Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard (2010), 500 pages
Description
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 Hooters waitress. The climax explodes with the hilarious mayhem that is Carl Hiaasen's hallmark. Lucky You is his funniest, most deliriously gripping novel yet.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Tasker
This book has a better-than average, Hiassen collection of goofy characters that cause frequent bouts of head-shaking and grinning during its read. It's amazing how dumb some characters can be (Bode and Chub) and how deceptively-smart others can be (JoLayne).
There is critical agreement on the high
There is critical agreement on the high
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quality of Elmore Leonard's dialogue but I feel Mr. Hiassen's is a close second. Show Less
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
I figured that since I live in Florida now, I've got to read some Carl Hiaasen. I may have read one or two of his books in the part, but I really can't remember, and it would have been years ago.
As expected, this one goes over the top, but I could accept that here. The book is very funny. Jo Layne,
Along the way, we meet lots of other exotic characters: the town of Grange is on the tourist route for Christian fundamentalists, so we meet a man and his wife who maintain a weeping Madonna in their front yard, perfumed tears and all. There's the woman who maintains the image of Christ which miraculously appeared on the highway from oil drippings. There's the man who maintains the "stigmata" on his palms with Crisco, and the newspaper editor who falls under the spell of the cooters and starts talking in tongues. The "straight" character, a newspaper reporter along for the ride to help Jo Layne has his house firebombed by the corrupt judge whose wife he was having an affair with. And along the way, Bode and Chubb, to their great detriment, fall in love with a Hooter's waitress, and decide to kidnap here and take her along for the ride. She turns out to be another woman, like Jo Layne, they didn't reckon on being aeons smarter than them.
This was laugh out loud funny. I wouldn't want a steady diet of Carl Hiaasen, but I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Recommended.
3 stars
As expected, this one goes over the top, but I could accept that here. The book is very funny. Jo Layne,
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a black veterinarian assistant has won the lottery with a $28 million jackpot. There's a second winning ticket as well, but Jo Layne doesn't mind because $14 million is plenty for what she wants to do, which is purchase a small plot of undeveloped land and leave it as a nature preserve for the animals, particularly turtles, or cooters. Unfortunately, the second winning ticket is held by Bode and Chubb, two lowlifes, and they want it all. They are White Nationalists, and want to establish a militia to protect the white people when NATO invades from the Bahamas. (They are even stupider than they sound here). So Bode and Chubb head to Grange Florida, beat up Jo Layne, and steal her ticket. Unfortunately for them, they didn't know who they were dealing with in Jo Layne, and she takes off after them to retrieve her winning ticket.Along the way, we meet lots of other exotic characters: the town of Grange is on the tourist route for Christian fundamentalists, so we meet a man and his wife who maintain a weeping Madonna in their front yard, perfumed tears and all. There's the woman who maintains the image of Christ which miraculously appeared on the highway from oil drippings. There's the man who maintains the "stigmata" on his palms with Crisco, and the newspaper editor who falls under the spell of the cooters and starts talking in tongues. The "straight" character, a newspaper reporter along for the ride to help Jo Layne has his house firebombed by the corrupt judge whose wife he was having an affair with. And along the way, Bode and Chubb, to their great detriment, fall in love with a Hooter's waitress, and decide to kidnap here and take her along for the ride. She turns out to be another woman, like Jo Layne, they didn't reckon on being aeons smarter than them.
This was laugh out loud funny. I wouldn't want a steady diet of Carl Hiaasen, but I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Recommended.
3 stars
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LibraryThing member ctfrench
Grange, Florida is a small, out-of-the-way community known for its religious miracles, from the weeping Madonna to the stigmata man with holes in his palms that do not heal. Not to mention the road stain in the form of Jesus and the woman who visits every day in her wedding dress. And now, one of
The other half of the lottery winnings belong to Bode Grazzer, a short man convinced NATO forces are lining up in the Bahamas ready to invade America, and his sidekick Chub, a paint-sniffing wannabe mercenary. Chub and Bode, needing money to begin their own supremacist organization so they can defend the white man when America is invaded, decide to steal the other lottery ticket. They break into JoLayne’s home, beat her up and take off with the ticket. On the way to the lottery office, they recruit a convenience store clerk known for his lack of cognitive abilities and take hostage a Hooters waitress Chub has fallen in love with.
