The Winner

Written by David Baldacci

Narrated by Francis Cassidy

A rags-to-riches deal for single mother LuAnn Tyler is deadlier than she ever could have imagined in this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller from David Baldacci.

THE DREAM
She is twenty, beautiful, dirt-poor, and hoping for a better life for her infant daughter when LuAnn Tyler is offered the gift of a lifetime, a $100 million lottery jackpot. All she has to do is change her identity and leave the U.S. forever.

THE KILLER
It's an offer she dares to refuse...until violence forces her hand and thrusts her into a harrowing game of high-stakes, big-money subterfuge. It's a price she won't fully pay...until she does the unthinkable and breaks the promise that made her rich.

THE WINNER
For if LuAnn Tyler comes home, she will be pitted against the deadliest contestant of all: the chameleon-like financial mastermind who changed her life. And who can take it away at will...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette Audio
• Release date: Jun 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781611139945

David Baldacci

Nacido en 1960, David Baldacci se licenció en Derecho por la Universidad de Virginia y ejerció como abogado en Washington durante nueve años. El reconocimiento unánime con que el público y la crítica recibieron sus primeras novelas le llevó a abandonar la abogacía para dedicarse por entero a la escritura. Desde entonces, David Baldacci es uno de los grandes nombres del género thriller contemporáneo; su obra ha sido traducida a treinta y cuatro idiomas y se publica en más de ochenta países. David Baldacci colabora también con el mundo del cine: es autor de seis guiones y su primera novela Poder absoluto (1996) fue llevada a la gran pantalla bajo la dirección de Clint Eastwood.

Reviews for The Winner

[atticusfinch1048 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Winner is a standalone thriller by David Baldacci which was originally published in 1997 and it is another brilliant book.

LuAnn Tyler lives with Duane Havey the father of their daughter Lisa and they live in Duane’s trailer which is the middle of nowhere somewhere in Georgia. LuAnn works as a waitress in a local diner and works as many hours she possibly can, taking Lisa with her. Harvey is a bum, who drinks any spare money and continues to chase women.

LuAnn attends an interview where she is offered a way out of her current life all she had to do was enter the lottery and she would win. After that all she had to do was leave the country for ten years and after that she was free to do whatever she wanted.

LuAnn had not decided what she should do as specially as she had never left the country before, but did she really have a choice? Ten years later she returns to America with her young daughter even though she has been warned never to return. She finds herself the centre of attention and that is when she knew her life and that of her daughter’s was in danger. All the money in the world would be no use if you are in jail or dead.

This is a fantastic thriller which any reader will love and we would love to be in LuAnn’s shoes and what would we do?

[carol420 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

LuAnn Tyler is a beautiful, "white trash" truck stop waitress with a useless husband and a really cute baby daughter. A few months after the birth of the daughter, Lisa, LuAnn gets a phone call telling her to go to an office in an unrented storefront of the local shopping mall. Now why anyone would do this after receiving a summons like this and especially after seeing the location...would be anybody's guess. Most sensible people would never have done this in a hundred million years. Once there, she gets an unbelievable offer from a "Mr. Jackson", a monomaniacal, cross-dressing... (I liked that touch) ...manipulator who says he knows the winning numbers in the national lottery before the numbers are drawn. (Maybe I can use Mr. Jackson's talents after all!) He says that LuAnn fits the media's idea of what a lottery winner should be...namely. poor, undereducated...but still mighty proud. I began to question LuAnn's mentality a lot at this point. Mr. Jackson tells her that IF she's willing to buy the right ticket.... at the right time... and then when she wins, transfer most of her huge jackpot winnings to him...then she'll be able to retire in luxury. Of course, as we knew would be the case, there is more that he doesn't tell her. Jackson fails to inform her, that if she refuses his offer, he'll simply...just have her killed. Here's where it became even worse for delusional LuAnn. She barely escapes death when one of her husband's drug deals goes bad. She hops on a train to Manhattan with the hired executioner in hot pursuit. The executioner is one of Jackson's paid handlers and he can't help but hear wedding bells loud and clear when he sees LuAnn with her baby daughter. Wouldn't you know it!?...a winning 100-million-dollar lottery drawing complicates everything....as if things weren't already complicated enough...Jackson now spirits LuAnn and Lisa away to Sweden, with Charlie in, as they say..."hot pursuit". Never fear dear reader...not only will LuAnn escape a series of increasingly violent, and more unbelievable predicaments, but she'll also manage to outwit Jackson, pay an enormous tax bill to the IRS, and have enough left over to honeymoon in luxury in Switzerland. Overall...it's too preposterous to call feminine wish-fulfillment and too formulaic to be really suspenseful. I could hardly believe that David Baldacci actually wrote this. Maybe he was a victim of an alien invasion that took over his body and wrote a "best seller". The ridiculousness of it was in itself entertaining, and I do usually like what David Baldacci pens when his head is on straight...so 4 stars.

