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Overview
Grange, Florida, is famous for its miracles—the weeping fiberglass Madonna, the Road-Stain Jesus, the stigmata man. And now it has JoLayne Lucks, unlikely winner of the state lottery.Unfortunately, JoLayne's winning ticket isn't the only one. The other belongs to Bodean Gazzer and his raunchy sidekick, Chub, who believe they're entitled to the whole $28 million jackpot. And they need it quickly, to start their own underground militia before NATO troops invade America.
But JoLayne Lucks has her own plans for the Lotto money—an Eden-like forest in Grange must be saved from strip-malling. When Bode and Chub brutally assault her and steal her ticket, JoLayne vows to track them down, take it back—and get revenge.
The only one who can help is Tom Krome, a big-city investigative journalist now bitterly consigned to writing frothy features for a midsized central Florida newspaper. With a persuasive nudge from JoLayne, Krome is about to become part of a story that's bigger and more bizarre than anything he's ever covered.
Chasing two heavily armed psychopaths down the coast of Florida is reckless enough, but Tom's got other problems—the murderous attention of a jealous judge; an actress wife who turns fugitive to avoid divorce court; an editor who speaks in tongues; and Tom's own growing fondness for the future millionairess with whom he's risking his neck.
The pursuit takes them from the surreal streets of Grange to a buzzard-infested island deep in Florida Bay, where they finally catch up with the fledgling militia—Chub, Bode Gazzer, a newly recruited convenience-store clerk and their baffled hostage, a Hooterswaitress.
The climax explodes with the hilarious mayhem that is Carl Hiaasen's hallmark. Lucky You is his funniest, most deliriously gripping novel yet.
Synopsis
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"Witty...colorful...entertaining." - New York Times Book Review
JoLayne Lucks lives in a town infamous for its suspicious miracles, but she's still elated when her lottery numbers finally pay off big-$28 million, to be exact. And she has great plans for her fortune: to save a rare piece of Florida paradise from the bulldozers. Only one problem: There's another winning Lotto ticket, and the people who've got it just never learned how to share. When the two militia wannabes swipe JoLayne's ticket, she enlists an off-the-rails newspaperman to help her track down the trigger-happy creeps and their bewildered hostage, a Hooters waitress. Getting rich quick is never easy...
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Hiaasen is a total original. While many are now doing their best to emulate his wacky style, none give it the justice it deserves. Lucky You is one of my favorite Hiaasen's. The story of two completely ludicrous, despicable characters who win the Florida State lottery but have to split the pot with another lucky ticket holder. Well, sharing just ain't in these guy's vocabulary. A totally hilarious, irresistible good time.--Andrew LeCount
San Franciso Examiner
Lucky us -- one of the year's funniest books. Hiaasen is truly an American treasure.Entertainment Weekly
Sledge-hammer wackiness never flags in this amusing tropical freak show.Staff Newsday
Sophisticated...never less than completely entertaining.Newsday
Sophisticated. . .never less than completely entertaining.Chicago Tribune
Hilariously subversive. . .wonderfully entertaining. Trust me, you'll love it.Library Journal
JoLayne Lucks has one of two winning lottery tickets each worth a cool $14 million. She plans to spend it rescuing a local plot of swampland from a strip mall developer. The holders of the other winning ticket, however, are Bode Gazzer and his sidekick, Chubb, who want the whole $28 million. Afire with paramilitary fervor, Bode and Chubb need the cash to bankroll the start-up of the White Clarion Aryans before NATO takes over America with a handicapped parking sticker scam. They steal JoLayne's ticket, but before they can cash it she mounts a hot pursuit with the help of local journalist Tom Krome. As they chase Bode and Chubb through the swamps and sleazy dives, dodging bullets and local religious fanatics, Tom and JoLayne leave a wake of mayhem and hilarity. This is Hiaasen (Naked Came the Manatee) at his wacky besta steamy amalgam of raunch, righteousness, and riotous laughs. -- Susan Gene Clifford, Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CaliforniaKirkus Reviews
As soon as an informative headnote warns that 'there is no approved dental use for WD-40,' you can relax, knowing that you're in for several blissful hours in the hands of a master farceur whose subject this time is what passes in South Florida for providence. Even though she's confirmed the winning numbers on her Lotto ticket, placid veterinary assistant JoLayne Lucks refuses to give an interview to rolling-stone 'Register' features writer Tom Krome. Hoping to rescue the turtles of Simmons Wood from mob-backed development by buying the parcel out of her half of the $28 million jackpot, she doesn't see any point in telling the world she's rich. Then, suddenly, she isn't, because the holder of the other winning ticket, halfwit white supremacist Bodean Gazzer, decides to double his own payout by heisting her ticket. Bode and his sidekick Chub have their own public-spirited vision for the prize: arming the White Rebel Brotherhood (membership 2 and growing) in preparation for the U.N.-sponsored invasion of the U.S. via all those unused handicapped-parking spaces. Along with the obligatory romantic complications, Hiaasen provides an alarmingly comical parade of spiritual counterparts to the providential nostrum of the Florida lottery: the weeping fiberglass Madonna, the Road-Stain Jesus, the miraculous apostolic turtles who bring nirvana to the features editor sent to retrieve Krome after he takes off with JoLayne in pursuit of the Lotto thieves. Not even Hiaasen (Stormy Weather, 1995) can sustain this balancing act forever, and eventually it collapses like a house of cards. But for an impossibly long time, the whole wild sideshow seethes and boils with all the grinningvitality of a 'Have a Nice Day' poster reimagined by Hieronymous Bosch. Just when you think Hiaasen can't outdo himself, he finds more lunatics who just happen to tap into your deepest fears about America. Makes you wonder.Book Details
Published
October 1, 1998
Publisher
Grand Central Publishing
Pages
496
Format
Mass Market Paperback
ISBN
9780446604659