To JoLayne’s aid comes Tom Krome, an embittered former investigative reporter now working for a small newspaper covering social events. Tom’s editor sends him to Grange to write a story about the lottery winner, but before he even pulls out his notepad, Tom finds himself in cahoots with JoLayne and hot on the trail of Bode and Chub. All six end up on a small island in Florida Bay, where a confrontation develops over the two lottery tickets and where two will remain behind forever.
Carl Hiaasen is a master at developing wacky characters and zany plots and dialogue that will leave the reader in stitches throughout the entire book. This is a book all readers will enjoy as they follow the madcap antics of these screwball characters.
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their own, JoLayne Lucks, has won one-half of the state’s lottery of $28 million. JoLayne works part-time as a veterinarian’s assistant and plans to use her lottery winnings to buy and maintain wooded acreage in danger of being developed into a shopping mall. The other half of the lottery winnings belong to Bode Grazzer, a short man convinced NATO forces are lining up in the Bahamas ready to invade America, and his sidekick Chub, a paint-sniffing wannabe mercenary. Chub and Bode, needing money to begin their own supremacist organization so they can defend the white man when America is invaded, decide to steal the other lottery ticket. They break into JoLayne’s home, beat her up and take off with the ticket. On the way to the lottery office, they recruit a convenience store clerk known for his lack of cognitive abilities and take hostage a Hooters waitress Chub has fallen in love with.
To JoLayne’s aid comes Tom Krome, an embittered former investigative reporter now working for a small newspaper covering social events. Tom’s editor sends him to Grange to write a story about the lottery winner, but before he even pulls out his notepad, Tom finds himself in cahoots with JoLayne and hot on the trail of Bode and Chub. All six end up on a small island in Florida Bay, where a confrontation develops over the two lottery tickets and where two will remain behind forever.
Carl Hiaasen is a master at developing wacky characters and zany plots and dialogue that will leave the reader in stitches throughout the entire book. This is a book all readers will enjoy as they follow the madcap antics of these screwball characters.
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LibraryThing member CarolO
One of my favorite Hiaasen books…so far.
Ya gotta love a story about a lottery winner who plays the same numbers every week, each number representing “an age at which she had jettisoned a burdensome man.”
As usual there are the quirky characters, multiple converging plots, and more then a few
Ya gotta love a story about a lottery winner who plays the same numbers every week, each number representing “an age at which she had jettisoned a burdensome man.”
As usual there are the quirky characters, multiple converging plots, and more then a few
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pointed jabs. Show Less
LibraryThing member Djupstrom
Hiaasen is a funny author that doesn't solely rely on his jokes. He has well-developed characters and interesting, yet amusing, plot twists.
LibraryThing member madamejeanie
Grange is a small south Florida town, famous for it's religious shrines and
fanatics, like the Weeping Virgin Mother (with twice daily performances for
the pilgrims) and the Oil Stain Jesus out on the county blacktop. But
nothing much newsworthy ever happens there until one fateful Saturday night.
JoLayne Lucks is the beautiful black vet's assistant who plays the same six
numbers every week in the state lottery and on this particular Saturday
realizes that she has one of two winning lottery tickets each worth a cool
$14 million. Her dream is to spend it rescuing a local plot of swampland
from a strip mall developer. Bodean Gazzer and his redneck buddy, Chubb, are
the founding members of a home-grown White Supremacy militia they've called
The White Clarion Aryans, and this unlikely pair hold the other winning
ticket, and they 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 heavily armed paratroopers coming
in from the Bahamas. In a burst of uncharacteristic deductive reasoning,
they figure out who has the other ticket and drive down from the Tampa Bay
area to steal it. They break in and beat JoLayne and steal her ticket, but
before they can cash it she mounts a hot pursuit with the help of local
journalist Tom Krome. As they chase Bode, Chubb and a kidnapped Hooter's
waitress through the swamps and sleazy dives, dodging bullets and local
religious fanatics, Tom and JoLayne leave a wake of mayhem and hilarity.
