I have been a fan of Baldacci since I read the first book. He keeps the plot moving. I have found a new author who I enjoy as much although their styles are very different. Andie Peterson, author of Northern Explosion, keeps the plot moving with believable characters and setting. I gave her a five star rating, too. I recommend these authors wholeheartedly.

I got hooked on David Baldacci"s CAMEL CLUB and then HOUR GAME... now I look for anything he has written and am never disappointed...... One of our best authors today.

Baldacci is very good at spinning an entertaining yarn with sympathetic characters and very canny villains. Lots of action here in a story that almost anyone can relate to in regard to imagining how we might deal with winning a huge lottery. The story remained tight and well paced for better than two thirds of the book, but got a little bogged down in technicalities toward the end, and the plot was wrapped up just a little bit too neatly IMHO. I got this book on my Kindle and intend to keep my favs as long as I can. When I need to clean house to make room for more books, The Winner may be the first to go. It was fun while it lasted, but certainly not something I'd plan to revisit.

This was the first book I have read by Baldacci and he has really drawn me in! I've recently read through all of the booys by John Grisham and Dan Brown and I've been looking for a new author to read. After this book, I have found one. This book was captavating. I found myself staying up late to read it, and trying to get in a page or two as I brushed my teeth in the morning. I highly recommend this book.

I have read many of Baldacci's books, and from reviews "The Winner" stood out as one that I should read next. Others have discussed the story itself, so I will not add anything to their good comments. When I first began the book, it seemed slow and not very interesting. A sad desperate woman with a baby trying to make ends meet with a looser boyfriend, the father of her daughter. But I stuck with it, mainly because of the reviews and other Baldacci books. After several chapters the book picked up and rewarded my patience. From that point on the story went full steam ahead until the very end. I could hardly put it down. Put it at the top of your Baldacci list, you will not be sorry.

It's one of those books you get hooked on right away. My sister won't read anything unless it reaches out and holds her captive right from the beginning. This did.

If your wondering which of the many excellent Baldacci books to read first. The winner is his best.

1)The Winner
2)Absolute Power
3)Camel Club trilogy
4)Total Control
5)Last man standing
6)Simple Truth
7)Saving Faith

Read em in that order.

I think a lot of the one and two star review for this book are a bit silly. If anyone read this book thinking they were going to be reading anything at all realistic, they were thinking silly thoughts to begin with. When you know the premise is that someone fixes the lottery of $100 million and a few other select details, one should quickly come to realize this is mass market fiction, not literature. This is a very good book for what it is: mass market fiction. I found it to be a great page-turner even though nothing about it was believable. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these reviewers would knock science fiction books for being unrealistic. People like me love these books because they're fun to read and I don't have to think at all to enjoy them.

Wow, what a thrill ride this book was! I couln't put it down! It is so well written, and fun to read from the very first chapter. Baldacci is an amazing story teller!!!

I read The Camel Club at the end of last year, and I thought that this book was a little slower (especially in the middle). Also, I'm not sure why Baldacci always has a character whose super-strong (as evidenced by his/her handshake), but it was a little distracting when he kept describing LuAnn's strength in this book. Overall, though, this book's movie-like plot made it a good read.

The National Lottery sponsored by The Government was fixed for one year by an evil genius. He carefully selected the winners to be. An investigative newspaper reporter discovered the scheme and threatened to expose it. Lot's of excitement along the way. But, the ending was fairly predictable. Still, a good read.

This is my second novel by Baldacci, having read his "Christmas Train" first. I wasn't disappointed in this effort in the least! It seems Baldacci has a knack for strong character development. Some authors go on too long, trying to describe their characters, while others don't divulge nearly enough. Baldacci gets it right!

LuAnn Tyler is a strong female character, and Charlie is a wonderful "oversized teddy-bear" like man. The ambition and charisma of these two have you hoping for their success. The plot is great, and the setting is described wonderfully. Some things about the antagonist irked me a bit, but not enough to take away from the story.

This certainly will not be my last novel by Baldacci!

This was my first Baldacci book and I'm sure I'll read more by this gifted writer. Lead character LuAnn Tyler, a trailer park mom who suddenly wins a "fixed" 100 million dollar lottery, was so real and human you had to cheer for her, even when she did something stupid, you hoped it would work out. She meets Charlie, and together they make the rest of the story suspenseful as they battle wits with the ruthless Jackson, the evil lottery bad-guy.
The ending could have been better, but the total sum for this reader was a good read, and a good time.

