, JoLayne is brutally attacked and she comes to Tom for help that night. Will Tom use his resources to track down Bode and Chub and get her lottery ticket back? He will.
Then, Tom's brittle boss, Sinclair, Assistant Deputy Managing Editor of Features and Style, fires Tom because he won't give up the lottery news story. Sinclair only likes upbeat stories and JoLayne's story has turned bad. He hates Tom anyway because Tom is the best writer on the newspaper. Then he learns Tom has won a writing award! There is another slight problem - the managing editor loves Tom and if he finds out Sinclair fired Tom, it will be Sinclair who is out in the street. He decides to go to the Grange, where JoLayne lives, to see if he can't talk Tom into coming back. Instead, he runs into JoLayne's neighbors, a couple selling admission tickets to see a Madonna statue who cries bloody tears! They also have a backyard of turtles, and he loves them. He forgets all about Tom and the lottery. As it happens, the turtles are JoLayne's, and she needs the lottery money to buy and save their habitat next door to her house. JoLayne asked the couple to watch and feed the turtles while she is tracking down her stolen ticket, but Sinclair has not a clue of any of this. He simply adores the turtles.
JoLayne and Tom are closing in on Bode, Chub and Shiner because they are using JoLayne's credit cards as they hang out in a Hooter's restaurant everyday. Chub wants to kidnap a waitress working there, so he agrees to help Bode recruit more white supremacists if Bode helps kidnap the waitress.
Someone else is trying to follow Tom as well. Who? Well, it seems Tom had a little fling with a judge's wife, Katie, and now the judge has hired a hit man to kill Tom! The hit man, a law clerk called Champ Powell, is doing his best, but Tom is on the move and hardly ever home. He decides to mess up Tom's house, but the plan goes awry.
Humor is definitely behind every twist and turn in this crazy tale of fortune and love in Florida! The author, Carl Hiaasen, barely has to make anything up, as usual, as the real life people of Florida give him plenty of material to use for his fiction. Lucky us!
May 9, 2025
__________________________
"For a change, Lady Luck seemed to be smiling on me. Then again, maybe the fickle wench was just lulling me into a false sense of security while she reached for a rock." – Timothy Zahn
JoLayne Lucks got lucky. She won $14,000,000 in the Florida State Lottery. And that was just the beginning of her problems.
Tom Krome is a first-rate investigative newspaper reporter who has been reduced to writing fluffy feature pieces because the newspaper business is going to hell. He has been given the assignment of interviewing Ms. Lucks and writing a human-interest story about how LADY LUCKS WINS LOTTERY. His editor, whose name is Sinclair, came up with that headline. Sinclair is an idiot. He figures that the only thing a story needs to make it interesting is a snappy headline.
Tom, under protest, makes the 300-mile trip to the village of Grange, Florida, where JoLayne lives. She has been forewarned that he is in town and when he gets to her front door, it is standing open. “Hallo. Hallo.” He yelled. A voice came from the house. “Are you the reporter?” He confessed. The voice said, “Come-on in.” He came. Still couldn’t find her. “Hallo. Hallo.” “I’m in the bathroom, just open the door.” He did. And there was a lady in the bathtub, wearing nothing except for a smile and an air of confidence. Oh, and she was holding a Remington 12-guage shotgun and pointing that weapon of mass circumcision at Krome’s favorite body parts. I know they say that “faint hearts ne’er win fair lady,” but if this happened to me, I would have just fainted, and you could just keep your fair lady. I already have a perfectly good one at home. She’s an older model but she runs like a top.
"If you think about it, it was the perfect meet cute, and if I hadn’t had my head up my ass at the time, I would’ve done something about it."– Helena Hunting, Meet Cute
Meet Cute? Wait--hold on. I have been married for over 50 years, and I have sat through a plethora of Hallmark movies and an abundance of fictional "meet cute" rom/com introductions with my wife, and this bathtub scene is not "meet cute, " or "meet kooky,” or "meet cranky,", or even "meet kinky.” It is “meet the psycho…er …female dog.” The thing is, JoLayne is not a psycho bichon frise. She is quirky, she is independent, she is fierce, she is impulsive, but she isn’t the kind of nude woman with a blunderbuss who would introduce herself to a complete stranger from a bathtub. In fact, I suspect there are not many women in the world who would consider this to be a good way to break the ice in a new relationship. This entire bathroom scene doesn’t belong in the book. It is not plausible. It is misleading. It distracts from the story. It isn’t justified by anything in the rest of the book. It is as looney as a Canadian dollar. And a professional novelist and journalist with Carl Hiaasen’s experience should have known better.