I just love Hiaasen's books. There's nothing quite like them for pure
unadulterated escapism. The descriptions of the ridiculous bad guys, the
completely cockamamie ideas and unlikely outcomes never fail to entertain
me. I've read nearly all of his books and I have to admit that I'd be hard
pressed to try to pick a favorite, they are all just so delicious. This one
cracked me up several times, drawing stares from my family. Nobody writes
a more satisfying end to such wonderful tales as Hiaasen. This one gets a
high 5.
fanatics, like the Weeping Virgin Mother (with twice daily performances for
the pilgrims) and the Oil Stain Jesus out on the county blacktop. But
nothing much newsworthy ever happens there until one fateful Saturday night.
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JoLayne Lucks is the beautiful black vet's assistant who plays the same six
numbers every week in the state lottery and on this particular Saturday
realizes that she has one of two winning lottery tickets each worth a cool
$14 million. Her dream is to spend it rescuing a local plot of swampland
from a strip mall developer. Bodean Gazzer and his redneck buddy, Chubb, are
the founding members of a home-grown White Supremacy militia they've called
The White Clarion Aryans, and this unlikely pair hold the other winning
ticket, and they 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 heavily armed paratroopers coming
in from the Bahamas. In a burst of uncharacteristic deductive reasoning,
they figure out who has the other ticket and drive down from the Tampa Bay
area to steal it. They break in and beat JoLayne and steal her ticket, but
before they can cash it she mounts a hot pursuit with the help of local
journalist Tom Krome. As they chase Bode, Chubb and a kidnapped Hooter's
waitress through the swamps and sleazy dives, dodging bullets and local
religious fanatics, Tom and JoLayne leave a wake of mayhem and hilarity.
I just love Hiaasen's books. There's nothing quite like them for pure
unadulterated escapism. The descriptions of the ridiculous bad guys, the
completely cockamamie ideas and unlikely outcomes never fail to entertain
me. I've read nearly all of his books and I have to admit that I'd be hard
pressed to try to pick a favorite, they are all just so delicious. This one
cracked me up several times, drawing stares from my family. Nobody writes
a more satisfying end to such wonderful tales as Hiaasen. This one gets a
high 5.
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LibraryThing member miyurose
Hiaasen has a real knack for writing about the dregs of society. His characters seem impossibly colorful, but if you're a reader of Fark, you know that in Florida this plot is completely plausible. I love Hiaasen's matter-of-fact satire. Though I have to say I kinda thought the Hooter's girl
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deserved the second lottery ticket. Show Less
LibraryThing member SonicQuack
This is Hiaason on top form: Ruthless and inept criminals, passion and love gone awry, religious nuts and turtles that look like the Apostles. No other writer can pull off humourous crime takes like Hiaason. The plot it clever, with a spread of characters whose stories weave together to create
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mayhem in Florida. The underlying message is, as usual, a basic good vs. evil tale, but there is no shortage of new and clever material. This is a book which you feel could be wrapped up at just about any chapter, but you can see there are plenty of pages left - and that's great news. The characters are offbeat but likable, the bad guys awfully dumb and equally despicable. Great writing. A fun and enjoyable read which is highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member vwbernie
Rarely have I found an author that has made me laugh out loud so many times in one book. Hiaasen has done that for me in the books of his I have read. I love his wit and dry humor. This is a great story about two lottery ticket winners in Florida. One is a young black woman that works in a vet's
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office and loves animals (keeps an aquarium full of 45 baby turtles that she saved) and the other is a redneck, white supremacist that doesn't feel like sharing the $28 mil., especially with a "negro". Thus begins the story of his search for JoLayne and her ticket. Along the road we meet a sexy newspaper journalist, his wife that refuses to divorce him because she might look bad, the religious fanatics that relieve the tourists of their money with weeping Mary idols and oil stains in the form of Jesus Christ, a Hooters waitress and many more hilarious characters. If you like a good laugh and a little mystery, give this one a shot. Show Less
LibraryThing member andyray
Maybe it is just because this is the sixth Hiaasen novel I've read in half a year, but I didn't get as much from this asI have the otters. Per usual, the plotting and characterization is good, but the characters could interweave with tghe same shallowness of those in his other books. And CH's
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snobbery about the soiuth's "white trash" or "rednecks" is quite evident here. By the time I got to the end (which I cheered onwards to happen, I didn't reallyh care who had the winning $14 million lottery tickets. Show Less
LibraryThing member verenka
Typical Carl Hiaasen. Which, in this case, is good! Only towards the end, during the showdown I had the impression he's running out of ideas for his stupid bad guys.