This was my first Baldacci book and I'm sure I'll read more by this gifted writer. Lead character LuAnn Tyler, a trailer park mom who suddenly wins a "fixed" 100 million dollar lottery, was so real and human you had to cheer for her, even when she did something stupid, you hoped it would work out. She meets Charlie, a well-written loveable side-kick, and together they make the rest of the story suspenseful as they battle wits with the ruthless Jackson, the evil lottery bad-guy.
The plot did resolve into a made-for-TV-movie-of-the-week, but the total sum for this reader was a good read, and a good time.

Yeah right, let me win 100 million tax free. No problem I can live in another country.

I actually liked Jackson,(Jack's son)he was cool. I didn't like the stupidity of some of the other characters, like his sister.

It kept me entertained but it wasn't a page turner. I easily put this book down plenty of times.

If you like suspense, intrigue and do not mind a bit of the unlikely, you will enjoy this book. This tale is long - more than 600 pages in the paper back edition - so it will provide you with a lot of escape and entertainment.

The plot is simple on its face - a lottery is rigged. The how and why and the cost is the substance of the book. This is a typical Baldacci thriller. It is fun. Some reviewers have opined their unhappiness with the seemingly all-knowing character. This is fiction and Baldacci stretches a bit - or does he?

Buy the book, a couple lottery tickets and curl up by the fire and read.

A solid five stars

I don't know what more I can say then the other 264 reviewers other then to agree with most that this is a great book. Lots of intrigue. I bought this as an eBook thinking it would be a short and quick read. Once I started reading it, I checked the number of pages and was delighted to see how long it was. I also had no idea that this author wrote Absolute Power, one of my favorite movies, maybe because of Clint, maybe not L O L. I hope Hollywood buys this, let's see Angelina Jolie comes to mind for LuAnn then again, it might be interesting to see Gwyneth Paltrow do this role and hmmmm, how about Ed Asner as Charlie? Jackson? well, Charlie Sheen or Robert Downey or Brad Pitt?

If you like a long book with lots of human emotion and action too you'll enjoy this one.

Those familiar with other works by this author have come to expect FBI intrigue, Secret Service manipulations and government plots abounding. This is a little different tack for Baldacci since the focus of the story only peripherally involves the government (well, until about 2/3 of the way through). The focus of this book is a woman who has the opportunity of a lifetime, to win the rigged fictional National Lottery and get away with it. LuAnn is your heroine and is a wonderfully likable character even if not too realistic (beautiful, smart and physically powerful). The story keeps moving from beginning to end with almost no pause in the pacing of the story. It keeps you interested from beginning to end. That is why I highly recommend this book even if you are not into the government intrigue genre. Enjoy!

This book kept me reading until the end. I must agree with some of the other reviewers and state that parts of this book are a bit hard to believe, but so are many other fictional books. In this book Baldacci comes up with an original and suspenseful plot: The national lottery is rigged by an almost superhuman man, the villain in this book, and a poor, single mother in rural Georgia is given a chance to start a new life as a multi-millionaire if she promises to leave the country for good. The plot thickens when the heroine comes back to the United States. Another former lawyer turned writer, Baldacci shows in this book that he has the brains and the ability to write novels that rival the best fictional authors of our day. Overall, this is an entertaining and good quick read - what most people should be looking for in a novel.

When someone writes "The concept of the book was a little far fetched" it drives me a little CRAZY!! That's why they call it fiction; it doesn't all have to be believable! Now that I've got that off my chest, I just finished the book and I loved it!! If you like Baldacci you'll like this book.

This was the first Baldacci book Ive read and I have to admit I loved it. I was a little unsure at first after reading some of the reviews but It turned out to be an excellent book. The book moved very fast and I didnt think it was too long as some people have written. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The concept of the book was a little far fetched but hey thats what makes it interesting. Jackson was a very interesting character and Lu-Ann/Catherine was great, very macho. If you want to read a great book from cover to cover I recommend this book highly!

The reason I love the way David Baldacci writes are many and THE WINNER is another example of a great page-turner. His writing is very compelling--one can become involved in the story on the first page. His books are very thrilling with a lot of twists and turns. There is always an evil villain that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Oftentimes I'll have trouble sleeping if I read Baldacci before going to bed! My heart does so race! My favorite books by this author also have a touch of romance, which fits the bill for my favorite 'happily ever after' books. THE WINNER has all of the above ingredients, I'm happy to say. LuAnn Tyler, a twenty-year old down on her luck mother agrees to help throw the lottery (against her better judgment). The man who makes all of this possible (Mr. Jackson) is an evil genius whose plan slowly unravels ten years later due to a newspaper reporter's inquisitiveness. Mr. Jackson will eliminate anyone who tries to get to close to him. Anyway, you get the picture......
So, if you want to read a wonderful story that will keep you glued to a great book, try THE WINNER--you will be the winner for having read it!