After JoLayne ever so subtly declined to do an interview, Tom sagely decided to go back to his motel room and he tells JoLayne that if she changes her mind by tomorrow morning, they could meet in some public location [I’m thinking the hospital emergency room or a jail cell.] Morning came early, however, because someone was pounding loudly at his door at 3 AM. It was Lady Lucks herself, and she did not look good. Her home had been invaded during the night. She had been badly beaten, one of her 47 pet baby turtles had been foully murdered, and she was forced to yield her--as of yet unredeemed—lottery ticket to the invaders. She told Tom that she couldn’t go the police because she didn’t have any proof that she had ever had the winning ticket, and she needed Tom’s investigative skills to help her retrieve the ticket and wreak her revenge.
🌟🌟🌟 Stars. Once JoLayne and Tom join forces, the novel proceeds with a typical Hiaasen modus operandi—mirth, mayhem, and whoopee. It’s not the best Hiaasen novel, but it lands somewhere in the middle of his collected works, and if you are a Hiaasen fan, you will probably like it, though I suggest that you hold both hands over your eyes when you read the bathroom scene.
"For a change, Lady Luck seemed to be smiling on me. Then again, maybe the fickle wench was just lulling me into a false sense of security while she reached for a rock." – Timothy Zahn
JoLayne Lucks got lucky. She won $14,000,000 in the Florida State Lottery. And that was just the beginning of her problems.
Tom Krome is a first-rate investigative newspaper reporter who has been reduced to writing fluffy feature pieces because the newspaper business is going to hell. He has been given the assignment of interviewing Ms. Lucks and writing a human-interest story about how LADY LUCKS WINS LOTTERY. His editor, whose name is Sinclair, came up with that headline. Sinclair is an idiot. He figures that the only thing a story needs to make it interesting is a snappy headline.
Tom, under protest, makes the 300-mile trip to the village of Grange, Florida, where JoLayne lives. She has been forewarned that he is in town and when he gets to her front door, it is standing open. “Hallo. Hallo.” He yelled. A voice came from the house. “Are you the reporter?” He confessed. The voice said, “Come-on in.” He came. Still couldn’t find her. “Hallo. Hallo.” “I’m in the bathroom, just open the door.” He did. And there was a lady in the bathtub, wearing nothing except for a smile and an air of confidence. Oh, and she was holding a Remington 12-guage shotgun and pointing that weapon of mass circumcision at Krome’s favorite body parts. I know they say that “faint hearts ne’er win fair lady,” but if this happened to me, I would have just fainted, and you could just keep your fair lady. I already have a perfectly good one at home. She’s an older model but she runs like a top.
"If you think about it, it was the perfect meet cute, and if I hadn’t had my head up my ass at the time, I would’ve done something about it."– Helena Hunting, Meet Cute
Meet Cute? Wait--hold on. I have been married for over 50 years, and I have sat through a plethora of Hallmark movies and an abundance of fictional "meet cute" rom/com introductions with my wife, and this bathtub scene is not "meet cute, " or "meet kooky,” or "meet cranky,", or even "meet kinky.” It is “meet the psycho…er …female dog.” The thing is, JoLayne is not a psycho bichon frise. She is quirky, she is independent, she is fierce, she is impulsive, but she isn’t the kind of nude woman with a blunderbuss who would introduce herself to a complete stranger from a bathtub. In fact, I suspect there are not many women in the world who would consider this to be a good way to break the ice in a new relationship. This entire bathroom scene doesn’t belong in the book. It is not plausible. It is misleading. It distracts from the story. It isn’t justified by anything in the rest of the book. It is as looney as a Canadian dollar. And a professional novelist and journalist with Carl Hiaasen’s experience should have known better.
After JoLayne ever so subtly declined to do an interview, Tom sagely decided to go back to his motel room and he tells JoLayne that if she changes her mind by tomorrow morning, they could meet in some public location [I’m thinking the hospital emergency room or a jail cell.] Morning came early, however, because someone was pounding loudly at his door at 3 AM. It was Lady Lucks herself, and she did not look good. Her home had been invaded during the night. She had been badly beaten, one of her 47 pet baby turtles had been foully murdered, and she was forced to yield her--as of yet unredeemed—lottery ticket to the invaders. She told Tom that she couldn’t go the police because she didn’t have any proof that she had ever had the winning ticket, and she needed Tom’s investigative skills to help her retrieve the ticket and wreak her revenge.
🌟🌟🌟 Stars. Once JoLayne and Tom join forces, the novel proceeds with a typical Hiaasen modus operandi—mirth, mayhem, and whoopee. It’s not the best Hiaasen novel, but it lands somewhere in the middle of his collected works, and if you are a Hiaasen fan, you will probably like it, though I suggest that you hold both hands over your eyes when you read the bathroom scene.
October 7, 2015
Once again Carl Hiaasen proves why he is one of my favorite authors! Enjoyable and entertaining from the start to finish! This a stand alone book, so can enjoy without reading Hiaasen before.
August 14, 2015
This was a fun and laugh-out-loud book populated with plenty of 'characters'. I have only been to Florida once, so I can't comment on the veracity of this portrayal of Floridians, but I can't see how someone can make up this kind of weirdness without a grain of truth behind it all.
