I am new to Baldacci. I just finished Total Control and really enjoyed it. SO I was looking forward to this book and IT DOES NOT DISAPPOINT!! Once you get past the long set up with "Jackson" and LuAnn and her friends, the book really picks up once she comes back to the states. It IS A PAGE TURNER!! The other thing I like about Baldacci is that he gives great descriptions of the characters and you get involved with them. Scott Turow's books I feel have TOO MANY CHARACTERS WITH VERY LONG DESCRIPTIONS. I dont care about the plot or the people, if I have to read 3 pages about one person. Steve Martini is another author I enjoy. His protagonist, Madriani, is likeable, you want him to win but the books dont grip me the way this author does. I like Martini and have several of his books but if you want to go on a ride, get this book. Grisham doesnt hold a candle to Baldacci or Martini.. He could take writing classes from them on how to have depth to characters and a story. I also think because I read many books, I Can sometimes figure out the plot twist before it happens. With Baldacci, I have NOT BEEN ABLE to figure it out. That is the sign of a great writer- when an experienced reader isnt able to figure out the plot twists. I look forward to reading Simple Truth and Whole Truth.

I have always enjoyed David Baldacci's work and make an effort to pick up anything I may not have read. For the most part I consider them well written; unfortunately, this one misses the mark. First, it is undeniably a "chick book." Second, the ability to suspend disbelief is relatively impossible (even for this chick,) considering the outlandish premise, the superhuman deeds, and occasional contradictions. LuAnn supposedly has incredible athletic ability, and states she remembers every minute of the last 10 years. Even allowing for hyperbole, how on earth does she forget, even briefly, what her even more superhuman nemesis looks like? I'm afraid this book should be considered more in the genre of Iris Johanson and Katherine Coulter.

Come on, David! You can, and have, done much, much better than this.

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.

When a shadowy character known only as "Jackson" offers her the opportunity to win a $100 million jackpot in a national lottery long before the drawing takes place, she's not able to figure out how it will happen but her lack of education doesn't stop her from realizing that however it will be done is well outside of the law.

Despite her poverty, LuAnn holds onto her integrity. Although she has reached the decision to turn down Jackson's "offer", a violent encounter with Duane's "colleagues" in the drug trade turns nasty and she is forced to run from the long reach of Georgia law. The $100 million becomes an offer she can no longer refuse and with her winnings, LuAnn Tyler and her daughter become lifelong fugitives from US law and from "Jackson", the sociopathic criminal mastermind who can do anything - fix a national lottery and savagely kill anyone who stands in his way or who threatens his world wide empire.

These characters are so OVER-written as to have crossed into the realm of cartoonish caricatures - LuAnn Tyler, the brash Southern belle heroine; Jackson, the evil megalomaniac who is a master of disguise; Thomas Donovan, the super sleuth investigative reporter who doesn't know enough to recognize danger when he's knee deep in it; Matthew Riggs, the former hot shot FBI agent now in deep cover in a witness protection program; and Uncle Charlie, the retired boxer who has a soft spot in his heart for LuAnn and her daughter! But, what the heck, they are phenomenally entertaining and - darn it all - every reader is going to fall in love with LuAnn and will be on their feet cheering for her in her battle against Jackson, the FBI, the Georgia state police force and even the IRS.

And I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find out that Baldacci also wanted to make a political statement about lotteries being an irresponsible regressive form of taxation that prey upon the weak represented in their totality by LuAnn and her daughter. I think Baldacci was talking about the very story that he had his reporter Donovan attempting to chase down. You know ... he could be right!

Highly recommended!

Paul Weiss

As a fan of Baldacci (the 'Camel Club' series in particular) and fast running out of books to read, I turned to 'The Winner' in the hopes that it would fill my 'Balducci Void'.
A well seeded plot with some intriguing characters and what I would call a 'Big' small story to tell were the only things that kept me labouring to wallow through pages of what seemed to be repetitive motive justification for (in particular) the main character, LuAnn Tyler through the first third of this novel.
Baldacci has always done a great job of detailing a character's profile to build a believable platform for a character's actions without hanging the motion of the story, but I felt that he struggled to achieve this in 'The Winner'.
It feels as though he is uncomfortable writing in the voice of LuAnn Tyler and this awkwardness shone through to make this book an uncomfortable read in places, lacking the fluidity of classic Balducci thrillers.
On the whole though, this was an enjoyable read with a well crafted and original story line and Baldacci writes a bad guy here who is unusually motivated and chillingly cold and calculating which makes the plot turns less predictable without relying on bizarre and irrational changes in character to force a climax. Had I not have had the high expectations of the usual Balducci rollercoaster ride I would have given this close to full marks.

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.