Extemely well done! A story that takes twists and turns right up to the end-an end that left me smiling and excited to read another of Baldacci's books. It makes you think -What would I have done given the opportunity? A very nice reading . (A)

You might think that fixing a $100 million lottery would be rather difficult, but according to The Winner's antangonist Mr. "Mysterious" Jackson it is quite easy! No other explanation is given on how someone could rig the lottery other than people are easily bribed and - don't you know - the last lottery was corrupt as well! It doesn't matter really, the book suffers from a pretty weak story and one dimensional characters. You get twist after twist - standard fair for a thriller, but nothing that is remotely suprising. The protangonist is your stereotypical big boobed heroine who is not only immensely smart and beautiful, but incredibly strong as well. In one scene she gets into a wood chopping contest with a lumberjack and not only does she quickly start to out pace him, she finishes his pile after he has to rest from over exertion from trying to keep up with her. And she can leap huge buildings in a single bound! Come on Mr. Baldacci how about some flaws in the protangonist, she's supposed to be human right? The antangonist "Mr. Jackson" seems to be modeled after the character "Kaiser Sose" from The Usual Suspects. Except he isn't half as interesting. Indeed he seems to have great power, but the author never bothers to explain much of it so it doesn't feel very authentic. What's even worse about the character perspectives is that the author frequently changes from one person's view to anothers, sometimes in the same paragraph. It gets a little confusing when you are reading Luanne's chapter and suddenly you get another persons point of view regarding LuAnne (usually admiring one of her many attributes).

The story is moved along by a bunch of very unlikely coincidences and wild twists that are explained by some wild tall tails. Mr. Donovan the maniac reporter locks onto LuAnne based on the statistic that 75% of all lottery winners go bankrupt. He sees that 12 people straight won the lottery without going bankrupt and decides that's just impossible (a pretty amusing conclusion considering the premise of a lottery fix being pretty easy). He of course remembers LuAnne from the bunch and locks onto her. And where does the 75% bankruptcy statistic come from? I'm not sure, since the actual number varies depending on who you get it from (lottery or opponents of the lottery) but generally it is believed to be much closer to 20-30% (still a very scary statistic). Even with a rate of 75% a stretch of 12 winners probably wouldn't seem THAT unuasual when you are looking over a period of 40-50 years. Certainly not enough to justify the intensity at which he goes after her - the first time he confronts her involves a car chase which just about kills the both of them along with a bystander (who just happens to be some sort of ex-spy and involved with working on LuAnne's security fence). Oh boy.

Anyway, I can't recomend this book. Too many predictable turns, bogus explanations, and poor character development.

David Baldacci is a truly gifted writer. He has that unique ability to paint a picture such that one can actually picture themselves in the trailer with LuAnn, holding our breaths as we wish her the best in making her escape.

I had a hard time putting this book down. In fact, I finished it in two days.

After winning her millions and making a successful break, we are re-introduced to LuAnn a decade later. The two LuAnn's are not even comprable--a testimony to what millions and proper tutoring can do!

For anyone who enjoys suspensful fiction, this is a great read.

this was a superb book by david baldacci and personally my favorite so far by this author this story keeps with the old adage that there is nothing for free without a catch

This is the perfect novel to take with you on a relaxing vacation and read at the beach. The book is fast paced and suspenseful with very intriguing characters.

The story centers around LuAnn Tyler, a poor desparate woman who is caught in a situation from which there is no escape. Enter a mysterious man by the name of Jackson who offers a way out of her troubles that all of us wish could happen to us. That is, to be assurred of buy the winning ticket in a 100 million dollar lottery. LuAnn is reluctant to do this because she feels it is too "dishonest." Yeah right!

Anyway her situation keeps gets to the point where taking Jackson's offer is the only choice. LuAnn retires with the money and disappears for 10 years as to the agreement with Jackson. The story should end there but lo and behold, LuAnn decides to disobey Jackson's orders to disaappear. Of course Jackson is the one person on the planet whose orders you never disobey. Such is the setup for a nail bitting fast-paced tale.