Under the levity, there is a very serious undercurrent. Two white supremacists who are so busy blaming blacks, Jews, Hispanics, gays, and other undesirables can't look in the mirror and see that they certainly could do much better at being upstanding citizens themselves. Everyone else is a scapegoat for the disappointments they have with life, and never can they take responsibility for their own lives. While I found their antics funny, there is a part of me that was really dismayed at the intensity of their hatred for people who didn't look like them or live their lives their way. Most importantly, hatred for manufactured reasons that make no sense. As unlikable as Bode and Chubb were, I really liked JoLayne and Tom, although they were no less quirky. JoLayne is an animal-loving vet tech with a history of bad romantic choices that she leverages as a lottery win by playing her age at which she broke up with each one every week. Tom has spent four years trying to divorce his wife who has been evading him because she doesn't want to be a divorcee. Tom gets sent to a small town to investigate the lottery win and ends up volunteering to help JoLayne to get her lottery ticket back.
The romance was well-integrated into the story. It starts out as respect and friendship and a romantic entanglement progresses sensibly. Along with the romance, this was a fun sort of caper, on-the-road read as JoLayne and Tom pursue the fellows who have beaten her up and stolen her lottery ticket, as well as wreaking havoc across the state of Florida.
Hiaasen gives the reader some really strange characters, and along the way, I found myself getting sucked into this story, rooting for JoLayne and Tom, scratching my head over the psychology of such flagrant bigotry as evidenced by Chub and Bode, and enjoying the Florida local color.
I've read another book by Hiaasen, but it was a long time ago. I'm glad that this book reminded me to add him to my roster of authors to pick up in my reading adventures.
Under the levity, there is a very serious undercurrent. Two white supremacists who are so busy blaming blacks, Jews, Hispanics, gays, and other undesirables can't look in the mirror and see that they certainly could do much better at being upstanding citizens themselves. Everyone else is a scapegoat for the disappointments they have with life, and never can they take responsibility for their own lives. While I found their antics funny, there is a part of me that was really dismayed at the intensity of their hatred for people who didn't look like them or live their lives their way. Most importantly, hatred for manufactured reasons that make no sense. As unlikable as Bode and Chubb were, I really liked JoLayne and Tom, although they were no less quirky. JoLayne is an animal-loving vet tech with a history of bad romantic choices that she leverages as a lottery win by playing her age at which she broke up with each one every week. Tom has spent four years trying to divorce his wife who has been evading him because she doesn't want to be a divorcee. Tom gets sent to a small town to investigate the lottery win and ends up volunteering to help JoLayne to get her lottery ticket back.
The romance was well-integrated into the story. It starts out as respect and friendship and a romantic entanglement progresses sensibly. Along with the romance, this was a fun sort of caper, on-the-road read as JoLayne and Tom pursue the fellows who have beaten her up and stolen her lottery ticket, as well as wreaking havoc across the state of Florida.
Hiaasen gives the reader some really strange characters, and along the way, I found myself getting sucked into this story, rooting for JoLayne and Tom, scratching my head over the psychology of such flagrant bigotry as evidenced by Chub and Bode, and enjoying the Florida local color.
I've read another book by Hiaasen, but it was a long time ago. I'm glad that this book reminded me to add him to my roster of authors to pick up in my reading adventures.
September 1, 2017
This is the best Hiaasen book I've read so far! It has all the things that make him so readable, and then some: crazy fanatics of all sorts, mixed with a (very) few "normal" people, murder and mayhem like you wouldn't believe, bad folks getting their comeuppance in spades, plus multiple lottery winners, Florida wildlife, love in strange places. What a great book.
July 25, 2010
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 Bode Gazzer, hit the lottery for $14M, only to learn another winner named JoLayne Lucks, a plucky veterinarian’s assistant, also has a winner worth the same amount. They decide to steal her ticket before cashing theirs as a way to amass a fortune to startup their own white supremacist paramilitary. Their fears of a “NATO attack from the Bahamas” gives you an idea of their mental state! When a journalist, Tom Krome, is sent to interview JoLayne, and learns of her fate, he joins with her to dog the criminals and get justice without even notifying the cops. Meanwhile, Tom’s editor, Sinclair, is sent to the Lucks’ home town of Grange, Florida, where he gets involved with some religious fanatics who sell observations of a Madonna statue that occasionally “weeps” (on command), a brake fluid road stain that supposedly looks like Jesus, and a “stigmata” man who has actually drilled holes in himself to display for donations. One soon gets the drift that the light plot is little more than an excuse to parade about all these incredible characters! That the outcome was fairly predictable, including a light romance, is no deterrent, as the entertainment value rarely quits as the pages turn.
