Lucky You takes readers on a wild ride as it follows the escapades of two Florida rednecks. These two fellows have the good fortune to win the lottery, but their joy is short-lived when they discover they have to split the jackpot with another winner. In a rather harebrained scheme, they decide to attempt to steal the other winning ticket. What ensues is a hilarious romp filled with various absurdities. There are encounters with Hooters chicks, sightings of Jesus-shaped oil stains on highways, misadventures involving the unique wildlife of the Florida Keys, and some rather shady real estate deals.

I myself have had the experience of living in Florida for a decade. During that time, I was involved in running several businesses, including telemarketing companies and private armed security. This gave me an above-average understanding and exposure to the rather unique and sometimes crazy characters that inhabit the Sunshine State.

Most people who read Lucky You might think it's just a tall tale, with the characters being overly exaggerated. However, having lived in Florida, I can attest that I knew people just like those depicted in the book. Like many of Carl Hiaasen's novels that I've read, he does an outstanding job of capturing the essence of the time and place. His writing makes me feel a bit homesick for Florida while at the same time being glad that I'm now living in Southern California.

Review on my blog this Tuesday...

It's going to be an exciting one! I have some really great things to share with you all. You don't want to miss it.

And it will be on GR soon! So stay tuned.

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In this review, I will be highlighting some of the best products, services, or experiences that can bring a smile to your face and a bit of joy back into your life.

Whether it's a new book to get lost in, a delicious recipe to try, or a virtual event to attend, there's something for everyone.

So mark your calendars and make sure to check out my blog this Tuesday for the full review. I can't wait to hear what you think!

I had a great affection for Hoot and Flush when I was a child. Those books seemed to be filled with life and energy, captivating my imagination. And this book is also full of vitality, but it delves into adult themes.

However, I gave it 3 stars instead of 4. The reason for this is that I found the storyline about the judges to be rather dull and uninteresting. It felt like a bit of a slog to get through that part.

Overall, the book has its merits, but the judges' storyline detracted from my enjoyment to some extent. I still appreciate the author's writing style and the other aspects of the story that were engaging and well-developed.

Perhaps if the judges' storyline had been more exciting and dynamic, I would have rated the book higher. Nevertheless, it is still a worthwhile read for those who enjoy adult-themed literature with a touch of adventure and mystery.

Nobody does it better

Oh wait, that was Bond. Anyway, Carl Hiaasen is truly a master of his craft. Another outstanding work emerges from his intriguing mind. One of his remarkable strengths lies in his uncanny ability to place relatively ordinary characters right in the middle of a bunch of wackos and con artists. Through this, he vividly points out the sheer craziness and the sad, chaotic mess that these lunatics create. This, unfortunately, has a negative impact on his much-loved Florida. Hiaasen's stories are not only entertaining but also serve as a mirror to society, highlighting the absurdities and flaws that exist. His unique writing style and the way he weaves together complex plots and diverse characters make his books a must-read for any literature enthusiast. Whether it's the humorous antics of the wackos or the struggles of the normal characters trying to make sense of it all, Hiaasen keeps readers engaged from start to finish.

Rarely have I come across an author who has managed to make me burst out laughing so frequently within the pages of a single book. Hiaasen has accomplished precisely that for me in the books of his that I have had the pleasure of reading. I am truly enamored with his sharp wit and dry humor.

This particular story is an absolute gem. It revolves around two lottery ticket winners in Florida. One of them is a young black woman who works in a vet's office and has a deep love for animals. In fact, she keeps an aquarium filled with 45 baby turtles that she has rescued. The other winner is a redneck, white supremacist who has no intention of sharing the whopping $28 million, especially not with a "negro". And so, the story unfolds as he embarks on a search for JoLayne and her precious ticket.

As the narrative progresses, we are introduced to a whole cast of colorful and hilarious characters. There's a sexy newspaper journalist, his wife who refuses to divorce him because she's worried about how it might make her look, religious fanatics who relieve tourists of their money by selling weeping Mary idols and oil stains in the shape of Jesus Christ, a Hooters waitress, and many more.

If you have a penchant for a good laugh and enjoy a touch of mystery, then this book is definitely worth giving a try. It's a wild and entertaining ride that will keep you thoroughly engaged from start to finish.

The criminals in 'Lucky You' are as intellectually challenged as can be, with a combined power equivalent to that of a measly 5-watt battery. Bodean Gazzer and Onus 'Chub' Gillespie are not only rapists and white supremacists but also murderers. However, even the lowest of the low can have a stroke of luck.