I would have rated this book slightly higher but I feel the author went way overboard in portraying Jackson's abilities. He would have us believe that Jackson could make-up himself to passably look like any individual, male or female and also be able to talk like the person. Some of Jackson's abilities and resources go way beyond what even Bruce Wayne (Batman) had.

It was a pleasure to experience this well written Baldacci book - my first from this fine author. Not only is it an imaginative and captivating story, but the words pour out smoother than the arguments of a country lawyer. I only had one minor complaint with this book. The villain ended up a little too coincidentally related to another character, which struck me as too odd to happen in a country of over 250 million people. Nevertheless, the action was gripping and the pages flew through my hands. I strongly urge all lovers of mysteries and thrillers to try out this book.

I thought the first half of the book was excellent - kept me interested and the characters were intriguing. Then...it just became predictable and I knew basically how it would end up. Second half of book very disappointing

I was recently referred to "The Winner" by a friend of mine, and I'm glad I gave Baldacci a try. I am normally hesitant to read books like this, as the "thriller" genre is very hit-or-miss in my opinion. This one caught me off guard... in a good way. Baldacci wastes no paper telling his tale. Every chapter and every scene is relevant to the story, and there is very little filler added to this novel. The characters are not quite as well drawn as you might find in other novels, however this didn't bother me very much... in fact, I find that for this kind of story the characters don't need to be overcomplicated. Their motivations are clear-cut, and made sense to me for the most part (The only exception to this would be the Charlie character's decision to remain with LuAnn throughout the book... I suppose it can be chalked up to Charlie's drifter tendencies.). As usual, I found myself rooting for the bad guy, who is quite well-realized and "made" this book for me. All in all, the plot twists and crisp writing made this book and Baldacci a welcome addition to my collection. Baldacci is easily an equal talent to Grisham, however I would have to draw the line before I award him Ludlum status...

This is a novel that defies you to put it down until you finish it. It is a lengthy but fast read. I thoroughly enjoyed Baldacci's ABSOLUTE POWER and the action here is no second banana. I highly recommend this book. You care about LuAnn and her crew and you ache to see the destruction of her chief nemesis. The character development of all of the characters is rich and believable. Baldacci has the knack of creating characters that you can easily visualize. The action is non-stop and you really don't care if the plot is a tiny bit flawed. After all this is fiction...very good fiction. Baldacci knows how to tell an intriguing tale.

LuAnn Tyler is a twenty-year-old mother with a two-year-old child living in rural Georgia. She is smart, she is beautiful and she is trapped in a relationship with the abusive and lazy father of her daughter. LuAnn is trying to make the best of a bad situation when fate enters into her life in the person of a mysterious stranger named Jackson or so he calls himself at their first meeting: a meeting she believes is a job interview but she soon learns it is a meeting that is dramatically going to change the rest of her life. Circumstances engineered in part by the mysterious Jackson conspire to persuade LuAnn to participate in a lottery fraud that allows her to win a hundred million dollars. The only thing LuAnn has to do is promise to leave the country and to let Jackson manage her winnings.

In LuAnn's forced sojourn she acquires an education, numerous skills and a pronounced degree of sophistication. For ten years LuAnn, her bodyguard Charlie and daughter Lisa move from place to place in Europe so as not to become a spectacle. Eventually however LuAnn wearies of her Bedouin existence and longs for home...no matter what the cost she plots her return. This, of course, promises to upset Jackson's intricate plan. Rather than allow that to happen Jackson plots his own intrigue to end the threat: a threat he views as having the potential of destroying him. The twists and turns on this rollercoaster ride should satisfy even the most cynical critic of this type of genre. Enjoy and hold on tight!

This is my first novel to read for David Baldacci. I read the book in two days. Down with a the flu, I wasn't able to do anything but read. I'd checked the book out of the library a few days earlier on a tip. The book started out holding my interest and it held my interest. I kept turning the pages to read what was going to happen next. This is the goal of any author...keeping a reader's attention. After I'd finished the book, I told myself I did enjoy the book, but honestly thought the book was a little too long. I almost knew what was going to happen, or I guess I had the plot figured out before I got to the end of the book. I like a story that keeps me guessing about whodunit...and this story didn't. Baldacci is a mystery writer and although he injected a dab of romance, it was weak. Naturally, if you have a beautiful woman and a FBI agent, you should have a touch of romance. I think Baldacci had a good plot going, but I'll have to agree the coincidences in the timing of the events in LuAnn's life from start to end were a little far-fetched. And I have a hard time believing a guy like Jackson could be so talented as to mimick voices and make someone believe he is a 10 year old girl. Still, I'll give credit where credit is due. The story kept me going and wanting to keep reading. That's the name of the game with any writer. So when I take this book back to the library, I'll check out another Baldacci book. I'd recommend this book to anyone that likes mystery.