We’d say our friend’s mini-review was right on, and would recommend Hiaasen as sort of a male version of Janet Evanovich, but without the serial nature of just one leading character; and also similar to the “Cat Who” series, though, thankfully, not as light and fluffy! Enjoy!
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 Bode Gazzer, hit the lottery for $14M, only to learn another winner named JoLayne Lucks, a plucky veterinarian’s assistant, also has a winner worth the same amount. They decide to steal her ticket before cashing theirs as a way to amass a fortune to startup their own white supremacist paramilitary. Their fears of a “NATO attack from the Bahamas” gives you an idea of their mental state! When a journalist, Tom Krome, is sent to interview JoLayne, and learns of her fate, he joins with her to dog the criminals and get justice without even notifying the cops. Meanwhile, Tom’s editor, Sinclair, is sent to the Lucks’ home town of Grange, Florida, where he gets involved with some religious fanatics who sell observations of a Madonna statue that occasionally “weeps” (on command), a brake fluid road stain that supposedly looks like Jesus, and a “stigmata” man who has actually drilled holes in himself to display for donations. One soon gets the drift that the light plot is little more than an excuse to parade about all these incredible characters! That the outcome was fairly predictable, including a light romance, is no deterrent, as the entertainment value rarely quits as the pages turn.
We’d say our friend’s mini-review was right on, and would recommend Hiaasen as sort of a male version of Janet Evanovich, but without the serial nature of just one leading character; and also similar to the “Cat Who” series, though, thankfully, not as light and fluffy! Enjoy!
June 21, 2007
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 characters or compelling literary fiction, look elsewhere, but if you just want to sit and be entertained for awhile, grab any book by either of these authors.
Although I think this is my favorite of the Hiaasen books I've read, b/c of the crazy guy who finds spiritual enlightenment by rolling around in a kiddie pool full of baby turtles (cooters) LOL!
Although I think this is my favorite of the Hiaasen books I've read, b/c of the crazy guy who finds spiritual enlightenment by rolling around in a kiddie pool full of baby turtles (cooters) LOL!
July 19, 2012
Is everybody in Florida nuts? According to Carl Hiaasen, they are. And, oh, how gosh-darn hilarious they are, too. If you've never read a Hiaasen novel, you should consider yourself lucky, only because you have the opportunity to discover and enjoy them. He's one of the few authors that I can re-read and enjoy upon second or even third reading. If Dave Barry and Elmore Leonard had a baby... it would probably be very ugly. Pick up a Hiaasen book (it really doesn't matter which one, but you can start with this one...) and laugh your ass off.
July 24, 2018
This is one of the bestest, funniest, funnest, good feelings at the end book I have ever read! Hiaasen at his best :) A pure pleasure book.
August 14, 2012
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 just not as funny as the Holy turtles.
May 20, 2013
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 development only this time it is for turtles) to just be repetitive. Doesn't Hiaasen have any other plot ideas? I mean really, we age the characters, throw in a bit more sex and violence, change Pancake house to mob boss, and owls to turtles and the new novel is ready to go.
As if the absurdity of the theft of the lotto ticked by white trash supremists and the introduction of the mafia wasn't enough, Hiaasen felt it was necessary to add in the abduction of the Hooters waitress. However, the whole kidnapping scene was ridiculous. She is driving the car, she knows that all he has is a screwdriver, and both her dad and boyfriend live near Hooters. So, why is it exactly that she doesn't drive to Tony or her parent's house and start honking the horn? Yeah, she might get stabbed by the screwdriver, but she isn't going to get raped or killed. Instead, she willing drives him ALL THE WAY TO THE KEYS???? Total garbage. I get that Amber was necessary to the plot later (and the return of the 2nd lotto ticket), but Hiaasen needed a better way for her to get there.
Another unnecessary (and stupid) plot twist was the whole excursion to the keys. If they want to escape, why not head to Tallahasse first to get the winnings? One of the tickets is rightfully theirs; wouldn't the whole thing have made more sense if they got that money first? I get that they have to wait on Jolaynes ticket and that they shouldn't collect the first batch of dough together, but why are they heading to the Keys instead of to Tallahasse? Oh yeah, because Hiaasen wanted to strand the bad guys on an island and get to rant about vultures later. Again, just garbage.
I think Hiaasen was trying to add some literary value by attemping to engage in a race discussion. However, I found each and every time that he brought it up to be stereotypical and shallow. We have the white trash supremists who are extremely offensive and we have suspicious Jolayne who rags on Tom for never having had a black girlfriend. Tom, on the other hand, is all eager and never once considers that maybe there are some negative social implications to this endeavor. I really just lacked any sort of complexity in the discussion.
I was also floored that both the Judge and Bernard Squires thought he could retire on $250K. I know this written in the 90s. But really, $250K would not allow anyone to retire to the Bahamas in an upper middle class life style since oh, say 1930!
