The Winner is a surprisingly interesting and good book. The characters seem very real and you choose your sides very early on. The plot is something else. Even though I'm a writer, I can't imagine coming up with something that intricately planned. It just baffles the mind the twists and turns in this book. Just when you think you've got something figured out, it takes another direction and you're left scratching your head. LuAnn Tyler is quintessential Georgia "white trash" - a young, beautiful, uneducated and unmarried mother with a typical Southern drawl living in a beat-up trailer with Duane Harvey, a no-account beer-guzzling low-life drug runner! But she is sharp enough to realize that her meaningless life is a dead end and she's trying to find a way out for her daughter.

For someone who is dirt poor, I don’t understand why she had all these qualms about accepting the offer to get the lottery money, albeit fixed. Even if she had refused, it would still be fixed and someone else would get it. Until the last number: "Ever so slowly, even as LuAnn's heart threatened to cease beating, the two balls, as though carefully choreographed, again swapped places with each other in the swirling spray of hot air, even ricocheting It was not as strong as being emotionally manipulated and while I appreciate the need for story elements to fit together, here I found the book had merely the presence of suitable elements rather than being worked together into a cohesive whole. I found myself increasingly detached from the story as each part was all too conveniently placed/revealed. I eventually finished the book in frustration, the overly lengthy book only heightening my dislike of the book. Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.information happens to be, a maneuver that comic strips used to represent with the words "Bzzzz, mumble." In addition to being a prolific writer, David is a devoted philanthropist, and his greatest efforts are dedicated to his family’s Wish You Well Foundation®. Established by David and his wife, Michelle, the Wish You Well Foundation supports family and adult literacy programs in the United States. it came and went upon demand by its owner and varied in its intensity depending on the situation, rising to the occasion and mustering just enough reserve so that failure was never a possibility. Either you had that type of power or you Legal Thriller - Yes Legal Plotlets - finding out whether someone is really guilty Crime Thriller - Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) - Yes Main Character Gender - Female

The story, ultimately, is about the possibility of recreating one's identify, changing one's life, and leaving behind a less-than-happy past. For many, it might be wish fulfillment. Is it for you? If you could make yourself over again, what kind of life would you create? Who would you be, what would you do, where would you live? And what would you be getting away from? HOWEVER, Annie from Stephen King's Misery would have slit his throat on this one because the believability of the premise just wasn't there. In addition to Absolute Power being made into a movie, Wish You Well. The film stars Ellen Burstyn and Josh Lucas, finished shooting in 2012. David Baldacci has been featured on real-life crime show “Murder By The Book”. “Hardcover Mysteries” aired on the Investigation Discovery network in which he hosted an episode revolving around the death of Mary Meyer, who was alleged to have been having an affair with President Kennedy. To let readers know where I'm coming from, my preferred genre is romance novels. The fact that I liked this should mean something since it is off genre for me. Throughout the book there was the underlying frustration of how can anyone ever stop this bad guy, but he gets it eventually. The story was excellent mechanically with good showing not telling. I would have liked more emotional draw to the characters. Not necessary, but I also would have liked more witty or thought provoking dialogue. I liked the LuAnn character a lot. She was physically very strong. Her strength of mind and body actually scared some men. The title, "The Winner," has a double significance. It obviously refers to the lottery, but what else?I have read a few David Baldacci novels, and found them average and I don't remember much after finishing those books. This one is so bad, i will surely remember it for a long time. No more Baldacci novels for me.