I don't read many suspense/thriller novels, but I'm sure glad I read this one....Jackson is a brilliant, evil psychopathtic killer who is able to "fix" the national lottery. He is a master of disguise and eludes capture for many years....LuAnn is a young parent of a baby girl and they are stuck in a cycle of poverty. She got involved in a killing in self defense and was pursuaded by Jackson to allow herself to win in his lottery scam. However she has to leave the country.... Charlie who worked for Jackson goes with her and becomes her very good friend and protector.....After 10 yrs. in exile they return to the USA and Lu Ann is in constant danger from Jackson....Tom Donovan, a newspaper reporter and Matt Riggs. a former FBI agent befriend her and they also face much danger...This is a fast paced story with a few surprises toward the end..... A romance is also part of this great tale....I recommend this "must read" book. You won't be sorry if you read it, but you might lose some sleep because you will hate to put it down at the end of the day.

The first part of the book is interesting, how a man who can move the lottery numbers to win as he wants convince a poor young woman with a child to win. She was on a murder scene and ask Jackson to change her name and he agrees if she leaves the country and never comes back.

To the second part I have many questions: why she returned to the US? Where does Jackson knew how to be more expert than a CIA agent? If Jackson was a person who kill anyone just for his convenience, why he didn't kill her when she returned?

Baldacci did it again. He created a very interesting character that made you want to root for her. He kept you guessing on the supporting characters, where did there loyalty lie. Overall a good book and worthy of a read. I can see this comming to a theater near you!

This book was just so-so. It had an interesting premise but the bad, lowest-common denominator writing and shallow, one-dimentional characters sqandered a potentially decent story. The female lead could've been a real heroine if she wasn't such a figment of her male writer's fantasies. If you want to read a silly book and forget about it as soon as you put it down, this one's for you. Or, you could be a real-life winner and just skip this one altogether.

What would you do if someone offered you $100 million dollars and all you had to do was leave the country and never return? Yeah, me too! But then I read THE WINNER.

LuAnn Tyler is only 20 years old and already a dirt-poor single mother with an 8 month old daughter living in a trailer in Georgia. When a strange man, whom she thought was offering her a job, says he can guarantee that she'll win the national lottery, LuAnn's better judgement tells her to decline. But she comes home to find her boyfriend murdered and herself killing another intruder in self-defense. Alone and desperate, she takes the stranger's incredible offer which leads her to New York City to accept her lottery winnings: $100 million dollars. She has, however, agreed to the stranger's stipulations: She must leave the country and never return; he will control and invest the lottery winnings; LuAnn will live off the investment earnings; at the end of ten years, the entire $100 million will be returned to her in full. Ten years moving around Europe doesn't sound too bad. But LuAnn secretly returns to the US after the ten years, putting herself in grave danger, as well as the lives of her daughter, Lisa, and the two men she loves.

This is my 2nd Baldacci book, the first being his latest, WISH YOU WELL. Hard to believe they were written by the same author. Both incredibly well-written but with very different writing styles. Baldacci has outstanding character development. The stranger, the financial genious, is a great villan. He's truly evil. It seems there's nothing he can't get done. I also picked up on the changes in LuAnn after the ten years had passed. She's such a strong-willed character. Her growth and maturity is so apparent.

I don't know enough about the government or the lotteries to say if "a fix" is really possible. However, Baldacci's brilliant writing makes me want to believe it could happen.

Great book. Very much like 'Total Control' where it's riveting until the end. Baldacci's stories play out like a movie from the opening sentence.

Give the book one hundred pages and you will enjoy it. Good suspense with good characters.

This is my first Baldachi book and it's the best start anyone can wish for when you read a new writer. After reading this thriller I must run and read the other books. I read a lot of thriller books by many writers, but I wasn't pulled by a story like that for a long time. The story can be intersting, but the form of writing is the most important thing, and in Baldachi's case, the writing is superb. I recommend this book to anyone who loves good thriller, romance and drama.

Very interesting book..as i have found all of Baldaccis books..Good characters with LuAnn, Charlie, Riggs and the villan, Jackson..well thought out schemes by both the good and bad..i did however feel it was kind of hard to believe that the villan was able to actually fool people with his array of disguises..was everybody 5 foot 10 in the book or what..sometimes the least obvious can be the dead give-away to the trained eye..and there were alot of trained eyes involved in this novel..i recommend it to anyone who likes a good murder mystery..