Finally, Moffit was another necessary character (for the plot) but totally unbelievable. Why wouldn't he just have his ATF friends take out the bad guys? If they had the VHS tape and the evidence of injury to both JoLayne and Chub and Bade and they arrested Chub and Bade and found two lotto tickets on them, wouldn't that be enough? Why is it better for him to help them along in ways that could get him in trouble and then conveniently leave so they can muck about and then come back just in time to collect the VHS tape and get rid of Squires? Ugh...just all to convenient and weird and unbelievable.
I know this is stupid, but I was also annoyed at the spelling of cigarettes throughout. He uses "cigaret" (which according to my kindle version of the OED is an acceptable spelling, I grant you) and every time I saw it I wanted to scream.
Really, there was very little redeeming about the book. There were a few cute moments (and opportunistic set-ups), but the entire thing was mostly just rambling unbelievable nonsense. If it was 150 pages (instead of almost 500) it would have been okay.
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 development only this time it is for turtles) to just be repetitive. Doesn't Hiaasen have any other plot ideas? I mean really, we age the characters, throw in a bit more sex and violence, change Pancake house to mob boss, and owls to turtles and the new novel is ready to go.
As if the absurdity of the theft of the lotto ticked by white trash supremists and the introduction of the mafia wasn't enough, Hiaasen felt it was necessary to add in the abduction of the Hooters waitress. However, the whole kidnapping scene was ridiculous. She is driving the car, she knows that all he has is a screwdriver, and both her dad and boyfriend live near Hooters. So, why is it exactly that she doesn't drive to Tony or her parent's house and start honking the horn? Yeah, she might get stabbed by the screwdriver, but she isn't going to get raped or killed. Instead, she willing drives him ALL THE WAY TO THE KEYS???? Total garbage. I get that Amber was necessary to the plot later (and the return of the 2nd lotto ticket), but Hiaasen needed a better way for her to get there.
Another unnecessary (and stupid) plot twist was the whole excursion to the keys. If they want to escape, why not head to Tallahasse first to get the winnings? One of the tickets is rightfully theirs; wouldn't the whole thing have made more sense if they got that money first? I get that they have to wait on Jolaynes ticket and that they shouldn't collect the first batch of dough together, but why are they heading to the Keys instead of to Tallahasse? Oh yeah, because Hiaasen wanted to strand the bad guys on an island and get to rant about vultures later. Again, just garbage.
I think Hiaasen was trying to add some literary value by attemping to engage in a race discussion. However, I found each and every time that he brought it up to be stereotypical and shallow. We have the white trash supremists who are extremely offensive and we have suspicious Jolayne who rags on Tom for never having had a black girlfriend. Tom, on the other hand, is all eager and never once considers that maybe there are some negative social implications to this endeavor. I really just lacked any sort of complexity in the discussion.
I was also floored that both the Judge and Bernard Squires thought he could retire on $250K. I know this written in the 90s. But really, $250K would not allow anyone to retire to the Bahamas in an upper middle class life style since oh, say 1930!
Finally, Moffit was another necessary character (for the plot) but totally unbelievable. Why wouldn't he just have his ATF friends take out the bad guys? If they had the VHS tape and the evidence of injury to both JoLayne and Chub and Bade and they arrested Chub and Bade and found two lotto tickets on them, wouldn't that be enough? Why is it better for him to help them along in ways that could get him in trouble and then conveniently leave so they can muck about and then come back just in time to collect the VHS tape and get rid of Squires? Ugh...just all to convenient and weird and unbelievable.
I know this is stupid, but I was also annoyed at the spelling of cigarettes throughout. He uses "cigaret" (which according to my kindle version of the OED is an acceptable spelling, I grant you) and every time I saw it I wanted to scream.
Really, there was very little redeeming about the book. There were a few cute moments (and opportunistic set-ups), but the entire thing was mostly just rambling unbelievable nonsense. If it was 150 pages (instead of almost 500) it would have been okay.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2024
Another terribly funny novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. This novel in particular is filled with interesting and weird characters who do ridiculous thing and a few who actually seem to know what they are doing. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a humorous escape.
March 25, 2017
Overall, I'd put this as one of my more favored Hiaasen. It's hard to find villains like the ones in here comedic right now, given the way things are currently, though it is satisfying to not see them win. Just makes it a little stressful to read, which is something I bring to the book as opposed to the book itself. As for the book itself though, I do think the ending drug out quite a bit. Everything was really done and it was clear how everything was going to wrap up in a way that could have been handled in a few pages, but there were still 75 pages or so to go.
December 22, 2021
Absolutely entertaining and witty. My favorite style of humor in writing. The characters were unbelievably real yet outlandish. In my mind this was my favorite movie of the year.
February 14, 2019
Carl Hiaasen can show you the dark side of life in Florida and make you laugh in the process. In Lucky You, published in 1997, he proves the point again and again. The novel shines a light on religious nuts, redneck scumbags, money-laundering gangsters, and the decline of local journalism as well as Florida's natural wonders. You'll be laughing all the way.
