Too Lucky to Live

February 13, 2017
At the start of Hogsett’s fun debut, Thomas Bennington III, a blind English professor, comes close to losing a lottery ticket he’s purchased when he’s almost run over by a Hummer while crossing a Cleveland, Ohio, street. Fortunately, Allie Harper, who was waiting for a bus, comes to his rescue. Allie takes Tom back to her house, where they share dinner and hear on TV that Tom has won a $550 million jackpot. He’s shocked and none too pleased, having bought the ticket to prove to a youngster named Rune that the lottery is a waste of time and money. Rune, on the other hand, is thrilled about helping pick the winning numbers, but the news that he’s sharing the money lands him in danger. Within hours, three men are dead and Rune’s mother is hospitalized. Tom and Allie rush in to help, only to find Rune is missing. As the plot zigs and zags, readers will enjoy hanging out with Tom and Allie, whose quirkiness will remind some readers of Janey Mack’s Maisie McGrane. Agent: Victoria Skurnick, Levine Greenberg Literary Agency.

March 1, 2017
Meeting the right guy makes a divorcee feel like she's won the lottery--that is, until it turns out he's won the lottery and she learns the extent which people will go to get their hands on the cash.Never did Allie Harper think doing a simple kindness would get her into so much trouble, but that's exactly what happens when she stops to help a blind pedestrian struggling to get through a busy Cleveland intersection. The man himself, Thomas Bennington III, is no trouble at all, easy on the eyes and all that. He's so nice, in fact, that Allie invites him back to her little apartment so they can get to know each other better. It's what Tom has on his person that puts them both in peril: the winning ticket for the MondoMegaJackpot, worth some $550 million. Tom explains that he's not a gambling man but a college professor who bought the ticket to demonstrate to his young neighbor the folly of gambling. Though neither Tom nor Allie is particularly interested in the prize now that they've found each other, they may be the only two people in the city who aren't, as they soon discover through the series of break-ins, ransackings, kidnappings, and even homicides that follow. Too many bodies to count keep Tom and Allie on the run while trying to hold onto the ticket through a chase in which everyone in Cleveland seems to be after them. Cheesy dialogue between the newly minted couple interspersed with an endless series of threats to their lives make the lottery win in Hogsett's debut seem more like a death sentence than a boon.

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Starred review from April 1, 2017

Lonely, divorced Allie Harper comes to the rescue of a handsome blind man caught in the crosswalk after he's startled by the honking of a Hummer on a Cleveland street. She drags Thomas Bennington III home, makes dinner, and is enjoying his company when he learns he's won over $500 million on a lottery ticket. Yet a downcast Tom had bought the ticket to prove to a young boy that gambling doesn't pay off. Unfortunately, too many people know he won and think they deserve a share of the money. The couple get to know each other quite well as they go on the run and do everything they can to stay alive, while the people around them end up dead. VERDICT In this entertaining, sexy debut, Allie is a sharp Stephanie Plum paired up with a hot partner. She quickly learns how adept a blind man can be in dealing with trouble. The original voice, humor, and unusual premise will appeal to Janet Evanovich readers.--LH

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2017
Divorced and down on her luck, Allie Harper rescues a blind man, Thomas Bennington III, who is about to be run over by a woman in a Hummer, and they form an instant connection. That evening, while having dinner with Allie, Bennington learns he has won the Mondo jackpot of $550 milliona real problem since he only bought the ticket to convince his young friend, Rune, of the futility of playing the lottery. As soon as the news is out, both of their houses are ransacked, Allie's landlady is assaulted, and the bodies begin to pile up as Cleveland's criminal element works to find and steal the ticket. The two begin to investigate to protect themselves, hiding in hotels while keeping tabs on Rune. When the killer makes a final desperate play for the money, the two make a choice that may cost them their lives. Fast pacing, multiple plot twists, and humor, including a Stephanie Plumlike main character, enliven the story and keep the pages turning.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)