McDonald, Joe: Lotto

Ovation Books © 2009, 259 pages

Michael Collins isn't in the best place in life when Lotto opens: he's been drinking too much, his wife is divorcing him, and his position at work is tenuous. But when he finds himself holding a winning lottery ticket--good for 23 million--he's sure his luck has changed. It has--unfortunately for the worse. Winning the lottery isn't always all it's cracked up to be: a Google search will turn up lots of examples of big winners losing it all because they didn't handle their money wisely. Mike's story doesn't read quite like these hard-luck cases. He stumbles into trouble even before he's able to collect his winnings, one enormous lapse in judgment on his part leading to the manifold difficulties that subsequently plague him. We watch as Mike tries to cash in, harassed by his soon-to-be-ex among others, including armed thugs on two continents.

McDonald's debut novel is a decent read. The writing is transparent, the plot fun and well thought out. (It might translate well to film.) But McDonald's characters aren't particularly fleshed out. Mike is a mostly good guy, as we're given to understand in the book's first chapter, and his character develops a bit over the course of the story. But the bad guys he's surrounded by--his wife, his lawyer--are painted in broad strokes. Mike does encounter at least one person who's not motivated merely by greed, and his relationship with her takes off. But the transition in that relationship from acquaintance to love interest is, I think, too abrupt.

All in all, a pleasant light read. I look forward to seeing more from the author.