Religious scam artists and the decline of local journalism
Just for starters, here are the principal characters in this cockamamie story:
** JoLayne Lucks is a registered nurse who prefers animals to people and has taken a job as a veterinarian's assistant in a small town in northern Florida full of religious scam artists. She is a passionate nature-lover who has rescued 46 turtles called cooters and feeds them lettuce in a large aquarium in her home.
** Tom Krome is a laid-off investigative reporter forced to take a job as a features writer on an undistinguished local newspaper in Florida. The paper is a case study in the decline of local journalism. He's been trying for years to have divorce papers served on his actress wife, who is circling the country in low-rent road shows to avoid the issue. Meanwhile, he is carrying on an affair with the wife of a rabidly jealous local judge.
** Bodean Gazzer, known as Bode, is a racist conspiracy nut whose rap sheet is an arm and a leg long. His companion, Chub, who claims to have only one name, is a glue-sniffing ex-con with a propensity for violence. The two have decided to form a militia called the White Rebel Brotherhood. Bode is the more inventive of the two. He has convinced Chub that foreign NATO troops are massed in the Bahamas preparing an invasion to take over 'Merica on behalf of Negros and Jews.
There is absolutely no reason for these four people to meet. But then JoLayne's Lotto ticket comes up a winner. And so does Bode and Chub's. They're due to share a $28 million jackpot. But the two rednecks can't stand sharing, so they resolve to rob JoLayne's. Take it from there. Carl Hiaasen did. And we're all the richer for it.
Incidentally, Carl Hiaasen may have a ringside seat to the decline of local journalism, but you'll look in vain for any signs in his writing to the decline of American humor.
Religious scam artists and the decline of local journalism
Just for starters, here are the principal characters in this cockamamie story:
** JoLayne Lucks is a registered nurse who prefers animals to people and has taken a job as a veterinarian's assistant in a small town in northern Florida full of religious scam artists. She is a passionate nature-lover who has rescued 46 turtles called cooters and feeds them lettuce in a large aquarium in her home.
** Tom Krome is a laid-off investigative reporter forced to take a job as a features writer on an undistinguished local newspaper in Florida. The paper is a case study in the decline of local journalism. He's been trying for years to have divorce papers served on his actress wife, who is circling the country in low-rent road shows to avoid the issue. Meanwhile, he is carrying on an affair with the wife of a rabidly jealous local judge.
** Bodean Gazzer, known as Bode, is a racist conspiracy nut whose rap sheet is an arm and a leg long. His companion, Chub, who claims to have only one name, is a glue-sniffing ex-con with a propensity for violence. The two have decided to form a militia called the White Rebel Brotherhood. Bode is the more inventive of the two. He has convinced Chub that foreign NATO troops are massed in the Bahamas preparing an invasion to take over 'Merica on behalf of Negros and Jews.
There is absolutely no reason for these four people to meet. But then JoLayne's Lotto ticket comes up a winner. And so does Bode and Chub's. They're due to share a $28 million jackpot. But the two rednecks can't stand sharing, so they resolve to rob JoLayne's. Take it from there. Carl Hiaasen did. And we're all the richer for it.
Incidentally, Carl Hiaasen may have a ringside seat to the decline of local journalism, but you'll look in vain for any signs in his writing to the decline of American humor.
July 20, 2023
Perfect beach read! Action, humor, multiple quirky side characters. The way he uses stereotypes with just a bit of a twist has to be my favorite part of his stories.
June 8, 2020
I truly enjoy Hiaasen. He’s written many books, but they’re all different from each other. Similar settings (Florida), but different quirky characters in the oddest of situations.
But as quirky or odd as they may seem, it all rings true.
People are basically weird, and so is life.
Especially in Florida.
Will certainly read another Hiaasen before the summer is over.
But as quirky or odd as they may seem, it all rings true.
People are basically weird, and so is life.
Especially in Florida.
Will certainly read another Hiaasen before the summer is over.
May 6, 2024
I have never read a Carl Hiaason book and I feel cheated! I don't even remember how Lucky You ended up on my radar but looking for something new to listen to, I noticed this book was on my TBR and downloaded without knowing anything...not even that it was published back in 1991! I was in the 8th grade in 1991 and boy did this book feel familiar.
Plenty of people have broken this book down so in a tiny nutshell, a young black vet, named JoLayne Lucks, from a quirky town in Florida wins the lottery worth $28 million! Unfortunately, two of the most redneck, white supremist morons also pick the winning numbers and instead of being satisfied with $14 million, they decided to go after JoLayne's ticket. What follows is an absolute train wreck of a story that made me laugh out loud more than any book I have ever listened to or read, ever.