This book was just awesome!

It is the story of a down-on-her-luck woman from the South who is given the opportunity of a lifetime, become the next Lottery winner. All she has to do is buy a ticket and her winning numbers will be called! Unfortunately, there is a price.

Baldacci does a great job with building the suspense in this work. It was the first I've read by him. Since, I've read two others and still felt this one was the best of the three.

I would recommend this book to someone even if they are not a big reader. It seems to be a quick and easy read, and entertaining to boot.

In my opinion the plot is much better than the character development where I can see some little flaws, Baldacci put too much fantasy drawing Lu Ann (the heroine) the poor dirt girl who becomes the winner, who is stronger than a man, who deftly run away with a car when she had never owned one, (too perfect !!!) and also too much fantasy drawing Jackson (the villain), the master of disguise, remarkably bright, full of resources who can impersonate and outsmart anyone and be everywhere, anytime like God (too perfect too!!!). They did not look very realistic,indeed, on the other hand you will find an original gripping story plenty of action with many twists and turns, most of them very cleverly conceived particularly in the final chapters of the book.

I loved this book. It's been about a year since I finished this book and I still fondly remember it. It will be a book I read again one day. Lu Ann is one of the greatest characters I have ever met! When an author enables you to not only enter another world but to make a bond with a charachter (or characters) it is truly genius. For me, this was such a book. I have read every book Mr. Baldacci has ever written, and this one stands out. He is a great storyteller. I was sad when the book ended and I thought of it for a long time afterwards. I read a lot of books and when I can remember one a year later it had to have made quite an impression.

After reading so many good books by authors with semi-italian names, like Lisa Scottoline (a wonderful, amazing author!), the name David Baldacci called my attention. Then, I took THE WINNER. That was my first try on his books.

The plot revolves around a woman called LuAnn, who is the mother of a baby and lives with a man who only cares for drinking, a vagabond. Besides, she works has a waitress half the day to make only a very little money. Then, one day, a man called Jackson tells her she can win the national lottery. How? He has all the numbers of the next draw. LuAnn doesn't know, but if she say yes, she'll be one of the most rich women of the world. If she say no, she'll be a dead woman.

Decided to say no because she's not the kind of woman to accept illegal things, she arrives at home and finds a man decided to kill... the man she lives with. But the man is already dead. Then some things I'm not going to tell happen, and she start thinking she's the main suspect of the crime (both her "husband" and the man she found on her home (a trailer) are found dead). Trying to escape from the police, she accept Jackson's opportunity and goes to New York, where she wins the lottery. This is just the beginning of a wonderful book, one of the best thrillers I've ever read during my whole life (which is not a big time, but was lived with intensity), and I discovered one of the best writers of the world. He criated an adorable heroine, you just can't help but fall in love with LuAnn Tyler, and also one of the most terrible vilains of the modern literature, Mr. Jackson.

Now, all I'm looking forward to is to read the other books by David Baldacci. He's a marvelous writer. Believe me when I say it. Read Baldacci will be an habit now to me. Long life to David Baldacci! He deserves all the success he has been conquering. Just amazing!

Marco Aurelio.

If you are looking for a break from the typical action/suspense novcel, give this one a try. I could not put it down, and place this in my top ten fiction books. Baldacci is now one of my favorite authors. His character development is superb, and his ability to weave a clever story is unique. This is a must-read.

Buy the premise, buy the bit. Moderately-paced thriller about a man of many disguises who has developed a way to rig the National Lottery. He has picked a dozen impoverished people to be winners. One of them is our intrepid heroine who unites with another far-fetched character, an ex-FBI agent on the witness protection program, to bring the bad guy to his knees.

This is the weakest of Baldacci's four novels but adequate to entertain although very implausible if you really stop to think about it.

This was the first Baldacci book that I read and I have read 3 others since. His writing style really drew me into the characters and I just couldn't put it down. The plot is unique- as so many authors now try to re-write books with the same basic plot using different characters.. this was different. I highly recommend it.

This plot is about a woman who receives an incredible offer: to become a millionaire. She accepts but in the end she becomes a very unhappy woman.

The author has a very unusual story: about lotteries and how you can beat them.

I thought this book to be very enjoyable. The story is well thought-out and the characters blend well with the story. There is never a dull moment in the book and it all seems to flow easily and to keep the reader glued to the book.

Good read.