Just My Luck by Adele Parks
Published by Harper Collins 2020

If you liked Tom Wolfe’s ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’, you’ll enjoy ‘Just my Luck’, a story of jealousy, social class, greed and eventual ruin. One of those rare books where the blurb on the front cover (‘Utterly engrossing and brilliant’) is spot on. To say it gave me a nightmare is to suggest I didn’t enjoy it, but the truth is that the initial reaction to winning was so believable, and I became so utterly involved in what happened next, that it was almost as though I was personally involved.
It starts off in a fairly straightforward way; after 15 years of playing the same numbers each week with their four closest friends, Jake and Lexi win almost £18m on the lottery. Overnight their life is transformed: Jake starts to tell everyone of their good fortune, he orders a red Ferrari, leasing a yellow one until it arrives; he books a family holiday to New York, naturally they’ll travel in style and stay in the best hotel. He rents a luxury mansion with pool and all the luxuries money can buy, including security. Their children go mad on a shopping spree, while Lexi carries on working and trying to help those less fortunate than herself. But what of the others? Someone isn’t telling the truth or maybe no-one is.
A real page turner, full of shocks and twists. Just as you think you know where the story is headed it takes another turn. Maybe, just maybe, the love of money really is the root of all evil.
I absolutely loved this book.