I absolutely loved this book. I loved the writing, the humor and the incredible wit of the author as well as the talented reading by George Newbern. It been 33 years since publication and I have loved listening to plenty of other books, over the years, by George so it was nice to hear his familiar voice reading to me from decades ago.
Lucky You has some of the weirdest, outlandish, funniest, also the most immoral and sh*ttiest characters found in Florida. I hope I don't get crucified but it was seriously refreshing reading a book written pre-politically correct and before the country went "woke." Not that it's all bad, a lot of things are better but this was an ode to times past for sure and like I said, just felt familiar.
While this book is funny as all get out, it carries a very serious undercurrent within the pages. Racism, anti-semitism, bigotry and sexism are all over this book. The language is raw and the subject matter cringe and tough at times. It is the perfect way to TEACH others about really bad behavior and who you DO NOT want to be like.
Certainly not like Bodean Gazzer and Onus "Chub" Gillespie. Amber, who they kidnap, on the other hand, is a winner. Tom Krome is a flawed but excellent leading man, Shiner ends up shining in the end, sort of, Mary Andrea (Tom's ex who refuses to divorce him is hilarious, the ex girlfriend Katie has the biggest mouth on the planet but at least she isn't crooked like her husband, the local judge. The cast of many characters from the over zealous religious townsfolk to the manager of the newspaper, Sinclair, and beyond are stellar. JUST SO GOOD!
Rated: R-Language (crude, foul, disturbing and racist), sex, discussion of rape
Plenty of people have broken this book down so in a tiny nutshell, a young black vet, named JoLayne Lucks, from a quirky town in Florida wins the lottery worth $28 million! Unfortunately, two of the most redneck, white supremist morons also pick the winning numbers and instead of being satisfied with $14 million, they decided to go after JoLayne's ticket. What follows is an absolute train wreck of a story that made me laugh out loud more than any book I have ever listened to or read, ever.
I absolutely loved this book. I loved the writing, the humor and the incredible wit of the author as well as the talented reading by George Newbern. It been 33 years since publication and I have loved listening to plenty of other books, over the years, by George so it was nice to hear his familiar voice reading to me from decades ago.
Lucky You has some of the weirdest, outlandish, funniest, also the most immoral and sh*ttiest characters found in Florida. I hope I don't get crucified but it was seriously refreshing reading a book written pre-politically correct and before the country went "woke." Not that it's all bad, a lot of things are better but this was an ode to times past for sure and like I said, just felt familiar.
While this book is funny as all get out, it carries a very serious undercurrent within the pages. Racism, anti-semitism, bigotry and sexism are all over this book. The language is raw and the subject matter cringe and tough at times. It is the perfect way to TEACH others about really bad behavior and who you DO NOT want to be like.
Certainly not like Bodean Gazzer and Onus "Chub" Gillespie. Amber, who they kidnap, on the other hand, is a winner. Tom Krome is a flawed but excellent leading man, Shiner ends up shining in the end, sort of, Mary Andrea (Tom's ex who refuses to divorce him is hilarious, the ex girlfriend Katie has the biggest mouth on the planet but at least she isn't crooked like her husband, the local judge. The cast of many characters from the over zealous religious townsfolk to the manager of the newspaper, Sinclair, and beyond are stellar. JUST SO GOOD!
Rated: R-Language (crude, foul, disturbing and racist), sex, discussion of rape
May 3, 2020
Review on my blog this Tuesday... on GR soon!
Definitely recommended to get you out of the COVID dumps!
Definitely recommended to get you out of the COVID dumps!
December 31, 2020
I grabbed this book because I wanted something lighthearted and easy to read. For the most part, it met that expectation. It’s very inventive and clever, with some memorable scenes like a deranged newspaper editor using his cheesy alliterative headlines to speak in tongues at a tacky religious shrine, a woman in a wedding dress making out with a road stain, or a goon getting his hand gobbled up by a hungry crab.
That said, this book probably hits a bit different in 2020. While it’s supposed to be amusing to watch the idiotic white supremacists blunder about and spout ignorance, it’s hard to ignore the fact that people like this now have much more influence in our national dialogue and that their insane conspiracy theories are given actual credence by a substantial number of citizens and “media” outlets. Plus there are two incidences of horrific violence against women used as plot devices and then sort of glossed over to make way for more comedy. While the book features two strong female characters (one is a Hooters waitress!), one of them, the heroine, pretty much lets a man she just met take over her personal mission and call all the shots. Even though it comes from the mouth of a villain, the use of the N word is jarring to me, and there’s some awkward banter about race between the two main characters.
Aside from the above caveats, I enjoyed the book, its zany characters and convoluted plot.
