the winner

Beginning of July we visited Chennai. The trip was hectic and at the same time quite relaxed. As I was leaving, I picked up the camel club by David Baldacci from my cousin's bookshelf. My SIL offered me another book, the winner, by the same author and so I was all smiles. However, it was only last week when I actually started on the winner because I was keen on finishing The Reversal. I have not read any other book by this author and the fact that the book was recommended by my SIL was an added plus.

The winner is interesting. The story is about an evil genius, Jackson, who carefully chooses 12 people who will ultimately win the government-sponsored lottery for a particular year. He plans to use their money to get what he wants. He fixes the lottery so that his chosen 12 win. Of the 12 people he chooses, LuAnn is the weakest link as well as his nemesis. LuAnn and her baby, Lisa, stay away from the US of A for 10 long years, as instructed by Jackson. This is easy for LuAnn because she is wanted for murder in the US of A. Meanwhile, a reporter is writing a story on how lottery winners usually end up bankrupt and he finds that 12 winners (Jackson's 12) have surprisingly kept bankruptcy at bay and are quite wealthy. This makes him wonder if they had some help. Amidst all this, LuAnn returns to the US of A under an assumed name, Catherine Savage, and purchases a huge property to settle down after years of looking over her shoulder. The reporter makes the connection and realizes that Catherine Savage and LuAnn Tyler are one and the same.

The premise is interesting but it ends quite tamely. Some portions defy logic and no effort has been taken to develop the secondary characters and so mid-way, it gets to be a general rom-com with some action thrown in. Otherwise, it is a good read.