[decaturmamaof2 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This was from a local free library, and I needed something a bit light to read. I generally enjoy Baldacci's books, but this one is not his best effort. Almost cartoonish in its stereotypes... It did mostly distract me from the news.

[buffalogr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this mystery suspense novel. Although it sagged a little in the middle and i was expecting a conclusion, it didn't conclude. So, I moved along. The characters are great and the study of a lottery winner was very interesting. Pretty good book!

[jenniferrobb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this as an audiobook, so I don't know if the narrator influenced my thoughts on this book. The narrator's tone sometimes struck me as disinterested or bored or distant from what she was reading.

The antagonist figures out a way to rig the national lottery. He picks 12 people that he makes lottery winners. He invests the winnings for them for 10 years, paying them the interest and reinvesting what they don't spend of that. A reporter, hoping to get a story about the lottery, stumbles across the fact that these 12 people don't fit the pattern of a certain percentage of lottery winners declaring bankruptcy.

The story contains a lot of violence, a little bit of romance, a little bit of loyal friendships.

[rosands-494665 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this mystery suspense novel. It kept me interested from start to finish. I will be reading more from David Baldacci.

[MontseParadise · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Who hasn't fantasized about winning the lottery big time and living life without worries, with everything desired within reach? This is the beginning of this novel and what happens to its protagonist LuAnn, a young woman who has had bad luck in life and has a very bleak future due to the poverty that surrounds her, which she finds hard to escape. Unexpectedly and unconventionally, luck knocks on her door. But as they say, everything has its price. It is an original thriller, different. There were moments that kept me very engaged, while at other times it seemed to lose its rhythm, but overall it has been an entertaining read. (Translated from Spanish)

[LuLolo123 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book that got me hooked on reading for life. (Translated from Spanish)

[nora_reads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is definitely a winner! David Baldacci created incredible characters that grab and pull you to the very end. Heart-stopping, gripping, read-all-night story about a woman who is given an opportunity many would kill for. There is a catch, though, and it could cost her her life and that of her daughter. Is she willing to take the risk?
The villain in this story is a chameleon, it's hard to keep up and predict what plot twist is coming up. I absolutely recommend reading this excellent thriller.

[susandennis-139327 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a great read. It has some fairly severe flaws but by the time I got to them I was so severely hooked on the main character that nothing mattered. LuAnn Tyler is a dirt poor kid with a kid of her own in a tiny town in Georgia. She's got nothing but her good looks and her sharper than she really should have brain. Along comes a guy who promises her wealth beyond her wildest dreams.

[TresDelfines · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A dream come true. Winning the lottery, but the way it happens turns the dream into a nightmare. A shocking plot based on one of the aspects that any country would like to avoid or at least hide. Poverty, lack of opportunities, and the inclination towards crime as an easy way out of misery. It leads to the magical solution of winning the lottery, but not by luck, rather as part of the crime... (Translated from Spanish)

[floratina · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

READ IN DUTCH

It was the first book I read by David Baldacci, and I must admit I liked it. I thought it to be interesting to read and original. Some parts were not really realistic, but it didn't really seem to matter in this book. I liked it, I would even recommend it. And it made me buy another book by Baldacci, which I still need to read sometime.
O, wish we had more time to read, but I guess I'm not alone...