LibraryThing member elliezann
I'm always delighted to read another Carl Hiaasen and this book is delightful.
JoLayne Lucks wins the lottery and dreams of saving land destined to become a jungle ruin in mid-Florida. However, before she can collect her winnings, two men brutally beat her up and take the ticket. Enlisting the aid
Zany characters in a Bible-Belt town where all sorts of human-derived "miracles" happen, Hiaasen again reminds us that Florida needs saving. He does this in a witty,humorous style that keeps the reader entertained as well as enlightened. Fans will not be disappointed and new readers will have found a new friend.
JoLayne Lucks wins the lottery and dreams of saving land destined to become a jungle ruin in mid-Florida. However, before she can collect her winnings, two men brutally beat her up and take the ticket. Enlisting the aid
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of a has-been reporter and a Federal agent, JoLayne hunts the men down.Zany characters in a Bible-Belt town where all sorts of human-derived "miracles" happen, Hiaasen again reminds us that Florida needs saving. He does this in a witty,humorous style that keeps the reader entertained as well as enlightened. Fans will not be disappointed and new readers will have found a new friend.
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LibraryThing member hamiltonpam
Hiaasen is a great read, his characters are quircky & outrageous. enjoyed
LibraryThing member hrissliss
For my first Hiaasen book, I was disappointed. He's always been extolled to me as a great, hilarius writer, incisive wit, biting prose, blahblahblah. Don't get me wrong - the book was funny, and had some rather accurate depictions of the more 'special' classes of people inhabiting the backwaters of
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south Florida -- it just wasn't as good as I'd expected. Though it was quite grand to see my own home city lambasted in such a special way. He explored racism, land development and conservation, ecology (and the miseries of inexperienced camping), prevalence of crime, the media...quite broad-ranging, and quite fun. My favorite scenes were the ones where the antagonists (Chub and Bode, the white supremacists) somehow manuever their way into blaming their stupendous failures on the oppresion of white males in our society. Hiaasen definitely has his own style. And a vicious hatred for idiocy. 6.5/10 Show Less
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Another riot of a book this time it's about a winning lottery ticket. Actually two winning lottery tickets. JoLayne Lucks uses the numbers that corespond to the age she dumped a tiresome lover, every week, this time they're lucky for her. She's the winner of 14million, half of the 28 million
Tom is the reporter assigned to do a puff piece on her, just before he leaves his lover's husband has his house shot up, so there's really nothing for him to go back to.
A fun romp and better, for me at least, than Stormy weather, but quite similar in feel. Hiaasen has no patience with fools and it shows.
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jackpot. Problem is that shes known because she lives in a small community and the racist idiots who won the other half want the rest.Tom is the reporter assigned to do a puff piece on her, just before he leaves his lover's husband has his house shot up, so there's really nothing for him to go back to.
A fun romp and better, for me at least, than Stormy weather, but quite similar in feel. Hiaasen has no patience with fools and it shows.
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LibraryThing member AliceAnna
Not one of his best books. I guess I just miss Skink! I think what made it a little less enjoyable for me was that, although the characters were pretty wacky, they were closer to reality than most of his books. He goes from full-fledged farce in his other books to exaggerated reality in this one.