That said, this book probably hits a bit different in 2020. While it’s supposed to be amusing to watch the idiotic white supremacists blunder about and spout ignorance, it’s hard to ignore the fact that people like this now have much more influence in our national dialogue and that their insane conspiracy theories are given actual credence by a substantial number of citizens and “media” outlets. Plus there are two incidences of horrific violence against women used as plot devices and then sort of glossed over to make way for more comedy. While the book features two strong female characters (one is a Hooters waitress!), one of them, the heroine, pretty much lets a man she just met take over her personal mission and call all the shots. Even though it comes from the mouth of a villain, the use of the N word is jarring to me, and there’s some awkward banter about race between the two main characters.
Aside from the above caveats, I enjoyed the book, its zany characters and convoluted plot.
January 2, 2017
In keeping with Hiaasen's custom of putting forward the most outrageous low-lifes as his hapless villains, this book is right up to par.
The only part that gave me pause was his Hooters waitress heroine who, when confronted with an impending rape, maintains her cool in her plucky way; somewhat unrealistic, but I suppose it is either his tribute to courageous potential of women, or else it is his cluelessness in the face of how some women might experience trauma.
Still, I do depend on Hiaasen's books for comic relief; their sheer outrageousness always takes my mind off the more burdensome aspects of Life.
The only part that gave me pause was his Hooters waitress heroine who, when confronted with an impending rape, maintains her cool in her plucky way; somewhat unrealistic, but I suppose it is either his tribute to courageous potential of women, or else it is his cluelessness in the face of how some women might experience trauma.
Still, I do depend on Hiaasen's books for comic relief; their sheer outrageousness always takes my mind off the more burdensome aspects of Life.
May 28, 2012
A $28 million lottery. An African American woman wins half of it and proposes to use her winnings to save a wildlife refuge from developers. Two white would-be militia members (remember militias? They're still out there, while Bin Laden is not!)win half of it and steal her winning ticket so they can use all of it to fund their racist activities...if they can ever stop sniffling glue and posturing. And a reporter whose death has been greatly exaggerated. These are just some of the ingredients in this crazy stew of a book.
September 22, 2008
This book borders on ridiculous which makes it funny. It has so many inappropriate things happen with his white trash characters that you honestly laugh out loud on occasion.
November 3, 2023
Audio read this time while creating an acrylic painting. It was very entertaining with its dark humor and dry wit. Loved this book the second time around.
September 14, 2021
JoLayne Lucks, a veterinarian assistant, wins half a lotto number, meaning she will get $15 million dollars. At last she expects to realize her dream of saving a tract of woods from being paved over to become a mall. Not that a mall would benefit a town too small to make it practical. The little town of Grange has a renown source of income from hilariously fake religious displays that bring in pilgrims by the busload.
The other half of the lotto prize goes to a couple of white nationalists who want to start their own militia. Dissatisfied with $15 million, they steal JoLayne's ticket. Not before she puts up a fight with her long fingernails.
A reporter, assumed to be dead, teams up with her to track down the miscreants and retrieve her ticket.
Plots and subplots connect us to a cast of wacky characters, some endearing and some sleazy. The lotto thieves have their dreams and their self-imposed nightmares, especially when they come up against JoLayne and the very undead reporter.
Amusing twists bring surprises as the author exposes the fate of several main and not so main characters.
I delighted in JoLayne's feistiness and the baby turtles she sought to save. I liked the relationship between her and the reporter, and I liked the quirky characters who were harmless. And I couldn't help being amused at the how the white nationalists kept messing up. Definitely a fun read, particularly when a wooded area needed to be saved.
The other half of the lotto prize goes to a couple of white nationalists who want to start their own militia. Dissatisfied with $15 million, they steal JoLayne's ticket. Not before she puts up a fight with her long fingernails.
A reporter, assumed to be dead, teams up with her to track down the miscreants and retrieve her ticket.
Plots and subplots connect us to a cast of wacky characters, some endearing and some sleazy. The lotto thieves have their dreams and their self-imposed nightmares, especially when they come up against JoLayne and the very undead reporter.
Amusing twists bring surprises as the author exposes the fate of several main and not so main characters.
I delighted in JoLayne's feistiness and the baby turtles she sought to save. I liked the relationship between her and the reporter, and I liked the quirky characters who were harmless. And I couldn't help being amused at the how the white nationalists kept messing up. Definitely a fun read, particularly when a wooded area needed to be saved.
October 1, 2023
Lucky You had quite the cast of unlikely and quirky characters: JoLayne, the lottery winner with an environmentalist's heart; Tom Thorn, the irreverent almost famous newspaper reporter; his wife who won't divorce him no matter how much he tries; the three wannabe survivalists who are greedy and very stupid; the assorted Grange residents with a crying Virgin scheme and an oil stain that forms the image of Jesus. That's almost all of them, but not quite. There's a judge who is anything but honorable, his wife who wants justice and sets out to get it, and girl from Hooters who has more going for her than a great body.
It's a mad romp from start to finish, and you have to find out who comes out ahead.
It's a mad romp from start to finish, and you have to find out who comes out ahead.
June 2, 2021
Off-beat and hilarious, this read is entertaining to the end.
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