[jbarr5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Winner by David Baldacci
LuAnn Tyler is striving to escape her abusive life when she meets Mr. Jackson and guaranteed winner of the lottery.
False murder charge and the offer to leave the country takes care of her daughter...She comes back into the US with murder charges hanging over her head.
Mr. Jackson has sent others to find her also for the kill. Matt she befriends and hopes he is a true friend. Others are after her and she feels she has to open up to some...
Lots of twists and turns in this book really moving the plot forward.
Lots of travel, action and adventure. What a story, easy to follow and great information to tie it all together...
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

[npjacobsen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Have you ever thought about winning the lottery? Think about all those items on your wish list you could buy? I know I have, and would bet most others have also. What if you knew the game was fixed to give you the winning numbers? Would the fact that the money was essentially stolen curb your enthusiasm? Would your ethics be strong enough to turn down millions in tainted money? This is the dilemma facing single mother LuAnn Tyler in David Baldacci's page turner of a novel "The Winner."

Almost everyone in Rikersville, Georgia, grew up poor and would remain poor, perpetuating a cycle of poverty from one generation to the next. Lu Ann Tyler was no exception. Like most other girls her age, she quit school in 7th grade in order to get a job. After her mother's death left her with no place to stay, she moved in with loser-with-a-capital "L" Duane Harvey, and barely out of her teens soon had a baby girl, Lisa. Lisa became Lu Ann's pride and joy and reason for living. However working as a waitress at a truck stop brought in little more than enough to pay the bills. Most women in Lu Ann's position would resign themselves to living their remaining years with little to look forward to. But Lu Ann had a few things most others did not: despite her 7th grade education, she had an above average intelligence; extraordinary attention to detail; a stubborn streak and iron will; and exquisite beauty.

Lu Ann received a telephone call for a job interview at a rented storefront in the local mall. The man on the phone said the pay would be $100 dollars per day for two weeks, maybe longer. With the $1,000 that she would make, Lu Ann was planning her getaway from Duane and Rikersville. However, at the interview Jackson, the man she had spoken to on the telephone, offered her a more enticing option: Guarantee of winning the lottery, no less than $50 million. Jackson did not tell her if she refused he would have her killed. Lu Ann knew if she accepted the money there would be conditions that went along with the payout. Nobody offers millions of dollars out of the goodness of their heart. But the thing that bothered her most of all was it would be no different than stealing, and Lu Ann was intrinsically an honest person.

Jackson had given Lu Ann a deadline, after which the offer would expire. Lu Ann had resigned herself to follow her honorable instincts when certain events unfolded leaving her with the desire to leave Rikersville sooner rather than later. Lacking enough money to go anywhere, Lu Ann accepted Jackson's offer with only minutes to spare. Romanello, the assassin hired by Jackson, was in position to kill Lu Ann and was called off by his employer in the nick of time. Sensing there was something far bigger going on, Romanello decided to follow Lu Ann. When Jackson discovered the trouble Lu Ann was in, he was not pleased. Pursued by the authorities and a lethal assassin, Jackson agreed to help her change her name and get her out of the country as soon as she collected her lottery winnings, with the caveat that Lu Ann never return to the United States. But her desire to give Lisa a somewhat normal life caused Lu Ann, after an extended period of time, to reconsider the deal she had struck with Jackson.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The pace was steady and picked up gradually until the very exciting conclusion. There was no cliff hanger as I expected the outcome that was presented, however the story was compelling enough to keep the pages turning. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to root for the underdogs in this world.

[dellapenna · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Quick enjoyable light read.

[ajsendall · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The Winner – not!
I had seen the name many times, but had never read anything by David Baldacci until last week. That Baldacci is a prolific writer is evinced in any airport book store. I was expecting something light and easy like Grisham, but it was a whole lot worse.
The two main characters, LuAnn Tyler, and Jackson, are completely implausible, and at times self-contradictory. Jackson was supposed to be ‘terrifying’, we were told so repeatedly, but he was laughable at best. Baldacci also repeatedly tells us how beautiful and sexy LuAnn Tyler is. In fact, she is quite remarkable. Not only is she drop dead gorgeous, but she can lay a man out with one punch and split firewood faster, and for longer than, a seasoned groundsman can. Whew! That’s really hot!
Most of the supporting characters are cliché. Some of that I can forgive, even from a best-selling author, but that was not the worst of it.
The 513 pages of repetitive narrative in a hick voice is hard to not put down as the boredom sets in. Sentence structure at times is abominable. More than once, I had to stop and check that I had read a sentence correctly, and had not drifted off and slipped into autopilot.
The rice-paper plot limps along towards a predictable, melodramatic, one-woman-army ending after which they all live happily ever after.
It will be a long time before I open another Baldacci novel.

