Lucky You is a 1997

1997 in literature

The year 1997 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tom Clancy signs a book deal with Pearson Custom Publishing and Penguin Putnam Inc. , giving him US$50 million for the world-English rights to two new books . A second agreement gives him another US$25 million for a...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen is an American journalist, columnist and novelist.- Early years :Born in 1953 and raised in Plantation, Florida, of Norwegian heritage, Hiaasen was the first of four children and the son of a lawyer, Kermit Odel, and teacher, Patricia...

. It is set in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, and is based around JoLayne Lucks, a black woman who is one of two winners of a lottery

Lottery

A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...

.

Plot

Lucks intends to use the winnings to purchase a block of land to protect the animals by preventing it from being developed into a mall. Before she is able to do this the ticket is stolen by two white supremacist thugs, who have the other winning lottery ticket, but don't think that Lucks deserves to hold onto hers. The story revolves around her efforts to recover the ticket, aided by a newspaper reporter.

The book parodies paranoid militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

 groups that believe in somewhat bizarre conspiracy theories. It also takes a satiric look at vendors in the fictional community of Grange, Florida, (based on the real community of Cassadaga

Cassadaga, Florida

Cassadaga is a small unincorporated community located in Volusia County, Florida, just north of Deltona...

) who proclaim various religious miracles. One character in the book drills holes in his palms to make it appear that he has the stigmata

Stigmata

Stigmata are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, such as the hands and feet...

. There is also a woman who worships the "Road-Stain Jesus," which then becomes another tourist attraction.

Connections with Hiaasen's Other Works

• Tom Krome is feeling unsatisfied with his job because of the downsizing trend affecting most American newspapers. This dissatisfaction is explored fully in the subsequent novel, Basket Case
  Basket Case (novel)
  Basket Case, published in 2002, is the ninth novel by Carl Hiaasen. It is a classic Hiaasen crime novel, set in Florida. It opens with the death of James Stomarti , an ostensibly washed-up former lead man of "Jimmy and the Slut Puppies"....
  
  .