I Decided to Read Something Good on Weekend. How about the Lottery in Fiction?

They Won the Lottery. You Can Do It Too!

No matter how hard you try to win the lottery, you never do. People all around you can win–even if it is something small like $2 off of a scratch-off. Well, if you’re looking for some glimmer of hope that you may one day win the lottery, here are some lottery books that you may find interesting. Or at the very least a way to pass the time in between lotto drawings. Who knows, maybe the lucky numbers these fictional characters won off of, could be your lucky numbers too!

This TheLotter review has all the benefits of TheLotter you need to know

Lucky You by Carl Hiaasen

Although Lucky You was published in 1997, the story is reminiscent of things you may hear about in the news today. The book’s protagonist, Jolene Lucks, is a happy-go-lucky veteran’s assistant in the small town of Grange, Florida. JoLayne’s story takes off when she wins half of a $28 million lottery jackpot, but she treats the win so casually, the town and those who know her can barely tell she’s won anything. When it comes to her winnings, she plans on buying a plot of wilderness land and leaving it untouched for the local wild animals to live safely.

A local news reporter, Tom Krome, catches wind of JoLayne’s fortunes and so does a couple of redneck low-lives, who just so happen to be white supremacists, Bodean Gazzer and his friend Chub. The two redneck delinquents were the other winners of the same lotto. Being that JoLayne is black, Gazzer and Chub feel that she doesn’t deserve her half and take her winning ticket.

At the core of the story, we watch as JoLayne and Tom work to get her ticket back; but along the way, we are treated to the hijinks of holy turtles, Virgin complications, Tom’s wife who does anything to avoid being served divorce papers, a wanna-be supremacist, Shiner, who wants to follow in Gazzer and Chub’s footsteps, and a Hooters waitress who has the knack for creating a stir in her patrons pants.

The book is humorous and fast-paced. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

The Winner by David Baldacci

What would you do if someone approached you and guaranteed a winning lottery ticket worth $100 million, and to get that ticket, all you had to do was allow him access to your winnings? This is the premise of The Winner, and it is LuAnn Tyler, who has to make this decision.

LuAnn wants to get out of poverty and give a better life to her infant daughter. She decides to accept Mr. Jackson’s offer and wins those above $100 million. Things are great until LuAnn is implicated in a murder just before the drawing. To protect his secret, Jackson orders LuAnn to leave the country with her winnings and never come back—which she does for ten years. After living a life of wealth, the lonely LuAnn returns to a home she bought in Virginia. Jackson finds out about her return, and he is out for blood. To keep his secret, he sets out to silence LuAnn… Permanently.

As we read, insanity unfolds; the FBI and the White House are drawn in on the action. LuAnn goes through a personality shift from being the prey to being the hunter.

If you like page-turning, crime novels, you may enjoy this one. It’ll be sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Lottery by Patricia Wood

Perry Crandall isn’t the brightest crayon in the box, but that’s okay. If someone were to say that he was retarded, he would tell you that he isn’t. His gram often tells Perry that being slow isn’t bad and that he’ll get to where he needs to be on his own time. His gram teaches him valuable lessons in life and about the world, and how to value his instincts and abilities.

When his gram dies, Perry’s mother and siblings cheat him out of the house that gram left him. With the help of a few of his friends, Perry is able to settle into a new routine. He has a job and an apartment over his workplace. Part of that routine includes Perry going to a local shop and purchasing lottery tickets.

One of the tickets proves to be a winner, and Perry is thrust into a world where he is surrounded by fake people, wealth, and fame. When his family hears of Perry’s $12 million winnings, they plot to get their hands on his money. His friends quickly become equally as worrisome as they help him throw his money away on nonsense.

Perry grows tired of the chaos and pressure to sign power-of-attorney papers, and he makes an interesting decision that settles the looming question about his family and money.

This book is a page-turner and offers the right amount of “will he or won’t he” moments. Is it going to be a literary classic? Doubtful, but a good read nonetheless.

The Lottery Winner by Mary Higgins Clark

This book is more of a collection of stories than it is a full-on story. The book features six adventures featuring Alvirah Meehan, the maid who appeared in Clark’s other novel, Weep No More, My Lady, who won $40 million in the lottery.

The first story revolves around their going back home to New York City and centers on Alvirah’s nephew, Willy, who is arrested for the murder of an actress with whom he shared an apartment. The following stories follow the same formula—find crime, solve the crime. All made possible by a cleaning woman, her plumber husband, and $40 million sitting pretty in the bank.

Is this a good book? Eh, it’ll pass the time. Some of the antics are a bit drawn out and predictable, but they are possible.