Just My Luck

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER!

What if winning means losing everything?

'A gripping story of greed, lies and dark family secrets' Lisa Jewell

'Utterly engrossing and brilliant' Lucy Foley

'Addictive, provocative... brilliantly crafted' TM Logan

It's the stuff dreams are made of - a lottery win so big, it changes everything.

For fifteen years, Lexi and Jake have played the same six numbers with their friends, the Pearsons and the Heathcotes. Over dinner parties, fish & chip suppers and summer barbecues, they've discussed the important stuff - the kids, marriages, jobs and houses - and they've laughed off their disappointment when they failed to win anything more than a tenner.

But then, one Saturday night, the unthinkable happens. There's a rift in the group. Someone doesn't tell the truth. And soon after, six numbers come up which change everything forever.

Lexi and Jake have a ticket worth £18 million. And their friends are determined to claim a share of it.

Sunday Times Number One bestseller Adele Parks returns with a riveting look at the dark side of wealth in this gripping take on friendship, money and betrayal, and good luck gone bad...

Praise for Just My Luck:

'Adele Parks never takes her foot off the gas, every book is tighter, faster, better than the last. Just My Luck is a gripping story of greed, lies and dark family secrets. I read it in a two-day frenzy' Lisa Jewell

'Utterly engrossing and brilliant' Lucy Foley

'A compelling take on one of those "what if" scenarios that we've all wondered about. Addictive, provocative and thoroughly relatable - a brilliantly crafted reminder to be careful what you wish for' TM Logan

'An absolute joy: gripping, shocking and surprising. A cautionary tale about what one couple's sudden wealth can do to old friendships' Jane Fallon

'Fabulous... her best yet' Daily Mail

'Stupendous! I read this totally compelling modern-day morality tale over a weekend - I couldn't put it down. As ever, Adele Parks does not disappoint - you'll love it' Ruth Jones

'Like a deft magician, this book reveals its twists only at the very end, I was completely astonished' Rosamund Lupton

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

For 15 years, three couples have played the lottery together, barely winning anything but enjoying one another's company over fish-and-chips and conversations about family. Now Lexi and Jake have a ticket worth £18 million, and their friends want to share it. From No. 1 Sunday Times best-selling author Parks; with a 100,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing.

Publishers Weekly Review

This exhilarating, shrewdly observed tale about morality and greed from Parks (Lies, Lies, Lies) focuses on three English couples. Lexi Greenwood and her husband, Jake, who live with their two children in Little Chester, scrape by on their modest earnings. For 15 years, Lexi and Jake have gotten together every week with Peter and Carla Pearson and Fred and Jennifer Heathcote, who live in posh Great Chester, for dinner and their group-flutter on the National Lottery. Year in and year out, they have played and lost. One fateful evening, the Pearsons and the Heathcotes declare the lottery is for losers and they will no longer take part. Out of habit the following week, Lexi buys a ticket and plays their regular numbers, winning £17.8 million. The other couples feel they deserve a share. The ensuing lawsuits, double-dealing, secret trysts, and fistfights devolve into cruelty, kidnapping, and fraud. Elegant, quietly witty prose helps speed along the twisty plot. Anyone who thinks winning the lottery Those curious about the downside of winning it big will be entertained. Agent: Jonny Geller, Curtis Brown (U.K.). (Apr.)

Booklist Review

What happens when your dreams come true? Lexi and Jake Greenwood find out in a fast-paced domestic thriller guaranteed to pique the interest of every lottery player. The couple relishes their luck at winning almost eighteen million pounds, but it comes at a cost. The couple is part of a group of friends who have shared fifteen years of friendly dinners, family trips, and the common purchasing of the weekly lottery ticket. The friends' regular gatherings have shaped their children's lives to the point where fifteen-year-old Emily Greenwood is dating the son of one couple and is best friends with the daughter of another. To further complicate matters, the group apparently fell apart the week before the winning numbers were drawn, calling into question any rights to the money. In come the lawyers, lies, greed, and jealously, and a possible connection between the Greenwood's luck and the sentencing of a property manager for the carbon monoxide poisoning of a mother and son. Full of plot twists and sketchy characters, Parks' latest will have readers wondering what they would do in the same position.

Kirkus Book Review

When a middle-class British family wins the lottery, the money causes more problems than anyone could have imagined. For 15 years, Lexi and Jake Greenwood have been best friends with the Pearsons and the Heathcotes. Together these couples have raised children, traveled, shopped, enjoyed weekly dinner parties, and imagined each other more like family than friends. They also play the lottery together every week. Lexi collects the money and buys the ticket, always choosing the same set of numbers. But one week, this tight group has a falling out. Patrick Pearson declares the lottery "common" and says he's tired of participating in their syndicate. He wants out, and the Heathcotes follow suit. Lo and behold, one week later, Lexi buys the winning ticket, and now she and Jake have no intention of sharing the money. Instead, Jake begins buying himself and their teenage children everything they've ever wanted. Lexi, who works for an organization providing services to the needy, would much rather donate large portions of the winnings. As the Greenwoods battle over how to spend the money, the Pearsons and Heathcotes learn of the win and come out swinging. As the story unfolds and the friends vie for the money, damaging secrets emerge and characters begin double-crossing each other at every opportunity. Money brings out the worst of each of the players in this dark tale, as people grow increasingly bold in fighting for a cut of the winnings. Although Lexi is the lead, the narrative is told from the perspectives of many characters, including Jake; their daughter, Emily; family friends; and even a homeless client of Lexi's. Jumping among many characters and time frames results in a narrative that sometimes feels choppy and disjointed, and between physical beatings, hostage situations, murder, and adultery, there's so much action that it can feel unrealistic. Even so, each individual chapter is so well crafted and engaging that the story's intrigue and suspense continue to build, and the characters' emotions ring true and evocative throughout. A thrilling and suspenseful story about how money can bring out the very worst in all of us. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.