Bode discovers that he has won half of a whopping $28,000,000 lottery jackpot in Florida! The other half has been won by a black woman, JoLayne Lucks, a veterinarian assistant. Bode, being the bigot he is, feels that a non-white should not be entitled to such a prize. So, he and Chub enlist the store clerk, Shiner, who sold the lottery ticket to Lucks, into joining their new anti-immigrant militia. Shiner is even more dim-witted than the two ex-cons, although he lacks their truly vicious natures. It doesn't take Bode long to convince them to attack JoLayne and steal her ticket.

Meanwhile, Tom Krome, a reporter, is falling for JoLayne. He initially knocked on her door hoping for an interview, but she refused. Nevertheless, he thinks she is special and is drawn to her. She makes him more determined than ever to find his wife, Mary Andrea, who has been in hiding since he told her he wanted a divorce four years ago, which is quite a feat considering she is an off-Broadway actress. Then, JoLayne is brutally attacked and comes to Tom for help that night. Will Tom use his resources to track down Bode and Chub and retrieve her lottery ticket? Of course he will.

However, Tom's brittle boss, Sinclair, Assistant Deputy Managing Editor of Features and Style, fires him because he refuses to give up the lottery news story. Sinclair only likes upbeat stories, and JoLayne's has taken a bad turn. Sinclair hates Tom anyway because he is the best writer on the newspaper. But then he learns that Tom has won a writing award! There's another problem - the managing editor loves Tom, and if he finds out Sinclair fired him, it will be Sinclair who is out of a job. So, he decides to go to the Grange, where JoLayne lives, to see if he can talk Tom into coming back. Instead, he runs into JoLayne's neighbors, a couple selling admission tickets to see a Madonna statue that cries bloody tears! They also have a backyard full of turtles, and Sinclair falls in love with them. He forgets all about Tom and the lottery. As it turns out, the turtles are JoLayne's, and she needs the lottery money to buy and save their habitat next door to her house. JoLayne asked the couple to watch and feed the turtles while she is tracking down her stolen ticket, but Sinclair is completely clueless about all of this. He simply adores the turtles.

JoLayne and Tom are getting closer to Bode, Chub, and Shiner because they are using JoLayne's credit cards as they hang out in a Hooter's restaurant every day. Chub wants to kidnap a waitress working there, so he agrees to help Bode recruit more white supremacists if Bode helps him kidnap the waitress.

Someone else is also trying to follow Tom. Who could it be? Well, it seems that Tom had a brief fling with a judge's wife, Katie, and now the judge has hired a hit man to kill him! The hit man, a law clerk named Champ Powell, is doing his best, but Tom is constantly on the move and hardly ever at home. He decides to mess up Tom's house, but the plan goes wrong.

Humor abounds in every twist and turn of this crazy tale of fortune and love in Florida! The author, Carl Hiaasen, as usual, hardly has to make anything up, as the real-life people of Florida provide him with an abundance of material for his fiction. Lucky us!

I nearly gave up on this book before reaching the halfway point. The characters in it really irritated me, and that included even the so-called "good" ones. Their actions and behaviors just didn't seem to make much sense to me at that time. I was on the verge of putting the book aside and never picking it up again.

However, something inside me made me decide to stick it out. Maybe it was a glimmer of hope that the story would take a turn for the better. And boy, am I glad I did! As I continued reading, the plot started to unfold in a way that I never expected. The ending was truly amazing. It tied up all the loose ends and gave a satisfying conclusion to the story.

In the end, I realized that sometimes we need to be patient and persevere through the difficult parts of a book (or life) to reach the good stuff. This book taught me that lesson, and I'm grateful for it.

Comic crime fiction is a unique genre that offers a blend of humor and mystery. In this particular work, Hiassen imparts his usual environmental values, creating a story that not only entertains but also makes a statement.

He employs his usual zany cast of characters, each with their own quirks and personalities. Set in the fictional town of Grange, Florida, which is apparently based on the real town of Cassadaga, the story is rampant with religious miracles like a road-stain Jesus and a crying plastic Madonna statue.

The novel follows African-American vet assistant JoLayne Lucks, who has just won half of a $28 million lottery prize. She dreams of using the money to buy a piece of wild land and preserve it. Journalist Tom Krome is sent to interview her, and their paths intertwine.

However, the story takes a dark turn with the introduction of white supremacist thugs Bode Gazzer and Chub, who also won half of the lottery prize. They beat up JoLayne and steal her ticket too. Soon, they are joined by Shiner, a young convenience store clerk with a fascination for power, guns, and babes.

The cast also includes Amber, a Hooters waitress in tiny orange shorts who all the rednecks fall for, Tom’s almost-ex-wife Mary Andrea, his married girlfriend Katie and her vengeful judge husband, and his burned-out editor at the paper, Sinclair. JoLayne’s ATF buddy and admirer, Moffitt, and some of the religious miracle workers also play important roles in this hilarious and action-packed story.