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Still a good read though. Show Less
LibraryThing member BookConcierge
Two redneck felons from Miami win the Florida Lotto, but so does a quiet black woman from a small town known for its religious shrines. The men figure they shouldn't have to share their prize, especially with a Negro, and so they set out to steal her ticket. But JoLayne Lucks isn’t taking this
This is Hiaasen at his best. The novel is full of quirky (or downright insane) characters – a man who drills his own stigmata in order to get donations from the faithful, a woman who is “married” to the oil stain on the highway that looks “just like Jesus,” an assistant managing editor who begins speaking in tongues when he encounters a dozen baby turtles near a “weeping” statue of the Virgin Mary. And these are the good guys!
Throw in a little love interest, more than a few guns, the help of a mysterious federal agent, three co-conspirators who haven’t one brain between them, and two women who are far smarter than the criminals, and you have a recipe for a fast, enjoyable romp through the Florida landscape.
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injustice lying down. She has a noble purpose in mind for her share of the winnings and she’s not about to let those scumbags destroy her dream. With the help of a reporter who has lost his interest in features writing, she sets out to track the felons down and retrieve what is rightfully hers. This is Hiaasen at his best. The novel is full of quirky (or downright insane) characters – a man who drills his own stigmata in order to get donations from the faithful, a woman who is “married” to the oil stain on the highway that looks “just like Jesus,” an assistant managing editor who begins speaking in tongues when he encounters a dozen baby turtles near a “weeping” statue of the Virgin Mary. And these are the good guys!
Throw in a little love interest, more than a few guns, the help of a mysterious federal agent, three co-conspirators who haven’t one brain between them, and two women who are far smarter than the criminals, and you have a recipe for a fast, enjoyable romp through the Florida landscape.
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LibraryThing member MaureenCean
This may sound a little silly, but the villains were just too yucky to be enjoyable. Very unlikeable jerks. I guess I mean they weren't funny...had just read Sick Puppy as well, and the bad guys were much more palatable!
LibraryThing member Bruce_Deming
funny lark of a book
LibraryThing member anglophile65
I do enjoy Carl Hiassen's style and wit. I couldn't read all of them back to back, but when I want to take a break from my norm-mysteries, I truly enjoy them. They are laugh out loud funny. There are always the criminals-portrayed is stupid, doing idiotic stunts.
LibraryThing member repb
I felt the story went on way too long. Way. Lots of moronic nonsense for which he is well known. Some very funny parts, of course, but a bit too dark for my tastes ... and the language was very bad. Unnecessarily bad!
LibraryThing member mrgan
Fun, easy to read thriller that almost requires a familiarity with Florida's settings and characters.
LibraryThing member susandennis
The staff at my bookshop are wonderful people. They fully understand (and share) my addiction to Hiaasen. So when they got a bound manuscript of his newest book (coming out this Fall), they let me have a turn at it. It's kind of strange to read a bound manuscript - it's sooo big and it's double
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spaced typing. But, Hiaasen has, of course, done it again. This time two people win a $28 million lottery. One of them plans to use her money to save a piece of Florida from developers. The other winner plans to also have the first one's winnings... His $14 million doesn't seem like enough when he thinks he can double it. It's pure Hiaasen. Show Less
LibraryThing member Picathartes
"Lucky You" is a very good book, and great through most of it. I was a bit turned off by the excessive "miracles" and white supremacists parts of the story; those were near-novellas in themselves. There were many other characters and sides to the story that were handled with much less
Hiaasen does a tremendous job though portraying all the nutcases in the US and particularly Florida, no shortage of material when they constitute half the population of the former and an even greater percentage of the latter. The good, the bad, and the oh-so very ugly, he will make you laugh when really you should be crying.
Recommended reading.
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material.Hiaasen does a tremendous job though portraying all the nutcases in the US and particularly Florida, no shortage of material when they constitute half the population of the former and an even greater percentage of the latter. The good, the bad, and the oh-so very ugly, he will make you laugh when really you should be crying.
Recommended reading.
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LibraryThing member carolfoisset
I enjoy a good Hiassen book, and this was one of my favorites. I read Hiassen. when I need something funny and creative and this one really hit the spot.
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1997
ISBN
9780307767431