The Winner
by David Baldacci
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Book Summary Information
Author: David BaldacciEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-12-01
ISBN: 0446606324
Number of pages: 656
Publisher: Vision
Book Reviews of The Winner
Book Review: The Winner...is a winner
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book about 5 years ago, and then again recently. I had forgotten enough that the re-read felt like I was reading it for the first time. And as I re-read it, I remembered why I had liked it so much.
In short, Baldacci gives us both a fantastic protagonist and an equally fantastic antagonist in this story. He delivers an excellent thriller with a highly imaginative, highly original plot. It's all the right ingredients for a best-selling page turner.
Our heroine, LuAnn Tyler, is poor white trash but with supermodel looks, tomboy athletic prowess, and never-say-die tenacity. A single mom barely out of her teens, LuAnn works nights waitressing at the local truck stop to make ends meet for her and her infant daughter. She dreams of giving a better life to her daughter, but with no money, no education, and no prospects, it appears that LuAnn's life is destined to be nothing more than unrealized dreams in a shabby trailer at the end of a shabby dirt road.
But all of that could change in the blink of an eye as LuAnn stumbles across a remarkable opportunity when she goes to interview for a job at the local mall: a man who never reveals his identity explains to LuAnn that he has rigged the national lottery and offers to give her a winning ticket. However, there's a catch - she must leave the USA and never return while the mystery man invests her millions for her.
Fast forward 10 years. Now we find our protagonist fabulously wealthy, fabulously educated, fabulously refined, and still fabulously beautiful, but fabulously unfulfilled as well. LuAnn is profoundly weary of living as a quasi-recluse in countries not her own - and ultimately ashamed of the facade she's constructed to shield her daughter from her mother's true origins.
LuAnn breaks her promise, sneaking back to the USA - only to find out that her return wasn't as secret as she hoped. Now, the one man she hoped would never find out - Mr. Lottery - is hunting her in deadly earnest to keep his secret concealed.
Baldacci pits this not-so-country bumpkin against a refined killer - a killer with the intelligence to rig the lottery and remain undetected while amassing his own private fortune investing the winnings of LuAnn and his other "clients." It makes for a terrific story and Baldacci tells it with skill, building to a satisfying climax and satisfying conclusion.
It's a great read, and although it's cliche, be forwarned: you really will have a hard time putting this one down.
Summary of The Winner
THE DREAMShe is twenty, beautiful, dirt-poor, and hoping for a better life for her infant daughter when LuAnn Tyler is offered the gift of a lifetime, a $100 million lottery jackpot. All she has to do is change her identity and leave the U.S. forever.
THE KILLER
It's an offer she dares to refuse...until violence forces her hand and thrusts her into a harrowing game of high-stakes, big-money subterfuge. It's a price she won't fully pay...until she does the unthinkable and breaks the promise that made her rich.
THE WINNER
For if LuAnn Tyler comes home, she will be pitted against the deadliest contestant of all: the chameleonlike financial mastermind who changed her life. And who can take it away at will...
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