Carl Hiaasen - Lucky You

review by Ro Bennett live on show 20th Sept 2012 When I was reviewing the last Colin Cotterill book, Linda mentioned a review which compared the humourous style to that of Carl Hiaasen. I was intrigued by this, and, always on the look out for new authors I can enjoy I bought his book titled Lucky You. This is the story line: JoLayne Lucks wins the Florida State Lotto lottery - and so do two rednecks. The total amount is $28 million and the two thugs are not satisfied with having to share their lotto money with anyone else, and so they set out to find the person holding the other ticket! The rednecks, Bode and Chub, find out where JoLayne lives, beat her up badly and steal her ticket. JoLayne desperately needs the money to purchase a beautiful wooded area which is being sold for development. She wants to keep it in it’s natural state to protect the habitat for the resident wild life and so that she and others can continue to enjoy it. Tom Krome, a reporter is sent to interview JoLayne in her home town of Grange, Florida, where several ripoff artists are fleecing the gullible and religious with a weeping fibreglass Madonna, a road-stain depicting the face of Jesus and a man with self inflicted stigmata. JoLayne and Tom set out in a frantic attempt to track these vicious and heavily armed perpetrators and retrieve the ticket before they can cash it in. It’s a long book and with small print which I usually avoid like the plague and I couldn’t get it on Kindle - but it was an excellent read, well written and it had everything - cunning plot, suspense, drama, romance, humour, excellent dialogue and several interwoven strands which all come together in the end. Probably my favourite book for this year.