It's a Carl Hiassen novel, and as such, it delves into the wild craziness and rampant corruption of Florida, particularly south Florida.

Here, we have a basically good and moral man who has endured professional and emotional hardships, yet somehow gets drawn into this chaos and sees it through to the end. In the end, the bad guys meet their just deserts, and the good guys end up in a better position than they initially expected. It's a formula that really works for me.

A feisty 30-year-old Black woman wins the Florida lottery. However, she shares the winning numbers with the typically Hiassen-esque villains - stupid, greedy, unwashed, violent, and selfish, full of overinflated opinions of themselves, which lead them into crazy plots and plans. These bad guys steal the other ticket, hoping to get their hands on the full $28 million so they can form a whites-only militia to protect the country from the UN troops allegedly amassed in the Bahamas, ready to invade in their black helicopters.

The story all takes place in Grange, Florida, a town that Hiassen has explored before, one of the hotspots for religious trickery supported by gullible, believe-anything Christian "pilgrims." There's a fiberglass statue of Mary that weeps perfumed tears, a guy who gave himself stigmata with a power drill, and, in addition, the newspaper sub-editor who finds serenity in lying in water and letting turtles crawl all over him.

It was an enjoyable read. Not as much fun as I remember some other Hiassen novels being. But at least this one didn't have a hint of Skink, who by now has become tiresome. I hope we saw the end of him in "Squeeze Me," that rather regrettable Trump satire with the socialite-eating boa constrictor (or was it a python?).

This novel had all the expected Hiassen elements: a flawed good guy at the center, a feisty female who gives the good guy a run for his money (so to speak), nasty and despicable (yet comical in their awfulness and despicability) villains, the sweet but vulnerable and out-of-it guy who follows the wrong people (and pays for it but lives), and a lovely visualization of the Florida landscape and seascape that has been so severely compromised.

By now, if you're the least bit slow like me, it's extremely obvious what you obtain when you settle down with a Hiaasen.

However, he does it so magnificently! The unique aspects of the stories render them all worthwhile.

In this particular instance, it's the additional delight of having certain antagonists getting their butts kicked.

Hiaasen has a remarkable talent for creating engaging and captivating narratives. His writing style is vivid and descriptive, allowing readers to easily envision the scenes and characters in their minds.

The way he crafts his stories, with their interesting plot twists and turns, keeps the readers on the edge of their seats.

Moreover, the inclusion of antagonists getting their comeuppance adds an extra layer of satisfaction to the reading experience.

It makes us cheer for the good guys and feel a sense of justice being served.

Overall, reading a Hiaasen novel is a truly enjoyable and fulfilling experience.

Carl Hiaasen's books are truly and wonderfully weird and off the wall.

This particular one is no different. It is filled with the same kind of crazy and unique charm that has made his works so beloved.

I have a deep and thorough enjoyment of his crazy stories. They provide a much-needed and wonderful escape from the real world.

The world we live in can be crazy too, but unfortunately, it is not nearly as funny as the fictional worlds Hiaasen creates.

In his books, we can encounter all sorts of strange characters and absurd situations that make us laugh and forget about our own troubles for a while.

His writing style is engaging and entertaining, and it always keeps me hooked from beginning to end.

I highly recommend Carl Hiaasen's books to anyone who is looking for a good laugh and a break from the ordinary.

Lucky You is a highly entertaining and humorous tale penned by Carl Hiaasen. But beneath the laughter, it delves into the themes of greed and power.

JoLayne Lucks hits the jackpot, winning half of the Florida Lottery, a whopping $14 million. Unfortunately, the other half is won by Bodean James Gazzer, a wannabe white supremacist with a low IQ, and his equally dim-witted pal Chub. Together, they concoct a devious plan to steal JoLayne's ticket. They brutally assault her, believing they now have the means to establish a well-armed militia.

However, JoLayne is not one to give up easily. She teams up with reporter Tom Krome, who was initially dispatched by The Register to interview her. Tom, who is having an affair with a judge's wife and wants to divorce his own elusive wife, finds himself embroiled in this chaotic situation. Meanwhile, the judge, who is having affairs with both his secretaries, devises a plan to eliminate Tom Krome.

Bodean and Chub make matters worse by enlisting skinhead Shiner and kidnapping a Hooters waitress. Their failure to immediately go to Tallahassee and cash in the lottery ticket is another blunder. JoLayne and Tom, using their wits, manage to track down these dimwitted thugs. And, as is typical in a Carl Hiaasen novel, their solution is both unexpected and outrageously entertaining.