[momsterbookworm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book definitely cashes it in! A stranger, contacts you and offers -- no, guarantees -- you a chance to win a multimillion dollar lottery,. A chance to start over.... have a better life... with practically no strings attached. But is it worth it? Is it full proof? A book with a leap-forward-in-time built into the plot but written without extraneous elaborations, nor holes, making this a very smooth read. Definitely a winner!

[barb_h_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh man I could not put this book down! It was full of action and suspense. This is definitely my kind of thriller. Loved it from beginning to end.

[berly_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Winner, by David Baldacci, is a great light read. Basic plot--the lottery is fixed. Waitress Lu Ann Tyler has been chosen by Jackson to receive the $100 million jackpot, but there are strings attached. She must leave the United States and change her identity. When LuAnn decides to play things her own way and sneak back into the country, Jackson tries to hunt her down. Good action and nice character development. A stand-alone book (which is nice sometimes instead of a series). Fun.

[gatorhater · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

LuAnn Tyler suddenly, under the pretense of giving her a decent job, a mysterious Mr Jackson makes her an offer he thinks no one can refuse:a guarantee to be the next winner of the $100 million national lottery. Ten years later, she disobeys jackson and secretly returns to the United States, where she is still wanted for murder. Jackson, a seemingly omniscient master of impersonation, comes to punish her for disobeying him.

[aelizabethj · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Haven't read this book in about fourteen years, and it was such a fluff easy read, even back then. A bit ridiculous and outside my usual reading comfort zone, but entertaining nonetheless.

[joannsmithainsworth · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well written, fast paced, kept up the tension.

[emma291 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This has been my favourite David Baldacci book - it came when he was coming up with new ideas for each book, rather than continuing characters, as in his most recent books. I found the plot exciting, and unexpected, about what could happen if somebody fixed the lottery.

[n2funstuff · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic story about a lottery winner that must escape highly intelligent, highly resourceful kiler.

[netvolution · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very precictable and reads like a movie. But still an enjoyable read if you are looking for some fluff.

[csayban · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

David Baldacci proved his mastery of the modern thriller with Absolute Power and Total Control. The Winner was released in 1998 and looked to continue the Baldacci brand of storytelling. Destitute waitress LuAnn Tyler lives a ramshackle existence with her newborn daughter in a poverty stricken southern town. At least that’s the case until she is approach by a man named Jackson who promises her the unthinkable – a certain win in the national lottery of $100 million dollars. Her conscience tells her to say no, but before she can, events conspire to make Jackson’s offer the only hope for LuAnn and her daughter. At the time, Jackson’s conditions are acceptable, but ten years later, LuAnn decides to defy those conditions to take back her life with the hopes that the seemingly invincible puppet-master Jackson will be none the wiser.

The Winner drags a bit early on as it tries to flesh out every thought of every character, but once the action gets going, it is intense and fun. You will root for LuAnn, but just like her, you won’t always know who is on her side. Baldacci is at his best when he is putting his characters in deadly situations where they don’t know where the trouble is coming from and they need to find that one hole to squeeze through to safety – and The Winner offers that up more than once. The story could have been a bit tighter and there were moments where the plot stretched believability to the edge. However, this is frankly when Baldacci is at his best. Baldacci’s stories are like McDonald’s Big Macs – you know they aren’t fine dining, but you love them for what they are. All in all, Baldacci provides exactly what should be expected from his novels - a thrill-ride of a story that keeps the pages turning.

[grandeplease_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[dgrivetto · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like this author, unfortunately he uses the same method of deception in multiple books. But the story was good. I like how he writes his characters as women, most male authors are not brave enough to write in the opposite sex.

[kellynasdeo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was the first book I ever read by this author and I was hooked.

[bribre01 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book dragged on way too long, repeated unneccesary facts, was predictable, and was an extremely slow read.